As somebody who has always enjoyed writing and considered it to be a strength of mine, it has been extremely eye-opening to leave the academic writing world and enter the professional (somewhat) writing world. In school I wrote dozens and dozens of term papers, and received high marks for the most part. I would spend weeks writing outlines and constructing sentences and paragraphs that were exactly what I wanted them to be, and then would have them returned to me with a few scribbles in the margins, sometimes a much appreciated comment on the last page, and a big red letter that was, usually, the one I was hoping to see.
Nowadays, I don't get the indulgence of my comfy desk in my quiet home and a due date months in the future. I don't even get the luxury of writing in my own voice. Instead, I have a little cubicle in the midst of organized (to be generous) chaos, an assignment with a deadline that most often is in the next several hours, and the task of writing about something I don't know about in a voice that sounds like somebody else's.
The result? A lot of editing, and a transformation of the words I crafted into other words entirely. My editor gives me an assignment - more often than not it is about a topic I know absolutely zero about - and I research as quickly as I can before writing the exact number of words she requested. I give it to her, and wait to receive a new copy of it that is completely unrecognizable. Words crossed out, words added in, and sometimes no sign at all that the words I'm now reading have been rewritten in their entirety. Often, it's pretty diheartening to see that somebody else didn't love your work as much as you did. And to sit back down and rework a piece that you have reread to death already can be quite draining.
Thank goodness for my own little blog that allows me to toss my destroyed assignemnt to the side for ten minutes so that I can let my thoughts flow as they come, with nobody to then take this from me and make it sound like an ominous anonymous voice. I can write the first thing that comes to mind and just leave it there, knowing that nobody else can touch it. How refreshing!
But now, because that deadline really is looming, I have to get back to work. This quick rant makes that task seem a lot less daunting.
Thursday 12 September 2013
Tuesday 3 September 2013
Having It All
I'm one of those people who gets nervous when things are going too well because I assume that something will have to go wrong soon to even things out. But for the past couple months I've been on a roll (knock on wood) and I'm starting to believe that maybe (just maybe) you really can have it all.
That's not to say that it all comes down to luck. You obviously have to work hard to play hard and great things don't just come to you without a little blood, sweat, tears, and good karma. The good news is that I don't mind working up a sweat and shedding a few tears if the pay off is what I have now. This summer I have managed to score my dream job and my dream guy and maintain my self-sufficiency and independence, while working three jobs but making time for a lot of fun and adventure. I've never been more exhausted, but I've never been happier or more satisfied.
My "dream job" (for now at least - it constantly changes and tends to be whatever is happening in the moment) is working at the editorial department at Vancouver Magazine. This internship is ideal in every way - who wouldn't want to talk to the greatest chefs in Vancouver, drink our best local wines, and get all the inside details on every event in this city, all while writing and editing? - besides the fact that it is more or less unpaid. Which means that it is totally worth doing, I just also have to do a lot more. So I fit about 30 hours per week of work at my two favourite stores around my full time position at the magazine in order to keep my cozy and colourful little apartment all to myself. Needless to say, my day planner is almost as packed as it was when I was a student (which is saying a lot).
I often work two shifts a day, and I can't even remember my last day off, yet this summer has consisted of an endless number of runs on the Sea Wall, a countless number of drinks at my favourite Yaletown and Kits bars, and a continuous exploration of summer in Vancouver. From The Chief to Bard on the Beach, from the Night Market to the Sea Wheeze, from beach days to movie nights, from the Rush concert to the Fun. concert, from the fireworks nights to The Bachelorette nights, and from the Sunset Festival to movies in the park, this summer has somehow been filled with all the love, laughter, and fun I could have asked for, despite my 70 hour/week work schedule. I really have had it all. Especially because the play time is not nearly as worthwhile without the work time.
I think perhaps the biggest sacrifice I've made in the name of "having it all" is (besides sleep . . .) this blog! My poor little blog has been so abandoned! So I am making a vow to myself now that this becomes a priority on the list. It will be scheduled into my planner if that's what it takes. Writing is far too important to me to allow it to fall by the wayside. Once I've got that under control, I really will have it all: the most supportive family ever, the most wonderful friends in the world, the best boyfriend a girl could want, a home that is all mine, a job that I've dreamed of for years, constant laughter and adventure, and my own little blog that keeps me company on rainy and slow days at the office. Could you ever want anything more?
Knock on wood. (The cynicism isn't completely dead just yet.)
That's not to say that it all comes down to luck. You obviously have to work hard to play hard and great things don't just come to you without a little blood, sweat, tears, and good karma. The good news is that I don't mind working up a sweat and shedding a few tears if the pay off is what I have now. This summer I have managed to score my dream job and my dream guy and maintain my self-sufficiency and independence, while working three jobs but making time for a lot of fun and adventure. I've never been more exhausted, but I've never been happier or more satisfied.
My "dream job" (for now at least - it constantly changes and tends to be whatever is happening in the moment) is working at the editorial department at Vancouver Magazine. This internship is ideal in every way - who wouldn't want to talk to the greatest chefs in Vancouver, drink our best local wines, and get all the inside details on every event in this city, all while writing and editing? - besides the fact that it is more or less unpaid. Which means that it is totally worth doing, I just also have to do a lot more. So I fit about 30 hours per week of work at my two favourite stores around my full time position at the magazine in order to keep my cozy and colourful little apartment all to myself. Needless to say, my day planner is almost as packed as it was when I was a student (which is saying a lot).
I often work two shifts a day, and I can't even remember my last day off, yet this summer has consisted of an endless number of runs on the Sea Wall, a countless number of drinks at my favourite Yaletown and Kits bars, and a continuous exploration of summer in Vancouver. From The Chief to Bard on the Beach, from the Night Market to the Sea Wheeze, from beach days to movie nights, from the Rush concert to the Fun. concert, from the fireworks nights to The Bachelorette nights, and from the Sunset Festival to movies in the park, this summer has somehow been filled with all the love, laughter, and fun I could have asked for, despite my 70 hour/week work schedule. I really have had it all. Especially because the play time is not nearly as worthwhile without the work time.
I think perhaps the biggest sacrifice I've made in the name of "having it all" is (besides sleep . . .) this blog! My poor little blog has been so abandoned! So I am making a vow to myself now that this becomes a priority on the list. It will be scheduled into my planner if that's what it takes. Writing is far too important to me to allow it to fall by the wayside. Once I've got that under control, I really will have it all: the most supportive family ever, the most wonderful friends in the world, the best boyfriend a girl could want, a home that is all mine, a job that I've dreamed of for years, constant laughter and adventure, and my own little blog that keeps me company on rainy and slow days at the office. Could you ever want anything more?
Knock on wood. (The cynicism isn't completely dead just yet.)
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