Workin' for a Livin'

Well, everyone, it's that time of year again where I get busy and don't have as much to post. This is made even more of a reality this year since I've gotten a second job. I can't remember if I've mentioned this, and I'm too lazy to go back and check. :)

I got a job with a company called Smarthinking. They provide online tutoring in a variety of subjects to college, universities, and some high schools around the country - math, nursing, ESL students, and writing. I'm a writing tutor. This means that I read essays that subscribers submit. However, I don't just edit them for them. We focus on HOCs before LOCs (high order concerns and low order concerns, respectively). For example, having a thesis statement or main idea for your essay is a HOC. How you use commas is a LOC. Because the bigger issues like main ideas, the organization of your paper, and the content of your essay matter more than comma usage, those are the priority. Smarthinking (or ST as I like to abbreviate it and spare my fingers :)) is a good company because they really focus on positive feedback for students, who often think they are terrible writers, and they ask us to explain the "why" of a revision since understanding why something needs corrected actually helps the person become a better writer long-term than just correcting it for them. I had a rather rigorous training experience this summer, and once I got through that, I was approved to work! It's also a widely-used company; when I logged in tonight, there were 653 essays in the queue. As a tutor, I accept an essay from the top of the queue, or the pile, write up my response, and send it back. And don't worry - there are over 800 writing tutors, so I don't have to do all the editing by myself! We work all across the country in all different time zones. ST also offers services 24/7, so some people even choose to work in the middle of the night! It can be a little tiring to read and edit essays for 4 hours, but I take quick breaks in between and, so far, it's been good. I enjoy having what feels like my own business. This company is completely online, so all my correspondence with bosses is via email and IM. Welcome to the new millennium of the business world, I guess!

I work Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays from 7 PM to 11 PM. I have to get my responses done in about 30 minutes, so I'm improving in that response time each shift. I make excellent money, which is a great blessing - more than I'd make if I worked at Kohl's or something, and I get to do it from home in my jammies with Oliver by my side! :) It's a wonderful blessing, and it allows me to use a skill set I love - writing and editing. I've always been a writer (hopefully Mom still has some of the fables I wrote when I was 6 and 7) and have always been naturally good at grammar and communicating my ideas through words. And I don't have to do any counseling in this job. Don't get me wrong - I love my job, but it's nice to enter into what is, for me, mindless work in the second job.

All that said, I will keep blogging; you'd think they'd be shorter with all the typing I'll be done, but I'll probably be as verbose as ever! :) Night, all!