[Mz]

I was a homemaker for about 2 decades. And sick as hell while job hunting. It took a while but I eventually got a job. It started at about half the wage that GIS jobs I was applying for started at. It has nothing to do with anything I want to do or any of my background education.

A) If you haven't already, pick up "What color is your parachute?".

B) Work on your resume. It shouldn't say 'unemployed for 6 years'. Mine did not say "unemployed for about 2 decades". Mine listed my education and I told employers that I was a "homemaker and homeschooling mom going through a divorce".

C) Whatever your buggaboo, stop harping on it. Mine was my health. I talked incessantly about my health crisis because I felt I needed to be "up front" and because it was uppermost in my mind...yadda yadda. The very first interview where I did not mention my health issue was the job I got.

I applied to a large company and got a phone call "According to your resume, you qualify for the following three jobs: blah blah morning shift, blah blah evening shift, blah blah evening shift." I knew I was too sick to work morning shift. I replied 'Put me down for the two evening shift jobs.'. I went in for additional testing. Afterwards, I was told "You still qualify for both jobs. Which would you like?" I said "I have no clue what either of these jobs really entails. I've been a homemaker forever..." and we chatted a bit about it. I think a contributing factor to the decision was one of them started two weeks earlier than the other, and that was what I went with.

I still have that job. I feel underemployed and so forth. But it has allowed me to keep a roof over my head, work on my health issues, get through my divorce and start my life over. In the aggregate: It's all good.

Good luck with this.

[keeptrying]

You really should write a book. I think anyone who has done something like this should write a book. Authentic stories of determination and persistence usually do well as books, movies and motivational speaking gigs. You'll need a good editor and publisher of course but I think it's worth a shot ...

[Mz]

That sentiment seems to be the general consensus. I've heard it repeatedly over the years, about various aspects of my life. But I am acquainted with a woman who wrote a book about her life and the publisher turned her down. It sounded too fantastical and they had recently been burned by someone else whose fantastical life story turned out to be all made up. I also get that kind of reaction a lot: That I am a liar, a teller of tall tales, etc. People frequently think I must be, at the very least, exaggerating. (The truth is, I do a lot of downplaying to try to minimize social problems.)

So it is unlikely that a traditional publisher will ever publish my life's story -- unless I get famous for something else first and publishers begin coming to me. I have found that it really doesn't work to try to 'sell' myself. When I go to them, people just think I'm full of crap and trying too hard. It works far better for me to wait for other people to discover me.

At work, I remain in that same entry level job -- a job that some folks have gotten right out of high school at the age of 18. (I have about 5 or 6 years of college, some of it the equivalent of graduate level work and lots of people hired after me have been promoted.) There are people in the department I work in that know I am bright. And I have submitted suggestions, proposals, etc. It goes nowhere, in spite of sometimes being initially met with enthusiasm. No one seems able to believe that some loser who can't get promoted out of an entry level job could possibly have meaningful solutions to systemic departmental problems (which is generally the scale I think on). And recently when someone did take a proposal of mine seriously, the implementation ended up bearing no real resemblance to what I was trying to accomplish. It ended up repeating the same systemic sins I was trying to redress. I take this as a hint that corporate America and me don't really mix that well. I'm disgusted and if I came into enough money say, this week/month, I think I would promptly quit my job and begin walking across the US. (Edit: The job I have seems to have a high-ish wash-out rate and I have kept it while recovering from being very ill. So I don't feel like a personal failure. I just feel like I have no real future at the company -- at least not one commensurate with my abilities.)

Which is to say "It's not like I haven't tried to go the traditional/conventional route." But it doesn't work for me. Most likely, I will need to go off and do something on my own. Winning over an audience single-handedly will probably be less challenging than winning over The Powers that Be in some existing bureaucracy (whether at a publishing house or at my place of employment).

But thanks for the feedback. I do appreciate it. :)

[keeptrying]

The powers that be are only interested in self preservation and nothing else. If you can modify your ideas so that it highlights that point then they will be interested in it.

ITs usually not worth the effort though. Start saving up and quit.