I write for a paycheck, but I don't feel like a writer. I'm sure that's normal, but it still sucks. "Writing" in the world of today includes all sorts of tweets, posts, blogs, comments, content, etc. that just burn my cookies. Regurgitating other peoples' thoughts in these formats is what I have to do to earn my keep. I like editing. I like creatively writing. I even like trying to get into the heads of other people, but what pains me most is when those same people turn around and say, "That's not what I want." Then tell me what you want so we don't have to play this irksome guessing game! I'm not clairvoyant. I wish I were, but I'm not. If you have an idea in your head about what you want me to say as you, let me know...I may not have the same thought processes as you do (and more than likely don't).
I want to go off and rant about how unfair the whole concept is, but then I'd just sound like Sarah in Labyrinth and, unfortunately, Goblin King Jareth won't appear to snap at my whinging...so it's pointless to complain if that's not the case.
So...I'm not really complaining so much as just letting off steam. Hmm. Steam.
If I were a writing machine, this would be so much easier. I could calculate their personalities and recreate them on the page. Of course, that would be too honest...too raw...not professional enough...too scarily like them that they'd blush to admit it. They'd have to re-calibrate me to fictionalize their voice to just the level of their own sensory pleasure - something that sounds vaguely like them but not close enough that a family member or close friend would read it and proclaim that it sounds EXACTLY like something that So-and-so would say.
Huh. When I put it that way, it sounds just like what they're doing to me as it stands. I am their machine. Their coin-operated writing machine.
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