Searching for Respect

Now that I am in the 'searching' arena, both in employment and publishing I have noticed a few traits that are in both fields. People are rude and uncaring and the respect is held in a salt shaker, spilled to season a few.

I have drawn the conclusion that the state of unemployment is not because of the lack of jobs, but because of the disrespect from the people left in charge to interview, select, and fill the positions. This is also true in the writing/publishing profession. In the publishing I am hearing how the economy is making it hard to get published, that there are no more 'good' authors and authors who send out anything can barely write.

Well, most of the new books are the same except the names have been changed to fool the readers (ha) and most agents are hoping to find books written by those who have received their MFA. so again, they are the same. These books become movies that seem like never ending trailers to the movies presented before them. So much so that I can now tell my girls what will happen in the plot before it is seen. My fav line to them when I am right (90% of the time) is.."You think I could write a book, huh?"

What is making it hard to get published is when agents request sole submission rights and then hold a manuscript hostage for two months to as many years and then rejects them. This holds the author from submitting elsewhere and possibly becoming a world renowned star.

The same goes after having a job interview. I had a daycare owner the other day (during an interview) tell me she started not to call me because I had too much experience. What? Maybe that is why I haven't been getting many job interviews. How stupid. Could this also be true about writing, but in the opposite? Some agents don't want previously published authors and yet small press run authors can either be considered as published or non-published. Do you send in your manuscript?

When the prospective employer says I will call you on Thursday (this is Monday), do you continue searching for employment or do you sit until Thursday? And how hard is it for the interviewer to call on the said day and say we will not be needing you. Don't say call and check because today's world is rude and states...we will call you if we are interested. What the hell!! You were interested when you called in for the interview. This is the way it works with agents also. They say send in your queries if we are interested we will contact you. Or how about this...you go in for an interview on Friday,told you are hired and do a little PR with the job on Saturday (all day) and forty minutes before you are to go into work on Monday you are called and told not to come because you are not needed and they will call you. Are you still employed?

If an agent is holding your manuscript hostage are you a writer? If the pizza guy is thirty minutes late(Holli) are you still hungry? Can you complain? I say YES. I have had pizza come late and the weather was perfect. No one wants to accept blame for anything and I am sure the pizza guy has your number because I have had them call when they were lost and could not find the house. The little manager was wrong and if she uses the seven deaths (5 from a drunken father) as her excuse for not communicating that is all it is, an excuse. No one wants to own up to being wrong. Most people just believe, whether they are agents, business owners, or fast food managers that they can live without the customer because another one will come along and replace the old. Morals and standards have fallen to the wayside and we just put up with it. Me, I would also say keep your pizza, I'll look for another job, and I'll query other agents with other manuscripts while the first is held in a state of limbo. Can't burn the bridges of writing will in the middle of the Grand Canyon. Lol.