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Entering publishing and other exciting things


I started my new job in book publishing (still can not believe it) I got here thanks to something I would refer to as a mixture of a lot of hard work and some lucky "how could this possibly have happened" strokes. After much emailing... and I mean over a 100 publishing houses asking if they would have an internship and I could work for them for free, calculating the months I had to wait to get through the queue to get to work for free, and after calculating how I would live life for 6 months with a full-time unpaid job and some pub work.. and sleep during and 70 hour work week.. I got a magical twitter response, some CV guidance over a coffee offered by this ferry godmother and some insights and an extra pair of eyes out to the industry and its people,..
..... one week later a get an interview. It turned out to be the same publishing house that publishes the Scandinavian cooking book in our kitchen, plus several titles on mindfulness, humor and simple well-being. A week later from that I got the job.

Now I have been working as an paid entry leveler within export sales for a month. Learning new publishing terms at the speed of a steady bike ride up a slightly hilly road, with occasional bumps. Coordinating sales and production and warehouse queries, creating colorful newsletters of our latest books, putting together and sending packages to New Zealand, Middlesex, Denmark, India and more. Making mock-ups for showcases and client meetings (my job by my office desk and MAC computer also includes Scissors, Indesign, glue and many cups of tea) as well as preparing for International book fairs.

Things can really happen, out of nowhere.

 For someone sitting in the same kind of boat, hoping that it will take you towards the right direction, all I can say is;
1.  keep twittering
2. Once you land on something, either through hard work or a remarkable coincidence, be happy. And when it feels like genie wishes where being granted- listen to their call, you finally landed on your path you where supposed to land on, believe in it. 


On completely other notes; 

- My friend from back home is coming to stay over next week, She is doing her Eat Pray Love journey through the UK for a month. As someone who has been on that adventure (with the pit-stops on my own) I can say that I am excited and proud. She deserves this experience of exploring the unknown. A new start and a charged battery.

- Two of my dear flatmates (a lovely couple) are moving onward to their new home, so I am preparing a tropical pancake feast-we all need some energy for the dark months and blue Mondays ahead- we also need to raise a last glass for the crew in this ship (they lived here for 5 years !).

- Today I visited the Tove Jansson Exhibition in Dulwich. I got to immerse deeper into the wonder and work of my favorite childhood author, and yet until this day- role model. The fact that I then spent about 2 hours on different buses heading home, stuck in the rain, had not eaten, felt dizzy and got nuts and raisins did not get  captured on film, but pushing through that is London life too. 

- Tomorrow I am visiting my friend in Richmond, seeing the park, deer, and her family 

- Improv group practice started again. To have a place where you can play air guitar as a Tyrannosaurus Rex or be 25 % snake and 30 % ghost without any judgement (more so on call), is definitely something everyone in this stuck up world should have access too. Let loose.

- The other day I got to work my entire pub shift (where I continue to work a few nights a week) listening to several performances of fantastic upbeat soul kind of music (Look up James McFadden & Ebony Buckle).

- Bollywood dance has made a comeback in my life as well, as it has become far easier to make it to dance class after work (1,5 hours of bus riding changed to a 20 minute stroll to Covent Garden). 

- Recently I found out that Lidl sells basically fresh mackerel (tastes like a mix of the perch from dads smoke box out on the island and the memories of the fishermans cupboard out on my adventure in St Ives).

- There will be more solo travel, soon enough. I am always making a plan for stepping into my wandering boots. 




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