Well what can I say? For 18 years I have driven into HarperCollins to write them dictionaries. It's been fun for the most part. I think I am quite good at it - word analysis, structure, the bilingual element. But for some reason this country's economy is senseless. Publishing pays less than an average wage, though you have to be a university graduate to work in it (note that - anyone who assumes they'll ever pay off their student loan one day working in publishing!) To go back to work I would need to pay 2 private nursery places - I don't think having two pre-schoolage kids is that unusual in the Western world, but two nursery places (once you add on the petrol to get to work) actually means you work for nothing - nada, niente, zilch! So my 5 years of university education, my Master of Arts degree, and my 18 years experience in lexicography are to be shelved for want of a nursery place I can afford. Gordon thinks I'd be better staying home hoovering and wiping bums - sad, really.
Anyway, I guess like many before me I will now try to work as a freelance lexicographer from home, adding in a bit of photography and painting the odd kiddie mural to make ends meet. Isn't it just a crazy way to run a country, though!?
3 comments:
Any Decision is a Divorce ??
You seem to have divorce on the brain at the mo' ?
A strange title for your blog rant?
Do explain your thought processes to Daddy ?
Are you divorcing HC or Gordon ,, or is it a Mother / Father / Child divorce thing ,,,
I'm a little confused ,.,. again !
It's about decisions. By choosing something, you leave the alternative behind. It's a quote from Goethe. By deciding to resign, the path that would have left me working at HCP forever is now cut off, that's all. I'm afraid you need to do 2 years of Faust to get all the nuances.
Silly me ,, I should have known Goethe & Faust would be in there :(
Actually I'd quite like to do a short Psychology course ,.., I'm sure it would open up a new world for me. Any books that might get me started ?
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