Writing on the Arm

Greetings Friends,

Sometimes, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. That statement can cover a wide variety of topics, but when it comes to writing, you have to make peace with the fact that there will not always be a paycheck at the end of every project. I'm not advocating writing everything "on the arm" (for free), but in the name of hitting the ground running, there is always going to be a scenario or two, where your intellectual property must be submitted without the promise of monetary compensation.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to join an online community of writers at The Perpetual Post. My first two contributions will be appearing there this week, one in Sports, and another in Arts & Culture. I am in very esteemed company in that group, including that of Howard Megdal, the irreverent New York sports writer, whose blog link appears on this blog, and who, at this time, aspires to get elected the next general manager of the New York Mets. Howard doesn't really want to be the next GM of the Mets, but he does love the Mets enough to give of his time, gratis, to make his feelings known about his displeasure with the job current Mets' GM Omar Minaya is doing.

I was indirectly "introduced" to Howard by one of my former Hofstra University professors, whose blog is also on my list. Dr. Dana Brand has written two books about the New York Mets, and blogs about the team regularly on Dana Brand's Mets Fan Blog. Since I am a Mets fan, and I read Dana's blog, I found out about Howard's campaign to become the next Mets GM. I e-mailed Howard to offer my support for his campaign, and to tell him I admire what he is doing. Little did I know that Howard was the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Perpetual Post. The rest is history...

In these interesting journalistic times, writers regularly explore new frontiers of communication, testing the waters to see what works and what doesn't. In doing so, we find we must donate generously of our time and talents in order to navigate the new roads of creativity that are constantly shifting beneath our desks. We are not forsaking our day jobs; we still need as many shekels as we can get to keep food on our tables, clothes on our backs and the bills paid. So what if we guzzle buckets of coffee and are sleep deprived because of all our extra-curricular writing? It's an important part of who we are and what we do. It took me a long time to realize that; with sleep deprivation comes opportunity - both paid and unpaid. For the sake of nurturing our talents and keeping our voices relevant, we write. And let's not forget about how much we love it.

So, look for me this week on The Perpetual Post. Remember how life always leads you down roads you don't necessarily think are the right ones, but somehow, they turn out to be. That and a comfortable snoozing chair can make all the difference.

Nava