Thanks for the advice. I've sent an email to my friend, but she's just moved across the country (with her hubs, handful of pets, and little infant!) - so she may not yet be up for answering emails . Ah, and I had already emailed this woman with the "I'm back from vacation and getting in touch!" - which is what led to us talking about the samples, so I can't say that again. I'm hoping she's just busy... last time I checked, it did look like she downloaded a few of the files (it's a file-sharing platform through work)... I'm just not sure if that's a good thing or not!

Wow, your friend sounds awesome! How helpful of her! It kind of amazes me how much help we get in landing jobs, or contracts, through people we know. And, makes me sad, because I'm not great at cultivating tons of friendships either. Do you think your friend understands what you can do for the company (i.e. all the things that the others don't even realize that you can do?). If so, that's doubly nice!

You know, you can practice talking to people anywhere, practically! A few years ago, I started practicing my "small talk" skills at the local grocery store . Now, there are a bunch of people there who know me by name and let me blab about stuff. And, I've apparently befriended a couple folks who work at a local takeout place. LOL. I'm so not normally chatty, but "practicing" really helped.

I did find that there are some people that just aren't in the mood for talking, for whatever reason. I don't think it has anything to do with me (or you), they maybe just are super introverted, or have other things on their minds, or are having a bad day. Nothing you can do about that except give them their space.

Were the people at the board meeting super chatty with each other? Do you know if they might have already known each other? When I did my acting class last year, it was interesting... there was a nice guy there that I did a few scenes with who was *wonderful*, but he didn't seem that interested in chatting with me at all before/after class. I thought maybe he didn't like me. At the last class, while we were all waiting for the teacher, he admitted that he is super shy and was taking the class to practice his social skills and interact with people! So it wasn't me! (It was a beginner's class, obviously, apparently we were all there to practice our social skills - super fun though!)

If you're feeling brave you could always try an improv class! I did a short one (like a 2-hour workshop) and it was amazingly fun, but I chickened out of a longer class, since they required you to go on stage and do a show at the end, even for the beginner classes. Not gonna' happen! But if it weren't for that, I would have done it - really good practice for just saying whatever pops into your head without editing!

And, thanks, it is really good to feel like there are people on my team who like me, like my work, and want me to be happy. It definitely helps, and I'm glad I had the chance to talk to them!

Good luck with your stuff! So, you've already sent them your salary requirements and ideas about what needs to be done? Now you're just waiting to hear back on that? I do think three days a week would be a really nice way to ease back into having a regular salaried job!