Writer's woes
Work has been pretty hectic lately. I have 12 deadlines this week (yes, you saw right, that痴 TWELVE), three of which were due yesterday, so technically I only have 9 left. But who痴 counting? LOL
Four of them are cosmetic write-ups � a new make-up range, a new skin-whitening system, a new hair care range and a compilation of various other stuff. *sigh*
When people ask me what I do for a living, I usually say I知 a journalist. When they ask, 鉄o, what do you write?� and I say I write features, they usually look blank. And how do you describe a feature? 徹h, you know those longer stories on health, environment or lifestyle�� Half of the time, the person still looks blank!
It doesn稚 even help when I tell them which section of the paper I write for. Our paper has the highest circulation among the English dailies in Malaysia. Mention its name, and everybody knows exactly what you池e talking about. But say 典he _______ pullout,� which is our features section, and people don稚 get it. It痴 really strange.
The inevitable question always follows: 鉄o you have to go out and interview people?� At times like these, I fleetingly wish I had a more 渡ormal� kind of job. I mean, that痴 like asking an accountant, 鉄o, you deal with numbers?�!!! Good grief! Of course I have to go out and interview people. The people in my stories don稚 just exist in my mind, you know. I might be wacky, but not THAT wacky! (and even if I were, my boss sure wouldn稚 be wacky enough to print the story!)
Remember my three deadlines yesterday? I was sitting in front of the PC with all my wonderful scribbled notes � it痴 a miracle I知 able to read my own handwriting, LOL � and I had no idea what to write. I hate it when that happens. If we were still in the days of typewriters, I壇 have a pile of crumpled paper balls tossed out behind my chair, all of them trashed in frustration after typing out a single line of text!
I messaged a Christian colleague on the internal messaging system, which is exactly like IM or ICQ, except that it痴 only within our company network. 的 dunno what angle to take on the story and I can't think of a way to start! (and the Boss wants it NOW!)� I wailed.
鏑ook at your notes, and try to get a good starting point from there. It will normally hit you. Worst case scenario, pray. Even firing squads give you the chance to pray before shooting you!� he soothed.
I was like, 敵ood idea. I'm gonna pray. Now, why didn't I think of that?�
*grin*
Amazing how I can panic and not even think about God, who is ever-present. I can imagine Him standing beside me, waiting patiently, silently willing me to call upon Him. 的知 ready! I知 waiting! I want to help! Ask Me!� But I can稚 even take the time to stop, take a deep breath, and say a prayer!
Well, I got the story done without pulling out too many hairs. (I値l be bald by the end of the year if I keep this up!) Thank God�