I’m in a state of shock right now. So much shock that I’m abusing my work privileges and writing this instead of the article I’m supposed to.

I was just told that I have the skills to be an editor. By Karen Spears Zacharias: a successful writer and journalist.

That may not seem like a huge thing,  but the way it was worded, that I have the “inborn organizational skill” that it would take, has left me speechless. I’m having trouble swallowing this.

She told me that I have the mind to do it, that I should consider journalism, that I could have the skills to be an editor someday.  When she started saying all this, my jaw just started dropping. I’d expected to be chewed out (she had written on one of my papers that I had to see her) and instead I got complimented.

I think another thing that blows me away is that Ms. Zacharias talked to the head of the communications department here, who also agreed that I should be told. This doesn’t seem real.

I’m having a hard time with this for multiple reasons:

1. I don’t have the highest self-esteem.

2. The confidence I do have gets shot down pretty frequently.

The reason for the latter being that since I work at the Publicity Center, my drafts are constantly being sent back to me, and organizational issues are one of the problems. If I can’t write press releases without having organization problems, how can I believe that I can edit?

Don’t get me wrong – I’d love to do it. I love correcting grammar and reading other people’s works, offering criticism towards the improvement of a piece. I know that I’d probably find time to write (which is what I want to do) on the side, and that reading  other people’s works would probably improve my writing.

But I’m having real trouble accepting this! I’m so afraid to ask someone else, like one of my bosses, to confirm this, because I’m afraid they’ll just shoot me down – and I really don’t want to fall. I’m in denial, but up here in cloud 9 is a nice place.

Ms. Zacharias also said I could talk to her if I wanted more advice on following through on this. I might have to take her up on that. If I’m going to accept this vision of me, I’m going to need more convincing.

Yay, my first post! I’ve been trying to think of something to post about and I finally found something!

First of all, it has to be understood that my dream job, besides being a best-selling independent fantasy writer (lol), is to work at Wizards of the Coast. Ideally, my first choice would be game design or writing novels for one of the established universes, but if I could find any job that remotely ties into my interests, I could see myself considering it. I mean, even if it was a lame day job, I’d still be working at Wizards and would probably have time to write on the side.

Let me post the benefits I found on their FAQ page:

What are the company benefits?
Benefits include (based on full-time regular employment):

• Medical, dental, vision – Includes coverage for spouses/domestic partners and dependants.
• 401(k) –200% employer match for the first 2%, 50% employer match for the next 4%, with immediate vesting for employer match.
• Short and Long Term Disability; Life Insurance; Accidental Death and Dismemberment; Long Term Care Insurance.
• Health Care and Dependent Care Reimbursement Accounts: Which allow our employees to set aside money on a pretax basis to pay for a variety of health care expenses and dependent care expenses.
• Vacation – accrues 5 days at 6 months, 10 days for year one, 12 days year two, 13 days year three, 14 days year four and so on for a maximum accrual rate of 20 days a year.
• Holidays – Three personal days plus Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving, and a Winter Holiday (usually from December 24 through January 1.) Plus your birthday!
• Sick Leave – accrues a total of twelve days per year.
• Free popcorn, coffee, tea & hot cocoa and 25-cent sodas.
• Tuition assistance.
• Profit sharing bonus.
• On-site Day Care Center (subject to availability).
• Recreation programs and on-site dojo and gym with showers and lockers.
• Free company product.

_____

If the “on-site dojo” doesn’t stand out to you, you are not normal. ;)

So BESIDES the dojo, which just establishes the place as nerdy as hell (but kinda cool >.>), the other benefits sound fairly decent; and no matter what, it’s better than retail.

Wizards is also in the middle of their of their open submission period where they take novel samples from writers who want to write for them. But to submit, I’d have to actually have a novel ready. Their guidelines are different this time around too…

Anyways, here’s the links for those interested in checking it out (to see what I’m talking about) or applying (although in providing them, I suppose I might be increasing my competition ^^; ).

http://ww2.wizards.com/Company/jobs/default.aspx

http://ww2.wizards.com/books/Wizards/default.aspx?doc=main_faq