The Content Writer ‘In a Pickle’

“Love your job and you won’t have to work again.”
I am a patron of creativity. If in doubt, ask my colleagues and employees at IBM and HCL who got mad at me when I decided to quit my job as a technical executive (that happened to be my line of study) to take up a job as a copywriter, just to make the grumpy creative birdie in me happy (It always used to fret for not getting proper attention from me.) I dreamt to write and be read by the world. Bagging a job wasn’t that difficult.
Difficult was to be ‘content’ with your work as a content writer.
4years ago…
Clearly, I was a minuscule atom in the entire organization. I could clearly feel the weight of a hierarchy of seniors (QCs, Sr. Editor, Deputy Editor, Editor-in-Chief…till the Content Head) above me. I wouldn’t doubt their caliber. But neither had I doubted on mine.
“Are you competing for a Booker’s Prize or a Pulitzer Award? Can’t you be straight and simply write –‘Be careful of what you say on social media to avoid troubles?’ Why do you have to go all the way round the globe and say-, ‘you are the ringmaster. Tame your tongue (or rather fingers). Letting it lose on the audience would surely land you in a pickle’.” “Ringmaster? Pickle? Is this a content on social media or a circus?… or a cookery show for that matter?”
“ ‘Landing oneself in a pickle’. That’s a British idiom sir.” I tried hard to fight the frog in my throat.
But it’s hard when it comes to matching the creative frequencies, especially between an entry level creative writer and her QC with an experience four times hers.
There’s a sea of a difference between surviving at your job and living your job. I wasn’t surviving, but I sure as hell wasn’t living it too.
Even today with a fair experience of writing and a great experience of dealing with quality checks and checkers, I find myself rooted to the same spot where it all started.
“That’s quite plain and …well…. straight.” My editor-in-chief commented on my recent write-up. “Be a bit more creative, Priya. Can You? How ‘bout this – PPC- ‘great way to let in the funds with a trickle, get it, or land yourself in a pickle’.”
“Ammm… wonderful, I must say, sir..”