Trial by Fire

Much has been written about how good it feels to push yourself and test your limits, physically, mentally and creatively. I tend to agree, whether I'm doing a January de-tox, a new Daily Burn routine, or accepting a freelance job with a tight turn-around time. I just completed such a gig, an article for Yuba-Sutter Community Magazine...in 3 ½ days. And, it actually wasn't that difficult. It was easy to say yes, especially to the publisher of the mag, who is a good friend. It was easy to come up with a brief outline after reading the parameters and doing a little research. It was also easy to have the inevitable "How the hell am I going to do this??" freak out Friday evening as I looked at my very brief outline and thought about how quickly the Monday deadline was approaching.

But as I started to write, I found the words, the article took shape, and pretty soon I had a decent first draft. After a little more research and some fact-checking, I was on my way to the finished draft. Could it be that seven years of copywriting have done more than I realized to expand my skillset? Between skin care articles, press releases, and email copy, apparently so. Writers get better by writing is the simple truth. I'm not sure I'll ever face an empty page without at least a little doubt, but the time between wondering how I'm going to pull it off and hitting the final "save" is definitely decreasing. Of course I still have to admit that pushing myself sounds like a good idea after the fact...