About
When a twenty-something sex Blogger, Imogen, is desperate to seek a serious writing career but constantly gets rejected. Harri, a forty something Editor-In-Chief, discovers her blog & employs Imogen to contribute at her new start up online feminist magazine.
Everyone at home assumes Imogen is now living an extraordinary life, gaining publicity & earning lots of money whilst living in the city. They don't see that everything is not as it seems on the surface as she faces struggles at home. Her close friends are also changing around her for the sake of their own career & life but the change becomes too much for all.
Partially Booked's Review
Buchanan incisively expresses the woes & triumphs of all career driven women in their early career. As a twenty something start-up blogger like myself, I cannot resist expressing my enthusiasm to all bookworms & bloggers to pick up Careering, taking a moment to overwhelm their mind with either the truth or a warning about the fight ahead to become popular. The themes of the book are heavily devoted to sexual & career empowerment.
We are first introduced by two polar opposite characters - one twenty something blogger, desperate for a boost in her career in publishing & another who thought they had everything who faces demands of an ever changing industry. One sexually empowered & one career driven. They are equally overworked, underpaid & desperate for a break. Imogen & Harri works in the fashion industry, a very difficult one to work within, but Buchanan explores how far one would go to fit into it. The pressure of looking your best, having knowledge & knowing what readers want to read alongside demands of the brand which you are working for. For Imogen, it takes one perfect job offer that questions her capabilities & vulnerability. On the other side of the spectrum, Harri questions everything there was to know about the industry & her efforts to rope in an audience she cannot relate to with clickbait ideas to make the company money.
It personally energised my focus when Buchanan described the woes of punishing yourself as a writer to compete against "student blogs, fanzine or journals" with no words to describe how or why it is nourishing to keep up the pace of our work. The job is only described as a hobby (when not writing as a full-time career) only to come home & work further endless hours on a hobby you find infuriatingly addictive. It makes it more comforting to know you're not the only one putting in an endless amount of effort to make a passion become your life skills. Careering's ultimate lesson to be taught was to stop chasing validation you will never find in something that doesn't bring you joy in your career. Strive for your ambitions because the 'sun [will eventually rise]'.
☆☆☆☆☆
Further Reading
Insatiable by Daisy Buchanan
What I Wish I'd Known About Living With An Anxiety Disorder - Buchanan Guardian Article
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