Lindsey Reads Books

 In an effort to adhere to my pledge to blog at least once a week, I solicited my friend Alexis about a possible subject for this week.  “It’s so obvious,” she said.  “Write about the plight of the recent college graduate, especially how you struggled before you found your internship.”  What Alexis knows that you may not is that I spent roughly 547.5 days trying to figure out exactly what I was going to do with my degree.  Since having graduated I’ve been a nanny, a leasing consultant for a property management firm, a courier, and a legal assistant; none of which had any interest in my B.A. in Film and Electronic Arts, or my minor in Creative Writing.  And trust me, it’s not like I wasn’t trying.  I spend days scouring the internet for some sort of job that would scream out, “LINDSEY! YOU’VE FINALLY GRADUATED! WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU!” Instead, the only responses I got went something along these lines:

“Thank you for your interest in X position.  We have received an unexpected amount of interest for this position. We apologize if you do not hear from us, however we cannot personally reply to all 32,367,493 applicants.”

Needless to say, I became increasingly discouraged.  Was I alone?  California’s December unemployment rate of 12.3% says no.  How in the world can a recent college grad compete with someone who’s unemployed but has 25 years in their field?  We are awkward, timidly dipping our toes in the professional pond.  With seasoned veterans, we cannot contend.   We are a generation of Montessori, AP, IB, Just Do It kids, taught that we can achieve anything we dream, with a little hard work and determination.  And we can.  It’s just going to take a lot longer than we thought.  A lot.  And now that I’m finally transitioning from a recent grad “we” to a professional “we,” I can say that we as a working community need to do all that we can to encourage those floating around in the great abyss. 

Even once I found the coveted Craigslist post for Larsen-Pomada, drove the 2 hours to interview (yeah, 2 hours and it’s worse in traffic), landed the internship and began my weekly commute, I still felt scared that my place in my dream professional world was only temporary.  But luckily for me, it opened the door to a world that I had always wanted to be a part of, temporary or not.  Now, as I’m making myself more permanent, it feels good to belong.

So new grads, forget about money.  It’s really hard, I know.  But suck it up.   Intern, assist, sacrifice, start at the bottom and work your way up.

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On another note, I had my first podcast interview on Saturday!  If I don’t sound like a 3^rd grader, I’ll post the link when it comes closer to airing.

Welcome, thank you, and please bear with me.  Despite my complete inability to adapt and comprehend this enigma known as the World Wide Web, I have inevitably jumped on the bandwagon and started a Blog.  Not a Blog about celebrities, or fashion, or people watching (which is in fact something I happen to be quite good at), but rather a Blog about reading, writing, and publishing.  “But Lindsey,” you may say,  “hasn’t that been raked over the coals enough?” Or rather the more formidable, “What do you know about reading, writing and publishing?”  Well for starters, there can never EVER be enough discussion about writing, especially if you consider yourself a writer.  I was lucky (and hopefully intelligent) enough to make the transition from Intern to Associate Agent at a top San Francisco literary agency, so it can be discerned that I can definitely read and offer an insightful opinion about writing.  I plan to share with you my journey as I make my way up the ladder to attain the coveted title of Agent.  Along the way, I hope you will find my input fresh and relevant and I encourage you to contribute if you have something to add.

I can almost guarantee that this first post will be read solely by my adoring friends and family and therefore will include a few shout outs.  I would like to thank C. Michael Fontes for encouraging me to start this Blog and setting it all up for me.  Alexis, your daily wit inspires me beyond all realms of possibility.  To my family and Brent, I am eternally grateful for your constant love and support.