Writing in Exchange for Bread on the Table  

By Marsha Maung

Some people say that I have it all-- I disagree. I constantly have to struggle with this love-hate relationship I have with writing. I love reading, that's for sure. And I love to write… about myself as and when I want to. But when I am required to write about something like… say… how to change the black oil in a car or how to pick the right motherboard for your computer… I have to literally drag myself to the computer and prompt my fingers to move.

This is the relationship I have with writing. It's because I make a living out of churning out articles after articles… sometimes completing up to 30 articles a day face to face with a deadly deadline… it is not such a heavenly life after all.

It's ironic that I spent a large part of my life looking for the right thing to do. Something that excites me and challenges me. Something that I WANT to do instead of being FORCED TO do. I hate being forced into doing something but this is sometimes called the "real world." Even when you love doing something, when you start having people tell you HOW to write your articles, or books, it begins to lose its initial appeal.

And yet, despite turning into a drudgery of a kind, I continue to write. Writing is what I do best. My husband turns to me in the dead of night, awakened by some kind of swearing and the tap-tap-tap of my keyboard; he shakes his head and says, "Gosh, you're still writing? Why?"

I hiss back, "Because I am paid to do this. Because I LOVE this. It's my job. It's my life. This is what I am being paid to do, you moron!"

With a chuckle, knowing me, he turns his back on me and goes back to sleep. Smart aleck!

Over the years, many other opportunities came a-knocking on my door and I wondered if I would do better if I did something else. Oh, I would still write but I would write my own stuff. My own novel. My own articles. My own blog. Whatever… my own diary. But no one else will ever get the chance to tell me how to write the things I write-- NEVER!

And yet, surprisingly, I turn my back on those opportunities because I know I love to write. Like I said. I write for a living and secretly love it. If I started selling insurance or real estate, it would be... so superficial. So temporary. But when I write… I write well and I do it quickly and very efficiently. And I sometimes feel proud of myself… although my fingers and eyes were throbbing like an earthquake waiting to happen.

Writing is a passion. If you have a passion for writing, you'll start writing passionately and whatever comes out is a masterpiece in its own right. Every single article that I've ever written, I am proud of. I treat them like my little babies. I've lost count of the number of "babies" I have today but all those articles that I have written, they are a part of me.

And I have learned how to write efficiently and quickly without sounding like a train running out of steam. Get going, get going, get going. Come on, go on with it, write, write, write. And then after you've completed the article, go back and dissect it and inject some Botox into it. If you stick around the first few sentences and try to get it perfect right from the start, you'll never complete the article.

And with this secret (which is not a really a secret to begin with), I am now making my life as a writer.

Do I still love writing after spending the last seven years writing on topics that are completely arid to me? Well… I love to hate it… and sometimes I hate to love it.

I believe I will continue writing until I am lying on my deathbed… breathing my last few breaths… I can imagine myself saying, "Honey, get me my keyboard… I want to be buried with it."

Once a writer, always a writer.

Evidence: I took a total of three minutes and 22 seconds to write this whole article.

Marsha Maung is a freelance work at home graphic designer and copy writer. She focuses on below-the-line advertising and marketing. More information can be found at http://www.marshamaung.com and http://www.creativejooz.com.

Sponsored links

Ring binders

 

Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer!

How to find a book publisher

Home

Text on this site Copyright © 1998-2007 Absolute Write, all rights reserved.
Please contact the authors if you'd like to reprint articles on this site.  All copyrights are retained by original authors.  And plagiarizers will be rounded up, handcuffed, and stuck into a very small and humid room wherein they must listen to Barney sing the "I Love You, You Love Me" song over and over again.

writers writing software