As those of you who I talk to on Google+ and Twitter probably know, I pay the bills by writing web content. Blog posts, product descriptions and the like.
I take pride in my work and pay attention to every text even if it seems ridiculous. I proofread, edit, tweak and hone. I make sure that my rates allow me to do so. If I can't justify the time investment, I just don't take the job. Most of my work, while I'm proud of it, has a spin on it for a specific site style or client requirement. Though I write them, they don't always feel like they are mine. Given that many of them are ghostwritten, they technically aren't once I hit the send button.
Then there are the posts that creep and surprise you. You get the order, you look at it and it's the norm. Things like 1000 words on business ethics, a 500-word summary of platinum-coated egg beaters, a write-up on the health benefits of adding glitter to your omelettes. Mmmm... tastes like Bowie....
You get to work. The tabs are flying fast and furious while you source a few links to sprinkle in your work. Outlining is happening in the back of your head. You hit up your document and get to work. Another night, another paycheck. At some point in the process, you pause for a second and it comes screaming in out of left field - HOLY CRAP THIS IS REALLY GOOD!
Then you realize it isn't yours. You're sculpting it, guiding it, growing it and preparing it to take on the world. But at the end of the day, someone else gets to play daddy. You're the anonymous thought-donor. There have been a few times that I've actually considered saving it and writing something else instead. Even if I didn't have an immediate use for it. It was mine. I didn't want to share. Even if it was about something completely asinine. But it's miiiiiiiiiiiine....
Curious if any of you have ever experienced this? I don't know if it really relates to the fiction world at all, but thought I'd send the question out into the blogosphere.
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