Confession #2: Writing always calls for a ton of revision

I mentioned in my last post that I’m currently working on copy for the Fall/Winter catalog. It’s just like writing an article or a press release. Your beginning needs to be the most interesting fact you can think of. The middle needs to contain all of the actual necessary information, and the end needs to seal the deal. It’s a pretty simple formula. And the thing is like 300 words tops. Quick, easy and relatively painless. Except maybe not so much. When you write for the catalog, you are trying to sell the book. You have to convince book store owners or other experts in the field that this book is new and exciting and that absolutely everyone with an interest in the topic needs to read it. This can feel like a lot of pressure.  Here’s a bit of insight into my particular process:

1. Open a blank word document and stare at it for at least five minutes. Then maybe go to the water cooler and refill your cup. Writing makes you thirsty.
2. Stare at that blank word document for another five minutes or so. Think about what you’re going to do when you get off work. Maybe pull out your iPod and search for some inspirational music to write to.
3.  Pull out an old catalog and read someone else’s copy. Decide what you like and what you don’t like. Then read some more copy. Soon you’ve read the whole catalog twice and you’re no closer to coming up with something than you were 40 minutes ago.
4. Finally type in all of the information you already know has to go on the page. Now your word document isn’t quite so blank and scary anymore. Maybe you can actually get something written.
5. Stare out the window at the couple fighting outside the apartment complex across the street. You can’t actually hear what they’re saying, but body language speaks volumes. He definitely cheated on her.
6. Come up with a lede. Then decide it’s total crap and delete it.
7. Oh look, you’re cup is empty again. Take another trip to the water cooler.
8. Time for a snack!
9. Write another lede, delete it and then decide to skip it all together. You’ll figure one out later.  
10. Make a to do list of all the other things you need to get done that day. Include all of the things you’ve already completed so that you have something to check off. You’ll feel slightly better about yourself and the fact that you are struggling so hard to come up with something for that catalog copy.
11.  Finally get something written. You’re not sure if it’s crap or not, but if you leave it alone for a few minutes (or days), maybe it will become clear.
12. Start a blog post about your struggles. Then maybe someone out there in the world can empathize with you.
13. Reread your catalog copy. Come to the realization that you used the same phrase (“Civil Rights Movement” for example) in almost every sentence. That probably isn’t necessary.
14. Try to come up with another way to express said phrase.
15. Write your lede! Be incredibly relieved that you finally have one that doesn’t sound like crap.
16. Save your work and close the word document. It’s not due for a week or two. Decide that you’ll wait a bit before revising it again.
17. Decide after revising it for the fifth time that it’s finished and put it in the appropriate drive for your supervisor to read it. Maybe go back and edit it one or two more times before he actually reads it. Just to make sure it’s perfect. Or at least make sure it doesn’t suck completely. As a writer, you’ll probably never be fully satisfied. Accept this. It will make your life so much easier.  

And tada! You’re finished! At least you are until your supervisor actual does read it and decides that he wants you to make changes. You know this is going to happen. Accept this too. The more eyes that read and revise it before it actually gets printed, the better it will probably be. This is also true of almost everything that you will ever write.

Confession #1: My boss is actually going to see this

As part of my job as an intern at the University Press of Florida, I have been instructed to start keeping a blog about what I do here as a way to support the UPF and also to increase my social media skills. I’ve tried blogging before. It usually doesn’t work for me. I get all into it for a couple of weeks and then I get sick or I go home for a long weekend or one of the millions of other things that just seem to constantly come up in life and boom I haven’t updated in two weeks and I just know that all of my followers have given up hope of ever hearing from me ever again.

But, I have an actual incentive for keeping this up. All of the marketing interns at the UPF are in this blogging contest and whoever has the most hits and best content by the end of the semester gets a prize. I think it’s a gift card of some sort. I don’t particularly care about the gift card, but I am an insanely competitive person. Not at sports necessarily. I love sports. I am the kind of die-hard fan who has an alarm set for ESPN College Gameday during football season and will watch four football games a Saturday if I don’t have a ticket. But having been born with little to no actual athletic ability, I am more competitive at things like board games and Words with Friends . (Tip: Don’t play that game with anyone who you actually consider a FRIEND. Things can get ugly when someone doubles your score. Friendships are ended. Plastic cups are thrown across rooms. True story.) So, being the insanely competitive person that I am, I love a good contest. Especially something that involves writing, because as a PR major I do a lot of that. And after four years at this school  I should be pretty good at it by now.  

So, here’s a little bit about the University Press of Florida

• The UPF began operations in 1945 as the University Presses of Florida, with 2 employees and a budget of $207,000
• It ranks 19th among the 114 members of the American Association of University Presses in terns of titles published per year
• It is the official academic press of the state of Florida, but people from other places publish their books here too.     

I am a marketing intern, which means that I do lots of random things like creating databases of potential future reviewers and sending authors copies of their reviews. Some days are busier than others. Today is a bit slow since I was mostly just given the chance to finish up any existing projects. I’ve been working on copy for the next issue of our catalog.  The book I’m writing about is pretty interesting. It’s about arrests and imprisonment during the Civil Rights Movement. The book is called Ain’t Scared of Your Jail and will be released in December of this year. I totally recommend it for any of my fellow history buffs. Put it on your Christmas list. And that’s not a shameless plug, I swear. I read most of the book while writing the catalog copy and it’s really good. Occasionally I’ll be given a topic to write about, but for the most part this will be all of my own thoughts and experiences about what actually goes on behind the scenes at a publishing company. Hopefully you’ll find it as interesting as I do!