12-12-2005
Knowing When to Give Up a Writing Job
That’s some title - kind of implies I know, doesn’t it? But I don’t!
I write a regular monthly column for a parenting publication and I’ve been toying with the idea of giving it up. It’s become just another monthly chore recently and I’m not so sure I enjoy writing it anymore. I just emailed my editor, and she told me she hopes I won’t give it up, because she enjoys my column a lot and so do the readers.
I hadn’t received any feedback before this, and suddenly, I’m experiencing a change of heart. I don’t know - should this type of feedback matter? Why on earth is it that when I know people are actually enjoying my column, I all of a sudden decide maybe it’s not the chore to write as I thought it was?
Well, I’ll have to think about it some more. My deadline for the January column is tonight, so I’ll see whether I feel differently when I’m writing it tonight or not.









December 12th, 2005 at 11:18 pm
I have a similar situation, BJ.
I write an Internet column for a local bi-weekly newspaper. They don’t pay and I originally started doing it just as a marketing thing for my business.
Every few weeks, as a deadline is creeping up on me, I’ll feel dread and question why I keep doing it. Without fail, whenever I’m feeling the dread, I’ll bump into someone in the small town where I live and they’ll compliment me on my column and tell me how helpful something I’ve written was for them.
I love it when the universe gives you signs like that.