I was nearly fired from my second job, which was writing press releases for Boston's public television station.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I was once hired to write a column for 'The Guardian' and then got fired before I'd submitted my first one. That was unusual. Most newspapers wait until I've written at least one piece for them before firing me.
One of my first jobs was as a recipe tester for a PR agency. One week, the editor of 'Housewife' magazine called my boss and asked me to write a column - the cookery editor had gone away on a press trip. I was terrified.
I always figured that I was one new editor away from unemployment.
Eventually I became involved with somebody, and I was fired.
When I was a newspaper reporter, and later a television writer, I really felt my co-workers became a second family.
I quit my job just to quit. I didn't quit my job to write fiction. I just didn't want to work anymore.
I was fired by 'America's Next Top Model' on my birthday.
I was fired from my television job, simple as that. Well, downsized, really, a classic 1990s situation.
I got a job working at a publishing company, Balmur Music, which was a company that Anne Murray was a co-owner in, as a tape copy guy. Eventually, I got fired from that job.
Being fired was the best luck of my life. It made me stop and reflect. It was the birth of my life as a writer.