I know I should be using my downtime at work more productively, so I set out to be productive. It took a while to whittle down my e-mail inbox and sent folders to under 400 each, but then…then it was time to do something real. But what?
Then I had a thought. With more than 15 years as a business marketing writer under my belt, I should have something to say about the topic that would be useful to people involved in marketing their business. I should have a few (in the lingo of my clients) “lessons learned” and “best practices” to offer. So, why not do what I do best — write — and share what I know about it in another blog, a professional one this time, attached to my professional Web site.
After some trial and error (and some help from Support), I managed to figure out the logistics of setting up another blog on WordPress and keeping my dual identities separate. But now…now it’s time to do that other part. The writing part.
I love writing this blog. It’s fun, it’s therapeutic, it’s something I look forward to. If I don’t have anything to write about, I can wait a few days. No pressure. If the writing’s not perfect or inspired or even grammatically correct, oh well — I’m writing for fun, not fame or fortune.
Writing a blog for work, however, is turning out to be just like work. I have to figure out exactly what lessons I’ve learned that might help someone else. I have to figure out how to relate those lessons in a way that’s concise and interesting, not judgmental or preachy or sarcastic. I have to write like I do for my clients — like a professional writer who gets paid to put fingers to keyboard and make something make sense.
So, with all that in my head, I’ve yet to finish my first post. I figure I better have a few posts done before quietly “launching” the blog with a link on my Web site. The same DIY Web site I scrabbled together several years ago in FrontPage that desperately needs updating — and I haven’t a clue how to do it.
Downtime suddenly feels more like overtime.
To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.
~ Eva Young
Writing by Ear 
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