Re: Boring discussions

[Bonni Graham <bonnig -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

I'm with Sue Gallagher and all those who love their work on this one
(big surprise, eh, group?).  I've done many things to support myself
that were boring (selling sewing machines, working at an answering
service, etc. -- all of which would probably been interesting to
someone with a vocation for it) but writing is NOT one of them. My
original ambitions were to be a fiction writer or maybe a journalist,
but then I found and fell in love with TW, where I get to combine my
favorite aspects of both.

Look at it this way:  I get to take a concept (usually embodied in a
piece of software that may or may not yet be ready for prime time,
hence the fiction part -- I sometimes have to make it up, at least
until the feature works) and write it out completely, accurately, and
on deadline (that's the journalism part--the Who What Where When Why
How in time for the Morning Edition). Before me=nothing; after
me=tangible item containing intangible benefits.

There is NOTHING (job-wise, I won't go into my personal life <g>) that
feels better to me than finally finding a great way to say or show
something.  I dance around the office, like the toys in Toy Story,
singing "I did it, I did it!" (OK, maybe I have a little TOO much
fun...).

I genuinely get up in the morning (even during the Project From Hell)
glad that I do what I do. People PAY me to take words out of my head
and put them on paper.  Sometimes they pay me to draw! (NOTE to all
Technical Illustrators: I always recommend getting a TI to do the job,
but I can't always get buy-in. 'Til I can, I can manipulate clip-art
with the best of the available talent at the site.) It just doesn't get
better than that.

Quiet desperation?  Try noisy exuberance, at least in my office.

B.
--
Bonni Graham
Manual Labour
bonnig -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com