Great news! Who wants to meet me for lunch?

I know I'm on a blog diet, but every diet needs to be broken a little; I've got news!

Last Friday, they shuttered our company -- 23 trade magazine titles -- and gave us a few hours to wrap up business. The closing wasn't a shock internally -- we'd been for sale in some form or another for more than two years because our parent didn't want to operate advertising-based publications -- but the immediacy of it was. Externally, a media conglomerate like ours shuttering in this way rocks the publishing world. 

That said, I woke up the next day and felt great. And I still do! At work I had mustered as much enthusiasm and positivity as I could (and my colleagues did the same) day after day, rumor after rumor -- seemingly a new one every day for almost four months -- of the inevitable closure. Operating with that morale is horrible, even when you have wonderful people to work with.

I had taken the CEO's hint when he sent out a memo New Year's Eve that told us to prepare our resumes; I also began preparing for a job search before that when it was clear my new roles weren't in line with my career goals.

So I've been in a hard-core job search for months and even turned down a couple offers, realizing I have the luxury of being picky; the great part about being part of a huge company is that you're exposed to a lot of different forms of media. We weren't perfect by any means, but I can call myself a multimedia content strategist when other journalists and their companies are just scratching the surface. My point is, I've got talent, which gives me confidence in matching up with a sharp, innovative company.

I'm doing better than many of my colleages.

Many have been with my company for decades, many are brand-loyal and many were totally happy with their job other than the whole for-sale-limbo thing -- they made the commitment to stick it out until the end and hopefully get picked up "on the other side," the term that came around to describe whatever owner buys out the individual brands and needs to reassemble a team. Many of my coworkers are also ready to send kids off to college and have that huge expense to worry about.

As you can see, I'm the opposite: different career goals, no kids to support, already in a job search, mentally prepared for a change. Add that to 60-days pay including benefits plus two months of severance, and I'm good! 

So what will I do with my time off? There are a couple big ifs: I might be called back to help with a project, and I might get a job (I just had a second interview w/ an association that would be great to work for and simultaneously heard from a company I'd love to work, too). Two huge, big ifs.

If they don't pan out? I got a visa to visit friends in Austrlia, and I intend to continue to rebuild my immune system by cooking organic, working almost every day, revising my children's book, job searching, networking, taking care of random stuff such as getting my car's title transferred to my name (finally), volunteering again with Inspiration Corporation and sitting on my ass by the lakefront while taking in some sunshine. :D If I have more time, I might do some more travel.

I have a lot to look forward to and feel like I've been given a gift. I haven't decided if I'll update this blog regularly, but at some point I'm sure I will.

Now, who wants to meet for lunch?