So far in my professional career, writing has been the one constant. Whether it be technical writing or journalistic writing, I've always had to somehow succeed at stringing words together to instruct, inform, or entertain. All genres of writing require skills, some very different skills, though the basics--at least from my somewhat nit-picky point-of-view--remain the same.

I had mentioned, before starting this new writing-intensive job, that I was afraid of my ability to jump back into writing in the journalistic and marketing communications genres. I am finding it more difficult than I remembered it being. I have not figured out if it's because I've spent so many years writing technically, which requires diligence, interviewing skills, and the ability to learn quickly, but not so much the need for a real "flair" or "style." I don't really want to use the word "style" here, though, because all different genres of writing have their own styles, but what I really mean is that it was never difficult--in fact, it was probably entirely too easy, I'm realizing now--to string the words together in the intended way, for my target audiences, within the technical realm. I mean, how many different ways can you write an effective procedure? (I'd argue not too many--procedures are almost scientific in their construction--and shouldn't vary much to be truly effective to users who must follow them.)

So now, having written in that genre for many years, with little challenge as far as "how" to write well within it, I am struggling with the "how" of writing well back within this "softer" genre. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm sure I must've struggled with learning "how" to write technically--it's just been so many years since I "got it down" that I've already forgotten  my struggle with entering into that genre with very little "real-world" exposure to it before graduating from college.

Anyway, many would argue that there is much of a science to writing a good press release as well, which I'd generally agree with, though an effective over-arching theme, implied benefit of knowing the information, and use of various linguistic devices, needs to be present as well to "up the ante" of the content. In addition to press releases, there is feature writing to be done around here, which is even less rigid in format, as well as web content of a marketing nature. I am already at work on several different projects within those three areas (press releases, features, and web content), but I haven't quite found my "groove" yet (if that makes sense).

My output in the technical writing genre, when I left it, was definitely higher than my output in journalism/marketing communications is now. And it's hard to gauge whether or not that means anything in relation to my current perceived struggle. Is it just that I'm still adjusting to this type of writing again and need to cut myself some slack? Is it that writing in this style actually does require more time and effort to have it read the way good journalistic writing should? Am I just so out of practice with writing a bit more creatively that I am having a hard time thinking outside the box?

I think, at least in part, all of my answers to these questions are a resounding "Yes."

I never thought I'd find myself longing for a damn procedure to write. How I droned on and on about stupid procedures, specifications, etc. over the past few years! And now I'm all "Can I burrow myself back into that warm, fuzzy, comforting, this-is-how-its-done genre?" after only three short weeks of leaving it behind.

Sheesh.

 -Em