Zen and the Art of Cover Letter Writing

Image Source

Sitting down with a beer, Fight Club on pause, and writing today's blog. 

I'm not sure exactly where to go with this post. No real plan, but I feel too lazy and uninspired to go back to one of my older, partially completed blogs. Maybe that is part of my process too. The spontaneity of writing whatever comes to mind in the moment...in the moment. Diving into an idea when it is fresh and new and interesting. Could explain my unfinished Master's thesis, which I was so absolutely excited for...once upon a time. (*tangent: I sometimes worry I used too many ellipses, dashes, and parentheses.)

I feel totally bored with my thesis now, though. Too much time has passed. It is old hat, even if it is a good idea—which I have serious doubts about. But, a mentor once told me that the best theses are finished theses. So I will get back to it and finish it. Who knows, maybe getting my hands dirty with it again will reignite that spark, like an ex you run into again after being separated for a while and then find there is something still there. (That was in no way related to my relationship with my separated wife. I really, really do not fucking like her today. Always some kind of stupid spat about something. And we are forced to keep talking to each other because of our boys. At least we both have their best interests at heart.) 

I've been doing another kind of writing this past week, in addition to blogging and other writing I do for my job. 

Cover letter and curriculum vita writing. 

I sent out two this past week. I am awesome at them. Especially cover letters. But they are tedious. Not fun at all. So much time spent on a two-page document. But still, I should start a resume/vitae business or something. That's how awesome I am.

I like my current job well enough. But this "life transition" I'm going through has inevitably led to me re-evaluate...just about everything. Plus, I worry about the stability of my current position. 

And I REALLY like and want one of the jobs I wrote a  cover letter for. Yet, if I actually got that job, it may cause issues with my eventual divorce and also potentially with custody-related shit. That scares the crap out of me.

But the job is a really great opportunity. I have to at least explore it. 

So is this blog about cover letters and vita? Sure, why not. To write a good one, do your homework and be sure to revise and edit the shit out of it. Make it your best piece of writing ever—whatever that means for you. And do whatever you have to do to make your best writing happen. While you are writing it, the cover letter is your career. Worry about what comes after, after.

That is kind of interesting advice that can apply to a lot of things. Sort like a practice in mindfulness. 

The Zen of Cover Letter Writing. And so I now have a title for this blog. 

Or so I thought. There is actually already blog post out there with that same title: The Zen of Cover Letter Writing.

Well, fuck. I really like that title. Should I still use it? The other blog is basically little more than a link to an article about cover letters.  

And I found this picture I want to use to go along with the zen/cover letter writing thing (source). Tell me the lotus-stance-frog isn't awesome. 

(Of course, if you are reading this, you have already seen the picture and know the title of this post...but from my perspective of writing right now, the ideas sprang from each previous idea. Totally meta.)

(*Yet another tangent: I need to look up how to cite sources on blog posts.)

So to bring this all together, when you are writing a cover letter, write it when you are in a state of peak interest about the new job posting you found. If you wait, the excitement will dissipate, and the cover letter will morph into a chore. And don't write about writing cover letters. Despite the meta-ness of doing so, what you are really doing is wasting time.

And waste is a thief.

As for the repeatedly referenced, still non-existent, promised f-bomb post, it has now become sort of a running joke. (Even if I am the only one who finds it funny.)