Friday’ night’s festivities took a major toll on me. I had intended to hit the library and study for a bit, but I ended up staying home and sleeping all day instead. Not exactly a smart thing to do with an exam looming on Monday.
Usually, how I end up planning my days involves thinking ahead to what needs to be done, how much time to allot for it, and the best time of day to do it. Tomorrow, I do my studying during the day, squeeze in my required Priest column for the early afternoon, and raid from the mid afternoon onwards until the sun goes down.
Rarely do my plans ever pan out as I hope.
I’ve been thinking about stepping down from WoW Insider for a while now. It creeps up every time I fail to come up with a good story to write or a good piece to pen. All I get out of is 50 bucks per post. The banks steal about 25 away in wire fees. I end up making 175 a month if I’m lucky. Yet I treat everyone post I write as if though it were my last and it’s not uncommon for me to spend 4 hours making sure I get everything right even though I end up getting something wrong.
My co-staffers there are all professional. Even though everyone telecommutes (works from home), there’s still a friendly and homey atmosphere around the chatroom that we all reside in. What rattles me and always continues to rattle me is the inherent amount of people who firmly believe they know more than what you know but refuse to elaborate.
I never read my comments on there. Thanks to my lovely assistants, they usually help screen out the good ones for me to read and make note of any glaring technical fallacies that I commit so that I can correct it before I get myself fired. I would almost be relieved if I got let go. It would be another pressure off my shoulders.
But I can’t do that. There’s two things that keep me here writing for them. The theory struck me on my birthday as I was walking around the casino. Here were all of these elderly women sitting in their chairs sipping on their usual fruity drinks. All they do is stare wide eyed at the screen in front of them watching these symbols flash by. Then, depending on the slot machine, they pull the lever or press the button to refresh them again. They do this all night with these machines slowly sucking away their money dry.
However, once in a while, they’ll hit it big. They’ll double or triple up what they have. Their best losses are forgotten and they go through that process all over again.
Blogging gives similar highs. Everyone that I’ve ever met has never shied away from a pat on the back. They seek and crave approval. They want to know that they’re doing a good job or that they’ve made a difference. Believe me, I’m the same way. In my blog, I largely get positive or constructive comments a majority of the time. The rest, I’m called an idiot, an ass, or just someone who obviously doesn’t play the game. Those ones bounce off me harmlessly like hockey pucks off goalies.
When you’re writing for a massive body like WoW Insider, the proportions are reversed. You’ll get stabbed, assaulted, hung out dry, put up on a pedestal, every word critiqued, every phrase reviewed, and so on and so forth. Every time you write a post, you are placed on trial. The readers are your judge, jury and executioners. Thankfully, our pay is not based on comments. If they did, I’d be a lot more broke then I am right now. Every once in a while, I’ll get a comment saying that I’ve helped someone become a better play or that I’ve changed their perspective somehow. The WoW Insider tip line even has people emailing in offering their praise or hatred of various bloggers. It’s amazing the kind of things people say when they’re behind the comfort of their own screens.
I mentioned two things. The second thing is the money. It’s always nice to get paid for something you enjoy doing. As long as your ego and confidence hold, it never becomes a problem. I wouldn’t be working right now anyway since I am a full time student. Having a gig like this is nice since you get a little change to throw around every once in a while doing something you like to do. I love the job, but it can especially be stressing at times with deadlines to match and strict guidelines to adhere to. I’m not sure if I could see myself working in another job. I’d make a lousy dishwasher anyway.
When Einstein said science is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration, he must’ve been foreshadowing the blogging industry.
Meh, they’re spitting out their venom for free, you get paid for what they label nonsense. Who’s really winning =)
That being said, when WI linked a post of mine and they descended on my blog I hated it. It’s a lot easier to tear things down than build them up.