About.com?

Hmm, sleep! That's a good tip for current Guides, too

Well I am finished with prep which is a feat in of itself since I just about ended up having my baby in the middle of it. I spent half of my prep going back and forth to the hospital. I guess it's back to the waiting game now. I'm really hoping I did enough. I'm excited about my topic and had a lot of fun writing about it but my brain is not running at it's best at the end of pregnancy.

Rachellist,
Congrats on getting through prep...now the hard part is waiting to hear back from Final Review. I am keeping my fingers crossed and sending happy thoughts your way.
Happy, healthy wishes for your baby, too! I hope the rest of your pregnancy is relaxing.

Rachel, I hereby nominate you for the Prep Persistence Award! I can't believe you made it all the way through Prep, sans baby!

Good luck...joining my positive thoughts to everyone else's...

Thanks everyone! I hate the waiting part. Is it usually about a week after you finish prep when you hear back?

Just a quick note at the begining of the week before prep to say THANK YOU to all who sent such loving, warm comments - I appreciate that so much. It has been a tough year but that which doesn't kill us only makes us stronger and I'm still breathing.

Also- WOW, Rachel! I have a new hero. You are my role model. When it gets tough I'm going to tell myself "Buck up, woman! Rachel did it PREGNANT."

My official greetings and welcome to About.com letter just arrived! Now I am officially overwhelmed! Looks like I have a lot of work cut out for me. I know I need to slow down and just go through the emails one at a time. I received three emails today! One is my welcome, one is about the guide agreement, and one is from the Health Editor. I had been taking it easy since Prep ended...looks like I better get back to work!

Rachel,
I contacted my instructor a week and a half after finishing prep. She wrote me right back to tell me I graduated, but my Final Review info didn't arrive until today - two weeks after prep.

SherS,
Good luck on Friday! Keep us updated during prep. You'll do great!
Keath

Rachel, the waiting part of the pregnancy or the waiting part of prep?! They're both pretty hard...

=},
Christy

Christy
I think I'd be happy to have either one over with

SherS, I'm sorry to hear about your mom. I do think when you go through a really difficult time, sometimes it helps you find a new path in life.

klow, I'm glad I'm not the only one with that completely overwhelmed feeling! It's exciting to get started, though, isn't it? =}

Christy

My goodness, Rachael, that certainly is the most difficult life event to pop up during Prep that I've heard so far!

I'd try to put it way out of your mind, now that Prep is over. Some people heard back within a week. For me, and for a couple others here, it was a month or more before we got an answer! It just depends on the workload of the staff, I believe. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, though!

Klow, I really thought that the time between being accepted and going live was as hard as Prep - though of course, it had the added bonus of knowing that I had the job! Try not to feel too overwhelmed, this is gonna be a lot of fun!

Thanks Wolflady,
I am plugging away and when I take the work step by step it is much easier. I was up late last night working...must remind myself to stop doing that! It is funny that since I did graduate I feel even more pressure to make sure I do the work the best I can. That is not a bad thing. I just feel really invested and honestly it is rather fun!

I've been taking a look at your site, Christy's site, and a few others that are on this thread to get ideas!

Hi all.

Thought you all might find it interesting that all the UK subjects are gone now in the "be a guide available topics."

According to one writer on another board I frequent, he went through full prep for a UK site, then just got an email saying that About is scrapping the whole project.

I feel really bad for the people who had already done prep for the UK sites. That must be totally depressing...

I Think I'm Going to go For It

Wow! I've just spent 2 hours reading this folder. I've been considering applying for a guide position at About.com and knew this was the place to go for info.

One thing is for sure. I am passionate about my topic. Friends never want to hint at it because they know I'll do a 90 minute standup while they drift off to sleep. And a previous poster was right; passion for a topic shows in your writing.

So, why am I hear? Because I will soon need the support of those with About.com battle scars. I'm extremely new to this board, although some of you know me from other sites (under a different username), so I wanted to simply dive into the pool.

Some really great tips. I think the FAQ folder is a great idea, btw.

Really glad I joined this board!

Hey ChicagoBookBabe!
Glad you have decided to go for it. This is a great, supportive and informative forum. I just stumbled upon it a few months ago. I had never heard of About.com, until reading this thread. Now, I am getting my topic ready to go live. Honestly, I don't think I could have done it without the info and encouragement from these posters!

Thanks, klow! May I ask what guide topic? This attempt at About.com is extremely important to me. It would mean I can quit my damn part time job and go to work! Notice how I separate job from work. That should give you an idea how much I hate the job.

Hello to everyone joining the thread!

lilmisssunshine - I applied for the newlywed topic two weeks ago and have not heard anything, I too did not receive the confirmation email, but then again I have also applied for two other topics within a three week period, so they could just think I'm nuts, I'm sure they wouldn't be TOO far off I am also waiting to hear something about the personal organizing topic and the Oprah topic as well. I am so working the law of attraction right now! If anyone is already prepping for any of those topics, I would love to know

To anyone that prepped for the UK topics - much love going out to you all, as if the waiting game isn't bad enough, to have to put in all of that work and not even have a site go live with "the competition" - maybe About will change their minds and keep all of the candidates info for the future...

Rachel - good luck on your final review and your final weeks! I don't think I could have gone through any of that if I were in the same situation! It's an amazing effort either way!

I too think a FAQ would be awesome if possible - I know that reading through this entire thread looking for something specific can be nearly impossible - lilmisssunshine - great suggestion!

I'm sending positive thoughts to all of you waiting and waiting and waiting, for any stage of this process!

Hey ChicagoBookBabe,
My topic is ADD/ADHD.

EJBorer,
I hope you hear back soon!

Good luck, ChicagoBookBabe! You're right that passion is REALLY important to About, so if you've got it, you've got a good start!

Thank you. I'm not worried about my passion for the topic or my knowledge. I'm not even concerned about my writing ability. I believe I have that too. What makes me hesitate is that I do not have a college degree. I returned to college 4 years ago and am 5 classes short of earning my degree. I have a 4.0 GPA with a focus in liberal arts and writing. I attend DePaul University in Chicago and I'm 60 years old.

Many organizations do not respect an individuals lifelong learning and personal study.

Well, rejection is part of the game. Perhaps it is simply time to take a deep breath, put my head down and CHARGE!

ChicagoBookBabe,
Please don't let that make you hesitate at all! Charge on.

On your application and during prep you will have the opportunity to show off your knowledge on the topic and your writing skills. Go for it! It will be fun. Personally, I think your life experience and passion for the topic will speak volumes. Good luck. Keep us updated.

ChicagoBookBabe said:

I'm not worried about my passion for the topic or my knowledge. I'm not even concerned about my writing ability. I believe I have that too. What makes me hesitate is that I do not have a college degree. I returned to college 4 years ago and am 5 classes short of earning my degree. I have a 4.0 GPA with a focus in liberal arts and writing. I attend DePaul University in Chicago and I'm 60 years old.

Click to expand...

I don't have a degree and I'm a New Guide. I do, however, have many writing credits in/for my topic. Take a peek at what the About site says regarding preferred qualifications for your topic - usually there are a couple of options listed to meet the criteria. The only time I've seen formal education as a requirement (and no other options) are for the Health Guides.