Shut Up and Write
I’m flying solo today – there are only three tech writers left in our group, and the other two are out today. So it’s a party for one, Tommy style. It’s okay, other than I have to cover some of their duties in their absence, and Skippy won’t have anyone else to spread his obsessive/compulsive love on today, so I’ll have to deal with the brunt of his OCD ways. Oh, joy.
But it should be fine – writing is a fairly solitary job, anyway. Sure, you have to interact with others to get the information you need, but when it comes to it, sitting down in front of the computer and banging out technical specs or installation instructions is pretty much a one-person job. I know people who like to write in tandem with others, but not me. I’d rather just put on my headphones, crank up the Talking Heads or Green Day or whatever strikes my fancy at the moment, and get down to it.
I didn’t know I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid – it was something that struck me when I was 25. When I was young (5 to 10, probably), I wanted to be a STAR – put me on stage, give me something funny to say, and I’ll make the world laugh. That was the showoff in me, I suppose. Then I went through a phase where I wanted to be a disk jockey, and play me favorite music nonstop. “Hello, caller? You’ve got a request? Why sure, as long as your request is one of my songs.” It could have been great. Of course, I never did luck out and develop one of those perfect deep D.J. voices, so scratch that idea. All the music running through my head wouldn’t make a lick of difference if I got on the air and still sounded like a chipmunk that’d been kicked in the nads.
Then in high school I thought I’d be a baker, and for a while, sure enough I was. It was fun, but not quite the experience I thought it’d be. It came as a huge surprise to me to discover that 90% of what was coming out of your modern grocery store bakeshop was pre-made and thawed out, frozen from a box. Scratch baking? That’s for wussies. We’re into FBO – Frozen Bake Off. Any monkey can go to the freezer and get the box. So I was discouraged, and walked away from the baking world. (But have no fear – I can still whip up a pretty mean batch of cinnamon rolls.)
But I was 25 when it hit me that I should be a writer. I always liked writing fun stuff, but never had it dawned on me that maybe I could do this for a living. So I started slowly, won a few writing contests, and finally landed a job at a magazine, where even though I was just their customer service/data processing guy, I was able to talk them into printing a couple of my articles. See what insider information will get you?
Then when I came to work here at my primary employer, I talked them into hiring me as a sort-of writer: I answered their company e-mail. I did that for two years, then transferred to my current team, where I sit and write all day long. Of course, it’s not the most exciting stuff in the world – having to explain the intricacies of a new 22-inch monitor ad nauseum, but it’s okay – and it’s good practice.
I wrote a weekly newspaper column for almost two years, taking on a political slant that led me into the wonderful world of hate mail. (My favorite hate letter started “Dear Double-chinned Bozo:”) It was a point/counterpoint type of political column, where I wrote from the liberal point of view to an audience that was 80% conservative, and of those, probably at least half are hardcore ultra-cons. But it was worth it – I got to publicly insult W. on a weekly basis, and I had a lot of people come up to me and tell me how much they appreciated my speaking up.
Nowadays I write plenty – essays, term papers, and maybe another book. I wrote my first book a couple of years ago (Sell it? Hell – I couldn’t give it away!), and now I’ve got a fresh idea running through my head. Of course, I write in this blog, too, primarily for my amusement. And if you enjoy it, too, well then that’s a bonus.
The words are the easy part – it’s putting them together that’s the hard part. But a wise man once told me to “shut up and write” – don’t talk about it, don’t make excuses – just do it. And so I shall.
But first, I need some caffeine. Writers do not live on syllables alone, you know.
But it should be fine – writing is a fairly solitary job, anyway. Sure, you have to interact with others to get the information you need, but when it comes to it, sitting down in front of the computer and banging out technical specs or installation instructions is pretty much a one-person job. I know people who like to write in tandem with others, but not me. I’d rather just put on my headphones, crank up the Talking Heads or Green Day or whatever strikes my fancy at the moment, and get down to it.
I didn’t know I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid – it was something that struck me when I was 25. When I was young (5 to 10, probably), I wanted to be a STAR – put me on stage, give me something funny to say, and I’ll make the world laugh. That was the showoff in me, I suppose. Then I went through a phase where I wanted to be a disk jockey, and play me favorite music nonstop. “Hello, caller? You’ve got a request? Why sure, as long as your request is one of my songs.” It could have been great. Of course, I never did luck out and develop one of those perfect deep D.J. voices, so scratch that idea. All the music running through my head wouldn’t make a lick of difference if I got on the air and still sounded like a chipmunk that’d been kicked in the nads.
Then in high school I thought I’d be a baker, and for a while, sure enough I was. It was fun, but not quite the experience I thought it’d be. It came as a huge surprise to me to discover that 90% of what was coming out of your modern grocery store bakeshop was pre-made and thawed out, frozen from a box. Scratch baking? That’s for wussies. We’re into FBO – Frozen Bake Off. Any monkey can go to the freezer and get the box. So I was discouraged, and walked away from the baking world. (But have no fear – I can still whip up a pretty mean batch of cinnamon rolls.)
But I was 25 when it hit me that I should be a writer. I always liked writing fun stuff, but never had it dawned on me that maybe I could do this for a living. So I started slowly, won a few writing contests, and finally landed a job at a magazine, where even though I was just their customer service/data processing guy, I was able to talk them into printing a couple of my articles. See what insider information will get you?
Then when I came to work here at my primary employer, I talked them into hiring me as a sort-of writer: I answered their company e-mail. I did that for two years, then transferred to my current team, where I sit and write all day long. Of course, it’s not the most exciting stuff in the world – having to explain the intricacies of a new 22-inch monitor ad nauseum, but it’s okay – and it’s good practice.
I wrote a weekly newspaper column for almost two years, taking on a political slant that led me into the wonderful world of hate mail. (My favorite hate letter started “Dear Double-chinned Bozo:”) It was a point/counterpoint type of political column, where I wrote from the liberal point of view to an audience that was 80% conservative, and of those, probably at least half are hardcore ultra-cons. But it was worth it – I got to publicly insult W. on a weekly basis, and I had a lot of people come up to me and tell me how much they appreciated my speaking up.
Nowadays I write plenty – essays, term papers, and maybe another book. I wrote my first book a couple of years ago (Sell it? Hell – I couldn’t give it away!), and now I’ve got a fresh idea running through my head. Of course, I write in this blog, too, primarily for my amusement. And if you enjoy it, too, well then that’s a bonus.
The words are the easy part – it’s putting them together that’s the hard part. But a wise man once told me to “shut up and write” – don’t talk about it, don’t make excuses – just do it. And so I shall.
But first, I need some caffeine. Writers do not live on syllables alone, you know.
posted by Tommy G at
10:01 AM
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