Word count: Approx. 15 million, not counting swear words muttered under breath
Caffeine intake: 5 coffees, 2 teas (maybe that's why I'm shaking?)
Brain temperature: Kilometres walked: 6 (v.good)
Chocolate craved: An entire chocolate factory's worth
Chocolate eaten: None (v.v. good - am model of restraint)
Words, words, words.... thousands of 'em. And I have to make sense of 'em, and sort them into an order that will make sense to other people. Burble, burble, burble.... welcome to my world.
After weekend up ladder with splodges of paint on my noggin, giving my arm and leg muscles a rest but taxing my poor tired grey matter. Never mind, am dynamic career woman with a way with words. I can do this.
Finding something to write about is rarely problem. Can waffle for my country - as my dear old Dad used to say - on the most mundane of subjects. Problem is cutting it all down to the basics, simplifying the language and still getting message across - without reader switching off and turning on 'The X Factor' before ending third paragraph.
Trouble is, not everyone gets the "less is more" mantra. They think "a way with words" means LOTS of the little buggers. And even when they ask me for article length they should aim for (let's say 600), they'll come back with 2,000 or more.
Spent first years of No.1's life clearing up his poop, and now I'm wiping up other people's verbal (and written) diarrhoea.
Out comes Mandi's ruthless red pencil - and the massacre begins!
Send the slashed, cut and paste revamp (now 700 words) back to author. Miracle of miracles - he likes it! (Unlike other colleague who took offence when I cut erroneous apostrophes some months back.) Phew. Breathe sigh of relief and have another cuppa.
Back home in evening, add fourth coat of yellow paint to cupboard door (damn you streaks, I will defeat you!) and settle to listen to OH grilling No.1 on the paleolithic and neolithic eras. History test tomorrow - first one at new school.
OH in professor mode, grilling young'un and giving tips on how to write tests, make friends and influence teachers (this from the man who free-wheeled through most of High School on a wing, prayer and almost photographic memory, devouring off-curriculum books but nothing on the official reading list).
Yadda, yadda, yadda, blah blah blah. OH & No.1 still rabbiting on. Seems there's no escape from verbal diarrhoea today.
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I think it's a common thing with Geminis to avoid the actual curriculum and devour everything outside of it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I barely scraped a French and German degree it was mainly because I spent most of my time in the Uni library with my nose in the American Lit section. If I'd studied American Lit, I'd have been in the library looking at something else. LOL
There's a school photo of my class circa 1969 (that's my in the Paisley dress with Austin Powers ruffle on the front) and you can spot me a mile away...
I'm the only one looking in the other direction!!