What does everyone do?

Matt Cowan · **Posted:** Fri Apr 06, 2007 11:26 pm

Well, mine is going to sound a whole lot less impressive, but here goes anyways. I'm a water meter reader for a medium sized city in Indianapolis, Indiana. I am the senior reader, as I'm the only person so far, to stay in it as long as I have without requesting a transfer to another department. It is not a very popular job because it is a lot of repetative work. That is why I like it, though. I know it so well now that I really don't have to think about what I'm doing much. I listen to podcasts, think of story ideas, etc. We have somewhere around 8,000 electronically read meters, and I read all of those (it's nice, I drive through the routes and read them with a device mounted to my car), and I also read about 2,000 manually read meters. I have a reputation as a super-accurate meter reader (manuals, pretty much impossible to misread electronic meters), which I pride myself on.

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

Matt...your job sounds like the perfect gig for a psychopath story. Like the tale of a meter reader gone bad. Have you ever read the story "The Phonebook Man" by Bentley Little? It's a humorously demented tale about a phonebook delivery man driving a woman nuts. If you haven't read it, I highly suggest getting your butt to the local bookstore and grabbing Bentley Little's The Collection. It's a very short story, starts on page 27, and you can read it right in the store.

With your insight into the position, you could weave a similarly disturbing tale.

oldmanmike · **Posted:** Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:18 am

I'm the private party/D-lot photographer for autotrader magazines. It's not Playboy or Sports Illustrated but it pays the bills. I do have free lance work that fills in the creative gaps (most recently the Smoke Shop Mag cover story photos) but those arent frequent enough to be full time.
I wrote (and more) for Buzzmonger from 93 to 99 and then Cageliner and Buddy Magazine after that covering bands that no one but me cared about. I also was the Bargain Hunter for Bargain Trader magazine which was a sweet deal for a while until the budget cuts.I've also got the bloggie that the house fraus seem to enjoy.

Mark Justice · **Joined:** Mon Mar 14, 2005 1:28 am **Posts:** 1683

I'm the program director and morning host for a radio station in Kentucky. I get up in the middle of the night and go to bed before prime time shows start, so everything I watch is time-shifted.

Matt Cowan · **Posted:** Sat Apr 07, 2007 10:45 am

HorrorWorld · **Joined:** Wed Dec 31, 1969 8:00 pm **Posts:** 1024

ristow · **Posted:** Sat Apr 07, 2007 12:06 pm

Jeez, Mark, I love the medium of radio, but that's got to blow. I always complain abut when I have to get up at 5:30, one day a week.

But then again, that's just the nature of the your business. I heard morning television by its nature has to work like that too.

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

At least in radio, you don't have to spend 2 hours in makeup & wardrobe getting ready like the TV people do. Can you imagine having not only to be up that early, but also to look like you've been ready to go for hours?

Matt Cowan · **Posted:** Sat Apr 07, 2007 2:30 pm

So, it's starting to sound like I'm the only guy here who hasn't ever been published or doesn't have some sort of background in publishing. Is that correct?

Kreep · **Joined:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:19 pm **Posts:** 237

The only things I've ever done that I'd consider legitimately published were a handful of special section covers and one short blurb that were published in the newspaper I worked at many years ago. I helped out the Marketing department by laying out some of their tabloid-sized special sections, and sometimes designed the covers for them, too.

And the one "story" I wrote for the paper was a blurb for the Features Department weekly Calendar section (arts & entertainment stuff). I was appalled to find out they weren't going to bother printing a blurb about the upcoming Cinderella concert, so I asked them if I could write one. They said, "Sure, go ahead!" I should have used that as a springboard to write more for them, but never bothered.

That was one of the coolest things, though: to see my own byline in the "Oldest Continually Published Daily Newspaper in America." I wonder if I still have a copy of that section floating around somewhere...

Monty Grue · **Posted:** Tue Apr 10, 2007 8:54 pm

Mark Justice · **Joined:** Mon Mar 14, 2005 1:28 am **Posts:** 1683

HorrorWorld · **Joined:** Wed Dec 31, 1969 8:00 pm **Posts:** 1024

HorrorWorld · **Joined:** Wed Dec 31, 1969 8:00 pm **Posts:** 1024

David T. Wilbanks · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:38 am

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

David T. Wilbanks · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:13 am

David T. Wilbanks · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:15 am

Mark Justice · **Joined:** Mon Mar 14, 2005 1:28 am **Posts:** 1683

David T. Wilbanks · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:02 am

deusExMachina · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:34 pm **Posts:** 546

Mark Justice · **Joined:** Mon Mar 14, 2005 1:28 am **Posts:** 1683

Monty Grue · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:11 am

HorrorWorld · **Joined:** Wed Dec 31, 1969 8:00 pm **Posts:** 1024

David T. Wilbanks · **Posted:** Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:33 am

Raven Bower · **Posted:** Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:42 pm

I'm an trained herbalist and tinker with creating concoctions from teas to salves to well...stuff. I used to do a lot of consulting but I've cut that down due to lack of time to do it properly. I'd rather focus on my writing. One day though I might put out a book on Herbalism/natural healing. Maybe.

Mostly I work as a project manager for Farath which is a custom fantasy world that we're developing books and a gaming system for. I have a set of fantasy series (one dark fantasy trilogy and another straight fantasy trilogy - the first is under consideration with my publisher) in the same world (one set is solo and one is co-authored).

I also write horror novels. My debut, Apparitions is due out in...in...May or June

It too will be a series with the second one in the works.

What does everyone do?

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