I don't feel like writing today.
In fact, prolific as I am, there are many days I don't feel like it. I either can't think of anything to write. Or, more often, I am in such an abyss of a mood that I feel like crawling under my metaphorical rock and shielding myself until such time that I can emerge.
Most days, I write through my lethargy and/or anger. I'm a stupidly committed type of person, and I'm afraid that the few readers I do have would disappear if I stopped writing so assiduously. Rich Siegel over at Round Seventeen is taking a full week off. I have never been able to do that.
Today I'm in a shitty mood.
Shitty because for the past ten weeks everyone has been telling me "it's my pool." And then they go ahead and piss in it. There ain't enough chlorine in the world to make it mine again. I'll be looking elsewhere to swim.
Along the way we've subjected ourselves to literally two client "check-ins" a week. Two opportunities for them to express disdain, to show their pusillanimity, to make things worse. Today this buggery is called "working together," or "partnering" with clients. It's supposed to be good.
We have also constructed an elaborate schedule of about two agency check-ins a week. No good ever comes from people who say "we're just trying to make this better."
I can think of no creative pursuit worth its salt (I am not talking Hollywood movies which are an industrial product) that allows itself this sort of gestation.
Last night I saw Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors," via New York's Public Theatre, outdoors in the Delacorte Theatre in New York's Central Park. It's as about as dumb a play as you will find anywhere. A pure conceit with two sets of twins not realizing the other set are alive and in the same small city. There's canoodling, merry mix-ups, dull-witted jailers and pompous Dukes.
In all, it's about the level of the old Patty Duke TV show where Patty Duke plays both herself and her identical cousin Cathy. Hijinx abound.
No point here today, except that some days it's harder than others.
Somedays you wish all the people who were telling you that they care about what you think didn't really mean "we don't give a rat's ass for your talent and experience. We want to get our grips on this work and make it ours."
Somedays I handle the bullshit better than others.
Today isn't one of those days.
It might be not much help today, George, but for me this blog and your writing is a source of light in an increasingly darker market, where profit and fear rule everything around us (did Wu Tang get it wrong? C.r.e.a.m.) and a passionate work ethic seems counter productive.
ReplyDeleteSo much truth in your posts, thanks for keeping up the good fight.
I totally agree with Elias.
ReplyDeleteYou're probably the only honest voice there is among all the bloggers EMPLOYED in our industry. ,br/>
And wasn't that the promise of the internet. We are all empowered. ,br/>
Actually, we are enslaved. ,br/>
Because now everyone can track us.
George, you're unique.
And the fact that you keep it up and honest is probably your best insurance policy. If you get fired for speaking the truth it's clear all the talk about the little person, consumer, employer, whatever, is just bull. Your agency is at the forefront of social.
I'm glad they still seem to live up to its reputation. T.