Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Update on the Writing Life


The kids are back at school and they seem to be doing mostly OK, so I now find myself with some all-precious extra time to devote to writing. This past summer, I was hoping I would receive some kind of divine (or otherwise) inspiration for writing projects, in order to enter the autumn with enthusiasm for something big, meaningful, and specific.

But, no such luck. I still keep tapping out occasional blog posts and attempting a solid column once a week at Smile Politely. I keep filling my plate with a buffet of topics to write about, but then keep poking my fork at them. On some days, I obsessively read about Sarah Palin or financial meltdowns, and other days I obsessively check to see if one of the thousand websites containing electoral vote maps have been updated. I've even been reduced to pouring concrete on some days.

But, there is one bit of good news. My writing for free has been successful enough at Smile Politely that they asked me whether I'd consider editing for free too. I'd get to call myself an editor, have power and control over other writers, and fix my own typos. Who could ask for more?

The truth is, ever since embarking down this lonely road of stay-at-home parenting and fantasizing about being a writer, I've thought it would be healthy to hang out with a community of writers and work towards some kind of common goal. Being an editor at Smile Politely fits the bill quite nicely. I'm being assigned new writers as they come on board, which means that so far I watch other editors be busy and post my one column a week. But, there are a few coming on board in the next week or so, I should be busy soon enough. Mostly, this will be a good experiment to see if I have any aptitude for editing. My copy editing is not great, but I'm hoping I can be helpful enough on the content side of things to make it worthwhile.

One result of this change is that my column will be moving from Tuesdays to Thursdays.

No comments: