That's the number of words I have to come up for my office sideline.
Blame it for my past slacking, but the deliverables I failed to turn over last week all had to be submitted in one drop. Spread out in 21 articles, the 10,500 words would have to cover topics about romance, dating and online relationship. I had to become a love coach without sounding much like the authors who wrote about the same subject on the Internet.
I was under pressure to produce the necessary copies, that's why I had to stop writing new entries. The slacking had almost cost me this project and admitting my incompetence rubbed salt to my wounded ego. You see, in almost a year I've been working with Bentusi, these things never happened. Either the instructions were not clear, or my manager failed to make me realize the urgency of this project.
Given a chance to correct my errors, I wasted no time in writing my first draft. The letter containing the official instructions was sent last Tuesday. The manager said that everything must be done by Monday at 8 pm. In order to catch up and beat the deadline, I had to break my comfort zone. I had to give up my free time and lend my sleep to dreaming about dating websites and relationship epic fails.
From 1,000 words a day in Bentusi's time, I have now to write 4 articles containing no less than 2,000 words. I would start in the afternoon and end my writing stint at past midnight. The repetitive nature of my job was so sickening, sometimes I feel my words coming out of assembly lines rather than mind-crafted, when it takes form here in my blog.
Close to the pangs of disillusionment, I wonder, is this what SEO is all about?
Between the puerile rantings and the hollow silence that comes after quick-revising an article, I lurched forward to complete my task. Slowly I was getting there - sometimes with only the partner to cheer me up. Having a one-track mind helped me focus despite the occasional down moments when the end seems so far and the work continues to pile up.
After all, there's a floor to look after aside from doing this project.
One by one, the items get crossed out from the list. An article done brings me closer to my goal. Subverting the feeling of fatigue, the temptation of procrastination, the corruption of plagiarism, only one thing stuck in my head:
Redemption.
It was three hours before the deadline when I began writing my last article. Lack of sleep, a cluttered head and a dazed spirit may have slowed me down, but the drive was there to finish what I started. Fifteen minutes before 8 and it was over. Without the fanfare announcing a victor, a simple acknowledgement of completion from the one who instructed the task, lacking all ceremonies for a feat broken,
A million cheers burst inside my chest.
Meanwhile, the room where the final article was penned remains hollow and empty, as it has become nowadays.
16 comments:
oh wow! that's a loooooooooooot of words.. Well done, Sir Mugen!! *pat on the back*
Wow. Nakaya mo yun?
Galing mo talaga Mugen. :)
srsly, it is a tough thing to do. the fact that you have to copyread will more likely make it a dull routine.
but, good job. thumbs up.
by the way, the last paragraph, does it refer to the website?
weebee, Mugen!
I'm sure hope you get to enjoy some of the payoff from that racket. You certainly deserve it.
Travis:
Lugi yun pre, I'm doing this for the company. Especially since there's twelve thousand five hundred words to go.
Greenbreaker:
I don't know what copy read is. Pero it was, uhm, a challenging assignment.
Ahente:
Sana naririnig ko rin yan sa trabaho. Heheh.
Nate:
Thank you bro. :) Naka 1,500 words na ako since 3 pm. Including this blog entry.
correct ko lang: "i sure hope..." dapat. lol. OC lang.
ang lupet! labor of love pala yan. so let me throw you a bunch of psychic rewards na lang!
Wow... are these articles you make for a freelance site (elance)?
John:
Nope, it's an in-house project. I have a contact in E-Lance.
Travis:
Masokista lang minsan. Hehehe.
stressful. pero the fact na kinakaya mong gawin to, bilib na ako.
i can stay long hours reading blogs, but to write 10K+ words on topics not even of your own choice?! and this is to mention sideline lang to ha, whew. ikaw na ang may sipag at tiyaga. enjoy mo na lang ang reward come payday. :)
This post is amazing.
You're a gifted writer and very professional I must say :)
Ah, copy read, reading the write-up again and doing some modifications, or you don't do that?
basta. lupit. and tindi nun ah. parang isang chapter ng Harry Potter yung ganun kahaba.
hindi tinta kundi dugo na ang ipinangsusulat mo mugen.
another accomplished task! kudos to you Mugen. :) you deserve a pat in the back. galing! :)
Pepe:
As someone told me, I wasn't born to write keyword articles. But heck, I did it to learn... and help... lugi kaya!
Island Guy:
Thanks pogi.
Green Breaker:
Usually with blog entries, I copy read at least 3 times to make sure I make the necessary revisions. With so little time with the articles, I only get to copyread mine once. Kumbaga, isang pasada.
Leo:
Thank you. At least, even when nobody learned of the feat, the blog is there to keep it for all time.
Sean:
Tama ka diyan! :D
Congrats! I do freelance writing too (as I assume you do) and beating deadlines has been a constant struggle since I started five years ago.
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