Working 9 to 5 (What a way to earn a living)...

Actually it's more like 8:30 to 6:30. With no lunch break save the 10 minutes it takes to go downstairs and to the deli next door. I think my endurance was pretty good for someone who hasn't worked a full office day in more than two years! (Not since Brilliant.) And yet, already  I was missing my freelance lifestyle... After one day! Hmm... Still, when I've been at home writing here, I've wished for the bustle of co-workers, somewhere to go. So each situation has its benefits.

It's not even a permanent job - just a flirtation I'm having all this week with the 9-to-5 routine. I'm a freelance copyeditor for New York magazine's website, filling in for the regular freelance copyeditor (who is apparently out-of-town or something this week). I'm filling in for a filler-in! Well, actually, that guy has a more-or-less full-time job - four days a week. Anyway, it's a nice change of routine and Hello, it's New York magazine! The original home of the New Journalism way back in the 70s. I'm passing by and corresponding with people whose stuff I've been reading for years. Today I was IMing with Jessica Coen, one of the original Gawker ingenues. (Unless you're in media, you probably have no clue what I'm talking about, but she's well-known).

I edit the blogs, and they're really funny - occasionally I have to stifle my laughter so I don't disturb the other cube-occupants around me. 

Check them out: nymag.com/daily 

The job affords some downtime - we are on hand to edit, but if there's nothing to edit, we amuse ourselves -  so I finally have time to catch up on all the other blogs I like, and g-chat with my friends. Plus, I'm basically being permitted to get on-the-job training in movable type - a popular blogging tool - and copyediting, which I've never done exclusively before. It's a good skill to have in one's pocket, as places often need copyeditors to fill in when they're closing an issue or something. A good thing to potentially mix with freelance writing.

Not that I think I'll be freelance writing for that much longer. I'm in the running for at least two wonderful jobs  - don't want to say what they are here and jinx myself - and I have a connection at a third place that has an opening appropriate for me. I've gotten a lot of good feedback from people who've seen my resume (better than I expected, actually) and I think I may have gotten a leg up by being in Austin - because I was permitted to write so much more and have much more responsibility than I would have had in New York. 

Anyway, I'm positive about the job situation, and this 9-to-5 experiment is a good warm-up for things to come!