The Start of Something New

I recently found out from a columnist for a major magazine that he landed in his job accidentally. He was working in the finance department for the magazine back before blogging became popular. Being one of the first to jump on the bandwagon, he had a large following of readers at his office; naturally, he wasn't the only one who needed to escape from his work day periodically. It turns out that burying oneself in a light hearted narrative it a great way to depart.

One day it came to this young writer's attention that his blog had reached other departments at the magazine. An editor approached him, saying that everyday she loved taking some time to get lost in the happenings of his day - maybe he wrote about a date he had the night before, maybe it was an advertisement that he couldn't get out of his mind, maybe an interesting interaction with a stranger. With everything he wrote about, he had her attention. She offered the accountant a job in journalism.

I met this writer a week or so ago because his magazine flew him out to Los Angeles to write a story about a client of ours. He got to live someone else's life for a day and then write about how it made him feel. This week he is going somewhere new, experiencing someone else's point of view and relaying it to a great many people. I can only imagine how fulfilling that must be.

Now, the notion that by creating this blog I may be discovered by an editor for a major magazine and offered a job as a columnist is certainly a romantic one… and not completely beyond my realm of fantasy. But I really wanted to start this as a way of keeping my creative juices flowing. Long work days cause me to want to go home and sprawl out on the couch with my favorite TV shows. I don’t read as much as I used to, which makes me a little sad. Even more saddening is the fact that I don’t have any hobbies anymore. The tides of that great ocean of depression are rising and beginning to wash up against my toes. At this rate, it won’t be long before I’m completely submerged.

So I will start writing regularly again. And if you are at work and need to forget about your daily woes for a brief moment, come read, leave a comment, inspire me to write more… for both of us.