I’ve been taking care of myself better over the last couple of weeks. There have been rumples in how my family and I are getting along with each other, but: seriously, I’m an adult living with (older) family. It’s going to happen.

The upshot of the rumples is that it’s encouraging me to seek gainful employment, and work on gaining greater independence, so that I can survive on my own. I’ve been looking at open jobs, and not just ones in the local area. I have some idea of places I would be open to moving to, and places I’d be wary of living within, even if I got a job offer. That, at least, is a start.

Researching institutions for which I may want to work…is also a good start. I’ve been around long enough that I do have some little highlights that pop up in my mind when I read about a job opening at an institution with which I’m familiar; from their publications, the e-lists or listservs or documents they host, or other phenomena (like their faculty teaching at my alma mater…).

I also find red flags when I read some of these job ads. I…for a long time, have had pretty good reading comprehension. I also took a Business Writing class. If an ad says that one has to be good at teaching oneself, that says to me that support in the position will be lacking. But I suppose, maybe it’s good for people who are not, “collaborative,” (skill in collaboration is often asked of Librarians) and may be related to organizational culture.

So…it’s really good that there are a lot of open positions, if one looks beyond their local enclave. What’s a bit weird to me is the prevalence of contract jobs — it’s probably due to the fact that there are so many people in the job market, right now.

If it’s local, a contract job isn’t a bad thing. Especially if one is trying just to 1) survive, and 2) gain experience to eventually land a tenure-track position. A lot of jobs will ask for at least two years’ experience…which can be gained through contract work, depending on stipulations.

I also notice that with the current climate…there are a lot of openings in places which may be hostile to freedom of expression. Meaning, people are leaving, and perhaps for good reason. It’s kind of like finding a listing where you can buy a condo for ~$68,000, and have to ask, “what’s wrong with it?”

Anyhow. Regardless of how or why I got into Librarianship, I do at least have a skillset that I can use in the present or near future — which should keep me away from the public.

Right now, I’m just glad that I did not specialize in Public Librarianship. There are a lot of jobs in Public Librarianship, but I don’t think I would be happy, there. That’s unless I had a Cataloging or Metadata position, of course.

Along with taking care of myself better, and being more outwardly-focused, my writing production has decreased. I’m even wondering why I’m writing this right now, instead of working with my beads…or experimenting with paint…or, writing privately. Or reading.

Or drawing.

I guess there is some sort of a social drive, in my case; some kind of desire to communicate with others. It’s just not imposing. At all.

I guess I am also learning that I can write, but that I do not have to write. Given that one of these posts takes me a number of hours in effort, it’s…well, good to know that no one’s on my back about not writing. From all the years of college, though, I’m not used to it!

The rest of what I have to say is going on SpectralBeads…and it may not come out for a while. Just to let you know…