Sometimes

Sometimes being a writer doesn't pay. We're doing a publication at work. This publication used to be done quarter, then twice a year, and now annually. Because of one thing or another, the book is five months overdue. It should have been done in January. The last person that had my job left in February and I wasn't hired until the end of April.

Long story short, this book needs to be out like next week. It needs to at least be off my desk by next week. It is coming along quite nicely. The general idea right now is to get it done. We can make some real changes with the publication in January when we prepare the next edition.

The problem is that most of the information in this thing is simply carried forward from one period to the next. Dates and figures are updated to coincide with the current year, but the basic verbiage doesn't change much. The basic verbiage is in need of some serious help. I have updated some wording along the way, but there needs to be a major over-haul.

This is an internal document that basically shows our strengths and weaknesses. We are a health insurance company. When we start talking about market growth, people understand what we are talking about. When we try to talk about the reverse, I find it totally unacceptable to talk about retarded growth. That word just doesn't belong!

I vow that the next edition will have a new overview that uses fewer -ing words. I vow that the user of this document will not have to read a sentence three times to figure out what we're talking about. My co-worker and I have done just that and we're putting this document together.

This is only one of life's little challenges in the world of work. Even if I wasn't a writer, I would hope that I would have enough sense to know that this document could and should be better. Since I am a writer, I will do my damnedest to make sure that it turns out better. It is a little better now. It will be a whole lot better on the next go round.