I mentioned in the last entry about my new job. It’s my first job where I’m actually working on a global team. My lead editor lives in California, my other editor lives in London, the project manager is based in Argentina, and the tech support is in the Czech Republic. As supportive as these people are, in a way it makes me feel a little sad how I’ll never actually meet any of them. It’s common, but I’ll never get to know any of them.

The closest exception was having a Skype conversation with the London-based editor about my performance. It was nice seeing a face and a voice to a name. I was concerned about meeting my quotas for the week, since I’m still working on getting up to speed. There wasn’t a lot of feedback to give on my work apparently, and that I have a solid grasp on my assignments. And a new skill I must learn is to skim information quickly before writing up an entry. I’m sure it will get easier the more I do it.

It’s a matter of getting the style guide editorial rules down and then building upon that foundation. Getting the rules down makes it so much easier, because that means less time is spent reviewing them. Not only that, but there is a lot of reference material to consult before I write something up.

Last week, I spent well over 70 hours working. It’s actually not that bad, since it goes by fast. Plus, since I’m working at home, I get to take short intermittent naps (about 15-20 minutes) when I need to. The downside is that, other than for running or doing errands, it gets easy to stay in the house for days on end. I could go to a coffee shop or library to work, but the commotion of it can be distracting. At home, it’s peaceful.

So far, the new job is going well. The long hours don’t leave time for much else, but I’m okay with it for now. It’s a start towards something better. I can feel it in my bones.