Film and boss deconstruction

Goatee and I went and saw Mockingjay last night. What an amazing series. I could never get into the books too much, mostly because they are written in first person present tense and that drives me crazy. But the films I am really into. I leave the theatre feeling totally fearless and like I can take on the world. (And the films aren’t as gory as the books.)

Old offices and new intern

Right, temporarily living in Glasgow…sort of.

Let me start with what happened last Thursday morning.

Giles came storming into the office because he found out that the Intern was doing all her hours for the week over two days, and he told her it wasn’t acceptable. (She usually works Monday and Tuesday, but changed to Thursday and Friday this week, but he thought she was still working every morning.)

Then in front if everyone he bollocked her saying that he’s gone out of his way to give her this opportunity, and she needs to take it seriously, and that ‘in the real world you can’t just choose your schedule.’ He then says, ‘if you were working at Tescos you couldn’t choose the days you work.’

I’m actually proud of my sister

I was only home a few minutes last night when there was a knock on the door. It was Candy reminding me about my request to do something over the weekend, but asking if we could do it on Saturday night. I had to say ‘Yes, Saturday was fine’, but paranoia crept in all the same.

Was she stalling me to Saturday night because she was going to sneak away on Friday to see HP? But would she rush back and forth to Manchester (like 5 hours away) just to keep up the rouse? Did she and HP have sneaky online chat plans scheduled? Or, was he really in Manchester? Maybe he was up the road at a hotel and the two of them were having a sneaky affair under my nose?

Stupid stupid data

I am the biggest fuck wit. Talked the crew into buying a proper database. One that we can record all kinds of stats on that we can gather from social media and other such junk, and then use to target specific readers. It will also help us keep track of our authors and royalties and payments and such. And it will help us keep track of our best performing publishers.

Closing Down

Holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck. I am out of a job and I’m freaking out.

Talking about work at the pub

Earlier, just after I’d finished self-pitty-blogging,  I got a text from the Agency gang. They were at the pub and wanted to know why I left before the reception. (Is it called a reception at a funeral? I don’t know.) I didn’t reply straightaway, as I wasn’t sure what to say. Was I to text back, ‘I’m a selfish git who was more worried about my own grief than celebrating the life of a wonderful person?’

The Agency’s Truth

Another draining morning. We had the conference call and there was so much information flying around I couldn’t keep up with it all. I gave my run down of the weekend festival, and everyone else had a catch up on their various interactions at the Book Fair.

Book Festivals and Rumour Mills

Today has been really difficult. Working with Loraine and the Agency has been a bit like working in a bubble, and I’ve completely forgotten how petty, mean and insular the publishing world can be. Today has made me wonder why I’m even in this business. Oh yeah, I like books. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that everyone else in the literary world feels the same way as me. And Fife is being a total bitch, so I’m none too please about that either.

First Day at the Agency

I was supposed to be at work for 9am, but I was so nervous that I would get lost I left at 8 o’clock. As it turns out the office is about a ten minute walk from my house (and that’s walking slowly due to all the ice on the pavement), but when I arrived I wasn’t sure if I was in the right place. It was a residential area, not an office in sight. Perhaps, I’d been fooled again by the repeating name conundrum. So, I went back to my flat and reGoogle-mapped it. I had printed out a set of Google map directions before I left Mum’s house, but I was worried that I had the wrong address. I double checked the Agent’s email, and double checked the directions. I even did a Street View. Yup, it was the right place. But it wasn’t an office, it was a house.

No Longer the Intern, Now I’m the Staff

What’s got two thumbs and a job? This guy!