Nov 17

Editorial Pursuits #3 – JetWit is my hero!

Career, Networking, Writers Comments Off on Editorial Pursuits #3 – JetWit is my hero!

Julie Matysik (Yamanashi-ken, 2006-07) is a freelance copy editor and aspiring in-house editor who recently moved to NYC with her husband (also a JET alum).  She has just started an internship in editing/publishing/writing. Editorial Pursuits will chronicle her job hunting efforts, experiences and lessons learned. Intro

Friday morning started out like any other day full of job searching and unemployment. I got up, made some toast, put water in the tea kettle and set the burner on medium heat, lazily sauntered over to the computer desk, turned on the laptop, and opened Gmail.

I expected to find a few Facebook comments, a random e-mail or two from family members, an amazon.com special deal. But this morning, I found something additional in the inbox – a message from a fellow JET Alumn who had read my JetWit posts and wanted to offer me a potential internship at her literary agency.

Wait, what? Could this be happening to me? I sat baffled at the words on the screen, unable to believe what I just read. Me? For an internship? At a New York literary agency? Saw my “Editorial Pursuits” and wanted me to contact her if I was interested? Wow!

Needless to say, I e-mailed her right away and one thing led to another. I was asked to come in and meet her and the agent that afternoon, and by 3:00pm, I had an internship and felt that I was finally on the road toward my dream of working in editing and publishing!

Walking out of the agent’s office with an armload of books and a partial manuscript to read and write a report for by Monday, I felt like a new woman – a person with a purpose! I don’t want to sound cliché but I walked down the street, towards the subway station, with a bounce in my step and a twinkle in my eye. I immediately came home, called all my friends and family, and did a little “happy dance” in the living room while listening to ” Don’t Ya Evah” by Spoon. Life, it turns out, is good.

So my lesson for the end of the week – a week that only began with a suggestion that I write a regular “column” on JetWit – is that you should never turn down opportunities that are given to you. I didn’t really think anyone would care to read about my job search trials and tribulations, but in fact someone did. And now I am happily (though not monetarily) employed and on a track for endless possibilities. My life has purpose again.

And to any of you out there who might be thinking, “Is this the end of Editorial Pursuits?” I happily answer, “No.” I look forward to continuing to share my lessons learned about job searching and being an intern in the wide world of publishing.