On the Balls of Our A$$ets

Matt Duncan  @foxxmd at Unsplash “I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”―  Joan Didion When I started this blog in 2014 , after my husband and I had lost our jobs, I thought of it as an online diary—a place to exorcise those dark thoughts— What happened? How did we end up here? When will it end? —that looped through my mind.  Writing it all down was therapeutic. (If you're struggling with something, I highly recommend putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Even if you never share it with another soul or ball it up and toss it to your cat, it may help.) Another reason I began chronicling our mutual unemployment and the arduous task of finding new jobs was because, despite all the career advice that existed, I couldn't find anything that addressed the "Holy sh!t!"-ness of our situation.  There were plenty of resume, cover letter, and interview tips out there, but I wa

  Photo by   Raj Rana  on  Unsplash In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I'd like to talk about the Irish Goodbye, a slang term for leaving without saying farewell.  We've probably all experienced it at some point—that moment when you're at a party or a bar and you turn around and say, "Hey, where's so-and-so?" and they're long gone.  Perhaps you've even been the one to do it—and, let's be honest, it can have its merits. On the occasions when you need to catch a train or you're simply overcome by the desire to take off your shoes and sit on your couch in your underpants, fleeing without having to make the rounds can feel like a little gift you give yourself (even if it seems rude and strange to those you left behind). Instead of the social scene, I'd like to focus on those disorienting work times when you've sent an email and gotten a bounce back that made you scratch your head and ask, "Wait, what happened to Dave in Marketing?"

It's that time again, friends. Where are all my irony-lovers? Step right up. Have I got a story for you! A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece for The Muse titled  I Have Layoff Anxiety. Here’s How I’m Learning to Cope.   The idea for this story came to me in September when my then-manager sent me an instant message asking, "Hey Liz, got a sec to talk?" leaving me with a sweaty-palmed certainty that my relatively-new gig had come to an abrupt end. After being let go twice, the feeling that you could be dismissed at any moment lingers, making you suspect that every impromptu meeting may be your last.  But it turned out he wasn't terminating me. Instead, he said he and I were moving to a new global team. Knowing that restructuring is often the kiss of death, I took a deep breath and bluffed my way through a chorus of "Wow, that sounds exciting!"  As this group formed, one teammate immediately quit because his new position was quite far afield from what he'd bee

Photo by  Chris Montgomery  on  Unsplash I'm a sucker for a free online course. In fact, during the past two years, I've signed up for dozens. Just this week, I took author Marion Roach Smith's 5 Ways to Become a More Productive Writer webinar. Last week, I watched marketing and publishing experts talk about ways to engage with readers and market books.  One thing I really love about most of the classes is that if you can't attend in real time, the hosts will send you a replay link. So, often I end up watching while I eat lunch or make dinner. (Yes, I am dividing my chilly winter days by meal times now, as in, "It's 90 minutes 'til my afternoon coffee break.") When I received an email from  Remote.co highlighting 14 free online courses  covering key areas like accounting, marketing, analytics, SEO, and more, I thought I'd share the content. (I'm eyeing the  Grammar  & Punctuation one as a refresher since Grammarly loves to tell me I'm u

Photo by  Eric Prouzet  on  Unsplash Happy (belated) new year! I'm usually not one to make resolutions but this year, reader, I must. No matter how tempting, 2022 is the year I refuse to duped by the sweater ads that flood my Instagram feed. You know the ones that make you do a double-take and whisper, "Cashmere for $12.99? Why not?" Or, as my hero Ina Garten likes to say, "How bad can it be?" Answer: Bad. Really, really bad. Here's a recent ad that caught my eye and then caused me to waste precious time battling the merchant (Karladress—never heard of them? My advice: Keep it that way) and pleading my case to PayPal to get a refund, which I did because: The ad: Karladress  The reality:  For many, the new year is the perfect time to rethink your career. With that in mind, Bradford Goodwin, Chief Content Strategist at job board Lensa shared his top tips for job seekers in 2022: Decide your location: Remote or in the office “With the pandemic still ongoing,