It's a Living

I hate my job. Hmm...who doesn't? But I really do. It's so mind-numbingly boring. What do I do? Well, I'm a technical writer, which means I'm supposed to be writing technical manuals. What I actually do, however, is edit and format technical manuals that engineers have written. That's because my company doesn't understand what a technical writer is or how to use one. I tried to tell them. I didn't get very far. So I sit here editing and formatting other people's writing, which is some of the most tedious work you can do. I wouldn't mind it so much if I weren't capable of doing so much more. I mean, I have a Masters degree in English Rhetoric and Composition. I can write about any subject if I have enough information. At a previous company, I wrote - actually wrote - lengthy software manuals explaining in detail how to operate the company's proprietary Windows-based software. It was complicated stuff. And here I sit now doing work that a person with a two-year business writing degree could take care of. Now THAT is frustrating.

And it makes it hard to get though a nine or ten hour day. Sitting there bored to tears day after life-sucking day, staring at the computer screen all day long, formatting someone else's document. Add to that the constant corporate blather and senseless meetings in which very little is accomplished, except to say that we had a meeting about something, tick that one off on our To-Do list. Today we're having a fire drill and I'm one of the designated "sweepers," whose job it is to walk around the building and make sure everyone went out. Now there's a job to get your blood flowing. Let's just say that job satisfaction is not something that I have a great store of right now.

I miss teaching. I really do. Teaching college is the one thing I truly love doing. I did it for years, until I moved to North Dakota and wasn't able to get a part-time teaching gig at the Presbyterian college that was there in town. Haven't been able to lasso one here either. I tried to last fall, but no such luck. I'll try again this year and see what happens, but I'm really not holding out any real hope for it. Still, I love it, and I'm good at it. I remember one young lady telling me the first day of class,

"I know what your trying to do. You're trying to expand our minds. But we already know enough, so don't bother."

By the end of the semester, she was my best student - her mind got a bit expanded. Teaching makes me feel good inside, gives me a sense of accomplishment, helps dispel the blues. I love interacting with the students. They're always great, no matter what age they are. They're there, for the most part, because they wanna be, and they wanna learn, and they're hoping you'll teach them something that they can use for the rest of their lives. I love the fact that you always have to be "on" when you're up there in front of the class, because you never know what they're gonna throw at you. I always come out of a class buzzing with excitement; if I'm teaching night classes, it takes me a while to clam back down enough to go to bed.

I'm want to get my book published, in part, because I'm hoping that a published novel will land me a teaching gig and I can flee this corporate cesspool that I find myself in. Teaching college and writing novels for a living. Now that would give me job satisfaction.