the update

So I haven't posted in forever. So sorry, got caught up in stuff.
First, the semester is FINALLY OVER! Thank all the Gods Humanity has ever worshipped! It was seriously starting to get long and exhausting. But we did learn an aweful lot like, I don't like to work in a team :p We spent a whole day watching everyone's presentations which was really interesting. I only had a very small idea of what everyone was doing so I was really surprised by how good everyone else's projects were.

That said, I thought some of them really weren't viable if it had been a proposal for real. But the ideas behind it were really intriguing. We don't know yet which group has the best proposal. I have no idea when we'll be told but I sure hope it's us in Education :D I think we had a very solid proposal. Maybe not the most exciting but in the real world, it's usually the safest option that makes it. Sad but true.

I think my favourite idea was the Trade Fiction division. They were going to do a range of lit in translation but they would translate best-selling novels from other countries rather than literary fiction which is what most commonly gets translated. It's a great idea but I thought it wasn't very realistic. It demanded a very high investment and the risk would have been really high. Still, I would have loved it if someone did that. Also, their presentation was really funny.

We're now in Dissertation/Major Project time but I have done very little work which is making me very stressed which makes me procrastinate even more. Not a good combination. I wish I had picked a Major Project rather than a dissertation. The schedule is more obvious :) Some people on the course are doing real projects for real publishers as in making actual books that are actually going to be sold in bookshops. It's scary but it sounds so awesome too and you have resources and money to do it. I would recommend to future students that they take one of these on (they are usually advertised by lecturers or they come and give a bit of a presentation and take CVs and stuff). I didn't go for it because I thought it was beyond my abilities but I wish I had now. It also counts as awesome work experience and looks amazing on the ol' CV.

I keep forgetting that the dissertation needs to be bound so I have actually a bit less time than the deadline. I really should be working harder :(

Not all interviews are equal

Here's an account of an interview from just this year by Brianna. Clearly the methods have changed somewhat as it doesn't sounds like anything my current coursemates have told me their interviews were like (or maybe it's because it's early in the year and the interviewers aren't tired of the same ol' answers yet ;) Who knows?). The lesson to draw from this, IMO, is that no one can tell you exactly what the interview will be like.

In spite of her experience with the interview, Brianna did get accepted at OBU by the way :)

-----

The interview day began kind of poorly for me as I confused the time
change difference and found the interview was scheduled 2 hours before
I had planned. As I arrived to my regular 8 to 5 job, I received a
phone call from my interviewer and promptly had to reschedule, while
attempting to hide the purpose of the phone call from my boss and
coworkers who don't know I am considering graduate school. Luckily, my
interviewer had some extra free time later that day and I managed to
leave work for that purpose. Still, it ruined my built-up idea of the
interview going smoothly and I felt more nervous when the actual time
came. The lesson here is that if you are an international student, pay
close attention to the time difference!

I already felt stupid and apologized immediately when OBU called. I
had prepared for a week to answer questions based on my strengths,
weaknesses, interests in the school and general publishing questions.
I expected to be asked about what jobs I would see myself doing in the
industry and I also expected a lot of questions about my background.
What I found, though, was that the background meant little except for
clarification purposes.

I was asked what certain phrases meant regarding my honors courses and
my grade point average (GPA) - which I assume they don't use in the
UK? The previous week had been spent skimming stories on Publisher's
Weekly and The Bookseller, but the questions I received were much more
pointed. I had no questions about strengths or weaknesses, what I
thought publishing was, why I liked OBU, etc. My questions were very
focused on specific events and lawsuits within the publishing
industry. I don't want to give away details, but the stories I was
asked about have been in the news for years and I had never heard of
them. I felt completely lost and utterly stupid as I fumbled for
opinions. The important thing is that I gave opinions. Interviewers
will not mind if you have a differing view. They want to see that you
can speak clearly and form your own ideas. I even told the interviewer
that I had never heard the news story in question and she gave me some
key points to research.

Overall, it was a stressful interview. I did not feel comfortable, but
I felt like I did the best I could with the knowledge I had. I would
just suggest that anyone who is considering grad school in a specific
subject should know, in detail, the most pressing current events. I
thought I did, but should have dug deeper. Everyone should write a
thank you letter after the interview and send it immediately. I
usually have no problem with interviews and do not get stressed
easily, but for some reason I did. Not every interview is going to be
perfect, so you shouldn't expect it to be. Just do the best you can
and make sure you have a genuine interest in the topics. Relax.:)

Research Proposals

So, Research Proposals are the devil.

We have to write a 2000w. proposal for our dissertation. Based on this paper, they will assign us a supervisor. The thing is, the proposal assumes you've done some research on the subject already: how are you going to research the topic, what resources do you have/need, what's your schedule, how much money etc. I mean, most of us just decided on a subject at the very last minute.

BTW, mine is "Open Access and Creative Commons: Giving your Work Away for Free" . Working title only :)

So here I am, trying to write a proposal that will be acceptable (it's not graded but if it sucks, they don't let you do a Master's but you can still do a post-grad diploma - that's the course minus the dissertation/major project).

I'm not especially interested in Rights but as the proper Humanities scholar that I am, I'm more interested in the social aspects of this topic as well as how I can think of making it profitable to publishers (because I want a good grade on this project ;D ).

I'm kind of looking forward to writing my dissertation but I'd enjoy it more if I didn't have the mammoth NPD project at the same time, let alone the DMP blog to fiddle and update regularly (as my faithful readers will know, not my strong point) and a looooong essay for Children's. Oh, and work experience, which is getting progressively more boring and routine.

*sigh* I can't wait to finish the course and get a real job.

Oh and, I will try to post something other than me whining. I was thinking maybe a post on the history of Children's lit or something like that, distilled from my class notes. I just have to work up some motivation to do something course related. I need a holiday...

Now it feels more like a Master's course!

Phew! Week 3 and already there's lots of work to be done. The way I see it, I have it pretty easy. All I have to do is read a couple of articles on Children's Publishing that Claire assigned, do a bit of research (more because I'm interested than because I have to) and do some NPD research. This last bit is not very stimulating but I think it's mainly because I'm not too thrilled with the project and the group.

Oh well!

On the other hand, the Magazine module looks tough although the Lecturer is usually so much fun. Boyfriend has to write a 3000 word essay on a cultural subject rather than straight publishing. It's on Men's Magazines (yeah, thooose) which is an interesting topic but involves a lot of research an 3000 words is a LOT!

We also have to hand in our official dissertation proposals next week or the week after that. I've barely even thought about mine. I think having NPD and dissertation work in one semester is exagerating. The NPD project could be a dissertation all on its own! It's that huge and stressful! I mean, it's very interesting from the point of view of getting experience of how it's supposed to work in a real company without risking real money on it but it's a lot of work that is a bit too much like the editorial project for my taste. I don't know, maybe I'm panicking prematurely but I feel it like this weight on my shoulders all the time, even when I'm not really thinking about it. I guess this is how a postgrad is supposed to feel.

Trial by fire and all that.

One week left in South America!

Ack! I thought I had at least two but it turns out we're leaving for France next Friday!

As you can imagine, things have started to get hectic with my mother running all over the place dragging me to her favorite markets for clothes shopping. She's screaming at my youngest sister right now, sister is crying, other sister's getting involved now, how long until my father joins? Hahah! Is there a family that isn't crazy?

I'm driving mom insane because I'm not doing any packing yet. I hate packing. It's so final. I've liked it here very much. The food is awesome even if I can't have as much of it as I'd want. (Oh! Now mom's trying to pick a fight with me. She's wasting her time.) I loved the places I've visited, in fact, last night mom dragged youngest sister, dad and me to a farewell party for one of her colleagues which was held in the "Bus Parrandero", the Party Bus. We did a very short tour of the center by night while drinking and dancing. It was ok. Would have been a lot more fun if there hadn't been older folks but one of mom's young colleagues hit on me for a while! He's cute as hell so it's all good. Maybe it had something to do with me wearing that blue and black girly top I mentionned in an earlier post *winkwink*.

I've bought so many new clothes, I feel like a bleached blonde TV teen-girl (you know the type). I still have to get new jeans.

I'm going to be in Paris for a week, I was thinking I'd go visit Oxford while I'm there but there are so many places I want to visit since I took a history of art class that I don't know if I'll have the time. I might just leave it for when I'm living with my aunt in Normandy and do it alone.

Anyway, all this to say that if I don't post as often as I should, please don't hold it against me. I might have been murdered by my parents in a fit of travel-packing rage.

Like I said, he's going insane

Yup, my dad is losing it.

When my parents moved to Peru, they rented a house that came with all the furniture so we have a lot of stuff that just stayed in its boxes. Last week, my dad started opening boxes compulsively and getting random fits of rage. "What do you mean leave the boxes closed? What if there's stuff in there that you NEED?", "Get into the garage and look through that stuff! NOW!" etc.

Funny and scary at the same time.

Today he was convinced I absolutely needed my kung-fu uniform although I haven't used it in over four years. I keep telling him to leave the boxes alone. If I boxed it, it means I don't need it immediately and keeping everything packed will make it sooo much easier when I settle down in my own place and they have to send me my stuff. But he's sure there's big important stuff in there. I think what drives him even crazier is how (apparently) relaxed I am. He was shredding up bubble-wrap with a knife earlier, furious because I was baking a cake for my sister instead of doing important things like...oh, I don't know... ripping up my old baby clothes (mom is going to kill him when she finds out).