Maybe I'm Doing it Wrong

Ever get asked to describe yourself?  I've spent the past two weeks in interviews and one of the favorite questions is, "Describe yourself in three words."

My first thoughts?  "I don't know."
or

"You're joking right?"

The problem with giving single word descriptors? Whatever you choose, you must prove.

So if you say funny, the next thing you must tell is a joke, or it seems not true.
If you say creative, you'd best have some unconventional thinking lined up in the wings to dazzle the interviewer with, or you look like you cherry picked adjectives without tying them to fact.

Intelligent...well, there are days, hours in each day when I wouldn't be able to prove it.  

Organized...those who know me, if they ever caught wind of me saying such a thing, might never stop laughing. My organizational skills come in fits and spurts, like thunderstorms of order in the midst of consistent chaos.  I recognize life would be much easier if my organization was the constant rather than the standard deviation, I also recognize after fifty years of living, I will have to just make the most of those occasional cloudbursts of order.  It does mean I can be competent and get things done, it just means every act of organization is an act of the will and requires some degree of a leap of faith by all those counting on me.  I've never said "I'm organized" at an interview for one very important reason.  The universe itself might start laughing if I ever dared to pretend such a reality. I'd have to offer it a throat lozenge to get back to the discussion. 

Humble...if I just made the crack about being organized, l would be at the very least, humbled before the end of the interview.

Mental note: Before next interview, stop by the 7-11 for some cough drops.    

Hey! I'm Excited because That was Fun!

There's a saying, "Act like you've been there." I've never liked that phrase.  To me, acting as if what is extraordinary is a walk in the park is a joy robber of what makes life so much fun.  So I'm bouncing up in down in my head, delighted to tell you about my first ever podcast. 

Here's the link:

Eat Sleep Write.net

It's the premier round robin with Adam Scull (host), and Roy Griffis and me discussing and deconstructing historical fiction.  

I hope you enjoy it, that you let Adam know if you liked it, maybe check out Roy's book, By the Hands of Men, and if you're a writer, consider taking the podcast plunge.  It was a lot of fun and Adam does a great job of walking you through the process and asking interesting questions to keep the ideas flowing.  

I'm not acting like I've been there before.  I'm acting like that rocked, I want to go there again.