I finally finished a good first draft of that cannabis article and got it sent off to 10 people so they could check the parts about them and offer corrections on anything else they spot.
Already heard back from three. Not a single change requested or goof noted. That’s unusual. It won’t hold for all 10, but very nice start.
The interviewees range from a police chief to a couple whose medical dispensary was destroyed by the DEA. And here they are, all in harmony, even as they come from such different perspectives. I simply can’t stress enough what a remarkable experience this is, both writing about it and witnessing it.
The one big drawback of the writing part: It’s exhausting. All the research (and all the things I still didn’t learn). The scheduling and pulling myself out of my hermit hut. The days and days of drafting, which, with so much information, is like wrestling an octopus. Even the best moments, the interviews themselves, leave me all emptied out. It’s the most glorious exhaustion. But still.
The last couple writing days were all about shifting the last bits into their place in the article, polishing, and — above all — cutting, cutting, cutting, cutting. I sacrificed nearly 1,500 of my own, precious, darling words in the interest of the whole. By the time I’d sent all the emails winging on their way with article attched, I was — not kidding — slightly faint.
I don’t mean to sound melodramatic. After all, I’m not also dying of tuberculosis in a garrett. (Always a plus. that.) Life’s good. I’m just tired. If I’ve been a little quiet and continue to be a bit more this week, that’s why.
Thank you for taking the time to do it Claire, can’t wait to read it.
Legalization is an exciting time, to be given back a freedom we lost almost 70 years ago, even friends who aren’t tokers like seeing the times change.
Sounds like a job well done, Claire. Exhausting – but well worth the effort. When’s the last time writing did that for you? (Rhetorical question)
just waiting nailed it. Legalization, and the freedom it allows (an oxymoron, no?), is what really counts here, and the relief you’ve been seeing and feeling through others is the sheer exhilaration from the grey cloud of “criminal” being lifted. Cannabis itself, nor even the medical relief it brings (though God knows that’s a boon to sufferers), is not as important as that.
There is hope yet. While “progressives” may not like or agree with the values on which America was founded, they can’t stop it even while in office. The legalization of cannabis, the increased buying of guns (and states allowing reciprocity and open carry, and right to protect one’s home against trespassers), the take-down of Hillary that is moving forward, the stupid action of Bundy (and its very conservative response from the FBI), the multiple number of states that are rebelling against ObamaCare, the increased recognition of PC manipulation by both politicos and MSM, the sheer unstoppability of news going out – all lend a promise of discontent to come.
It will be interesting to see where New Hampshire goes tomorrow. Even Trump has pulled in his horns, and nothing is guaranteed.
Those who have not done it have no idea how demanding the act of producing a well researched, accurate and well written article for publication is.
Crap can be assembled in hours; the good stuff is all-consuming for days, sometimes, weeks.
I still have nightmares about technical documentation written under deadline.
I’ve always hated deadlines, but find I do my best work with one, if it is reasonable. Mostly I have self imposed deadlines now, and I’ve had to learn to be more reasonable with them as time goes by. 🙂
I look forward to reading it.
This article sounds like the core of a whole book. Have you considered expanding it?
Yeahhhhh. You guys really get this thing that is so hard to convey.
And indeed, Laird, I’ve been thinking about a book. I was about 1/5 of the way to book territory before I started cutting back.
I still have nightmares about technical documentation written under deadline.
Yeah. Back in the day, when I was writing help files and user manuals (when they were dead-tree manuals) the project manager never seemed to understand why the program had to be written before I could get screenshots.