Preparing Myself To Hear the Word "No" a Lot.

I did something crazy (for me) today.  I applied for two adjunct college professor jobs.

It's something I've been trying to convince myself to do for weeks, and couldn't.  Being that I'm still a year away from my MFA (and not even begun to speculate on whether to try for a Ph.D), I'm hopelessly underqualified for both jobs.  I could see the powers that be at both places laughing at my applications, CVs and cover letters as they come in, and that kept the voices in my head from letting me go ahead and throw my hat in the ring.

But it's something I have to do.  I'm still unemployed, so you never know, using the blind-squirrel theory, something good might come of it.  Besides, colleges are thinking about who to hire for the 2011-12 school year, and by that time I'll all but have my MFA in hand.  I should probably apply for one university job a day for the next year, and maybe one private secondary school job a day as well.  Can't hurt.  Something will pop eventually.

Now that I've actually done it, I feel good about myself, even though this is the beginning of a flood of no's.

Still, for someone like me, who doesn't handle rejection well, it's no more comforting.