When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going

So, before I get into the actual subject matter here, I have to relate the Bizarre Thing that happened on the way to this post!  I was sitting on the couch, pondering good lyrics for post titles, and the song "When the Going Gets Tough" popped into my head out of the clear blue sky.  I thought to myself, Hmmm..... Relevant, but maybe a little too cliche'?  I mentally filed it away as a possibility and continued meandering through the monster-sized box in my brain labeled "80's Songs".  Not two minutes later, I picked up the TV remote to scroll through the cable guide for something interesting.  Coming to the Palladia channel, I saw "80's Rewind Concert 2011".  I thought, Cool!  Maybe this will give me some ideas,  and I pressed the select button.  Lo and behold, there was Billy Ocean, in all his dreadlocked glory, singing..... "When the Going Gets Tough".  I'm sure, Dear Reader, you are just as flabbergasted as I was.  Talk about your freaky coincidences.....  I don't know about you, but I'm taking it as a sign.  Hence, today's title.

And now for the relevant part.  Obviously, I am the "Tough" who is getting going in this metaphor. "But what 'going' is getting tough?" you may ask.  (Thank you for asking!)  And I will answer that I have recently become a Floridian.  Wait - this in itself is not the tough part.  The tough part is that summer is quickly approaching, temperatures are rising, and, at present, there is no pool in my backyard. 

Shocking and scandalous, I know.  But who knew that the burning desire for a backyard oasis would be the motivating factor to kick start a career?  This brings me to the deeper issue and the point of this particular blog post, which is: why do writers write?  My short answer at the moment is, of course, that I need to pay for a pool.  But the fact is that I've been writing for much, much longer than I've considered trying to make money from it.  I used to write random editorials and poetry in high school because I needed to ramble and it looked like I was doing work and I could get away with not paying attention.  (Don't judge - I was always an honors student!)  I've also written more essays and term papers and reports than I care to remember.  One of the joys of being an English major was always trying to figure out how to write for each professor in order to get an A.  And it was different for every one of them.  One time, an obnoxious, power-hungry T.A. took points off my essay for using the British spelling of "behaviour" -  I had to remember not to do that again!  But I digress.

The written word has always fascinated me.  Books are passports to any time and place you want to go.  The twists and turns of plots can be as heart-clenching as a roller coaster ride.  A rare few amazing books have kept me reading into the wee hours of the morning, and then I've had to spend the rest of the pre-dawn hours readjusting my mind back to reality because I'd been drawn so far into the story.  That's some good writin'!!  And I've always wondered - and hoped - that maybe I had a story like that somewhere inside me.

In the meantime, I'll do what I can to earn a pool payment.  I can honestly say that this editing / proofreading / writing thing is my dream job at the moment.  I love it enough that it doesn't matter that I'll never get rich doing it.  But I can lounge in my pool and pretend that I am.


# OF PROOFREADS: 18
# OF EDITS: 22

Time Won't Give Me Time

I had originally intended to write a little bit every day - just to get myself into the habit of sitting down to write, stimulating the flow of entertaining ideas and cascading words onto the screen.  Enter reality.  As I ponder the angle of writing about writing (I do love some good irony), I realize my biggest issue at the moment is - drum roll, please - TIME!! 

Now, to be clear, I have to distinguish between the writing I do as a contractor and the writing I do because the words just have to be written down or lost forever.  Obviously, money and deadlines are immensely important, as well as building my professional reputation, and therefore, take priority.  However, it blows my mind that at least 4 of my all-time favorite authors, who have written multiple and immensely successful novels, started writing when they had Young Children!!  Yes, Stephenie Meyer, J.K. Rowling, Diana Gabaldon, and Nora Roberts ALL had young children when they first put pen (or pencil) to paper and produced a first novel.  Amazing.  To be honest, sometimes, I'm fortunate to get a shower during the day, much less sit down at the computer and type when a brilliant idea pops into my head.  I have a feeling that the talk-to-text feature on my iPhone is going to become my bff....

In any case, I'm reminded of some words of wisdom that I once heard someone say, somewhere, at some point regarding relationships: If you're important to someone, they'll find time for you.  This, I think, is applicable to anything in our lives.  We spend our time doing things that are important to us, whether it's working time, family time, chill time.... or writing time.  If it's important to me, I'll do it. 

On a side note, I'd just like to express my contention, no - Firm Belief - that a relevant title for ANYTHING can be found in 80's song lyrics.  This one is courtesy of Culture Club and their song "Time".  Thank you, Boy George.  =)  That is my promise to myself and to you, my dear reader - that all of my blog posts will be titled thusly.  (I may have made up that last word - Spellcheck says so - but I'm leaving it alone because I feel it's appropriate.) 

Baby just woke up.  My immediate priorities just shifted....

# OF PROOFREADS: 15
# OF EDITS: 12

The Very Beginning: A Very Good Place to Start

     I've always thought of myself as a writer.  Unfortunately, besides the Great American Novel that is in progress inside my head (not unlike half of the American population), the only writing I've ever done has been for the sole purpose of receiving an excellent grade in order to boost my GPA, which is a situation that has not been relevant in my life for more years than I care to contemplate.  So, I've decided that if I'm going to try to pass myself off as a writer for more professional purposes, I should probably do some actual writing - even if it's only for practice.  

I've always had a love / hate relationship with the process of writing:  I love the process of putting words down on paper (or screen), and I love forming sentences and coming up with the cleverest of words and phrases so that whoever my reader is (mostly my teachers) enjoys the experience of reading it.  And this is also what I've always hated about it - the massive struggle to come up with the cleverest of words and phrases, which leads me to the reason behind my blog title and the biggest handicap to my writing- 

     My name is Jane, and I am a compulsive proofreader.  

So far, I have read back through what I have already written here no less than 6 times and have already edited several words and sentences.  Oops, just did it again.  A few more times.  


Strength or weakness?  I guess it depends on how pressed I am for time.  But I can guarantee that I'll sit here and stare at the post button for more than a little while before I click on it, re-reading this again for anything I can do to improve it.  At some point, I'll just have to tell myself to be done with this one and move on.  Now seems like a good time to do that - my 2-year-old has gotten a hold of some chapstick.  But not before I read it one more time.....