Yay Kat! Yay Tom! Happy Birthday, beth!

Juliana, I am... doing nothing this weekend, I think. Maybe some writing, maybe I'll go see the new Clooney movie. And I have to read American Pastoral by Philip Roth by next Wednesday and also finish an SPN story. And get over my cold.

Productize sucks, Allyson, and I forbid its use.

Yes, I'm drinking Bushmill's why do you ask?

Is productize how you make stuff so you can monetize, err, other stuff?

Resume question. So I'm updating my resume in the hopes of finding some office or temp work. I'm wondering what to do about my writing jobs. On one hand, I'm pretty sure that if I list those I have less than a snowball's chance in hell of getting a call back. On the other hand, I feel uncomfortable omitting it.

Any thoughts?

Um, what does productize actually mean? To create something? Because I thought we already had a word for that: produce. Or does it mean something else, like to transform a conceptual idea into a marketable product?

Kristen, what do the past couple of years look like if you don't list the writing on your resume? Can you create two resumes, one for jobs within a writing-friendly setting and one for other jobs?

On one hand, I'm pretty sure that if I list those I have less than a snowball's chance in hell of getting a call back.

For temp work, it shouldn't matter, Kristen. I was temping with a JD, three years out of law school and a fair amount of professional experience behind me. Given that you're in LA, I can't see that recruiters would be surprised to see that sort of stuff on a resume.

Hell, at least it's proof you can type. *grins*

Kristen, what do the past couple of years look like if you don't list the writing on your resume?

I would guess it would look like a big black hole unless I fudge. I became an independent contractor in 2005. So, if I fudged it, I could put 2005-Present on my resume. Though that makes me feel weird.

For temp work, it shouldn't matter, Kristen.

That's my hope. If I'm not looking for a permanent gig, and am willing to take the crap money that temps get here, no one will care that I used to write teevee shows. I mean, maybe they'll snicker behind my back but I'm at the point where that matters less.

I mean, maybe they'll snicker behind my back but I'm at the point where that matters less.

I had a law degree. Nobody snickered, that I ever noticed. I did get the occasional odd question, but people understand about economic downturns, and again--you're in LA. People understand how Hollywood works, don't they?

I think I'm just feeling a little panicky about the whole thing. The job market here has never been especially kind to me and I fear what it's going to be like out there in the midst of Writer Apocalypse 2008.

I don't see that the writing would look bad on the resume, Kristen, it's just a matter of some offices being more interested in it than others.

Kristen, my lunch-buddy when I worked retail at the Beverly Center (I at Eddie Bauer, she at The Limited) was an Academy Award-nominated actress. And yet, there she was, selling clothes.

Another friend was an awesome tv writer (who knows, you may know her) who wrote for a bunch of Matt Williams productions. The years 1996-97 weren't good for her, and she temped. She simply wrote "television writer" and omitted the names of the shows. She listed all of the other production details, though. But she never got sniggered at. She says people were very gracious to her, actually.