I haven’t talked about this on this blog before. When looking for job opportunities or really any other kind of opportunities to advance yourself, everyone’s always pushing you to network, network, network. Meeting people is easy. Even as an introvert with social anxiety, I can admit it’s easy to get acquainted with people, especially at events where common interests are shared, like concerts or writing conferences. Exchanging business cards/email/social media info is easy, too. But then you go your separate ways, the conference ends, the gathering ends, and after that you follow up with your new contacts and……nothing. Crickets. That, or the turnaround time for an email/text response can range from days to weeks and, sometimes, even months, but crickets happen 95% of the time. You reach out, but never hear from that person again. I try to be mindful that everyone has their own lives and commitments and I certainly don’t expect everyone to drop everything and respond to me on cue, but what good is networking when you can’t even get a response? I feel like this is the side of networking that no one really considers. The assumption seems to be, just meet people, get in touch, and the rest will fall into place. Nope.
This has been my reality for over 3 years. Even with a bachelor’s and a Master’s in Creative Writing, I still struggle to find meaningful ways to advance my skills and passions and, dare I say, start a career, but it’s been nothing but rejection all along. And just when I was getting done reading Reddit threads about other people’s dismal job searches, I got recommended a story published today by PROG magazine about the time Marillion were dropped by EMI Records in 1996, and the personal and financial hardships they endured leading up to the release of This Strange Engine in 1997.I, of course, hate to think of a band as special as them being put in a situation where they thought it may be the end of the road for them, but at the same time, it brings me some comfort to read about the struggles my favorite bands experienced before finding success. I’ll post the link to the full article at the bottom of this entry. It’s like when Caress of Steel was almost Rush’s last album, only to be followed up by 2112. I don’t know what kind of success is in the cards for me, but it’s been a extreme struggle to try and prove my worth to the world. I try to stick with what I’m good at and think of new ways to reach people (Example: this blog). I guess only time will tell if my efforts are working or not.
Link to the PROG magazine article:
The Girl in the Scarf 
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