Work, Study and Courage

Before you begin What a working can prepare, and the surface you do it on.

• Work Magic: What a Rite Can Prepare and What It Cannot Promise The laptop closes at eleven with a soft click, and the work inside it is not finished.
• A Charm for the Working Surface: Desk, Bench or Van The bench has been wiped down and the tools are back along the rail, and they are not in alphabetical order.
• A Working for the Desk: The Long Study Season It is the same desk, at the same hour, on a Tuesday in week eleven, and the novelty went out of this a long time ago.

The day itself Interviews, exams, auditions, deadlines, results, first days.

• The Morning of the Interview The shirt is on a hanger on the back of the bedroom door, ironed last night while the radio was on.
• The Night Before the Exam The highlighters are lined up along the top of the desk, four of them, in an order that made sense in March.
• The Night Before It Is Due Half past one, and the laptop fan has been at full speed for so long that the sound has stopped being a sound.
• Results Day: A Rite for the Envelope or the Screen The envelope is on the mat and you can see it from the third stair.
• Before the Audition: A Rite for the Waiting Corridor Twelve folding chairs along a corridor, and the corridor smells of floor polish and old radiators.
• A Working for the Driving Test The car smells of somebody else's air freshener and the vinyl is warm along the top of the door.
• The First Day: A Charm for Walking In New At ten to nine a woman at a desk in reception says stand on the cross, and you stand on the cross, and there is a flash.

Saying the hard thing The sentence, the number, the call, the resignation, the send button.

• The Sentence You Must Say Aloud The kitchen at ten at night, and both of you are in it.
• Asking for More Money: A Rite Before the Conversation The invitation goes out at 9:04 on a Monday, from a desk with a cold cup on it, and is accepted at 9:11.
• Making the Phone Call You Have Been Putting Off The number is entered, the screen is lit, and your thumb has been a quarter of an inch above the green circle for eleven seconds.
• Handing In Your Notice The printer at home makes its small unwilling noise and the page comes out warm, and you fold it in three without reading it again.
• Pressing Send: A Rite for the Application You Have Been Holding The cursor is blinking in the attach field, and the tea has gone cold beside the laptop without either of you noticing.

When the work will not move Blocked seasons, long projects, empty months, and waiting to hear back.

• When the Work Will Not Come: A Rite for a Blocked Season The page has been open since Monday and it is Thursday now, and it is still the same page.
• The Work You Keep Avoiding The list is on the corner of the desk, and four of its five lines are crossed through.
• The Long Project: A Working for Thesis, Book or Build The folder is called draft_v3_FINAL_new, and inside it there is a folder called old, and inside that one there is another called old2.
• The Month With No Work Booked The calendar is open on the screen and the month is white from the first row to the last.
• Waiting to Hear Back The light turns red on the hill road and your hand is already moving before you have decided anything.

Standing in the room Belonging, being made small, being told no, and starting later than you meant to.

• The Room You Think You Do Not Belong In The table is longer than it needed to be, and everyone reached it before you.
• The Colleague Who Makes You Small The meeting is in its fortieth minute and somebody has just said the thing you said at minute twelve.
• After the No: A Working for the Rejection Letter You are third in line at the checkout with a basket of ordinary things, and the phone comes out because the woman ahead of you is arguing about a coupon.
• Going Back to Work After a Long Time Away The shirt has been on the same hanger since the spring and it has kept the shape of a shoulder that has changed.
• Beginning Again Later Than You Meant To The training room smells of new carpet and old coffee, and the woman beside you is twenty-two.