The Monster Blog

Writing for a Living

In some ways, I think of myself as a hack in the journalistic sense. I could write about or edit any subject provided I have the chance to do a little research. (Yes, hacks everywhere bless the day Google was born.) Perhaps it sounds better if I claim to be a word mercenary.

That said, I do exercise some discretion. For example, I like writing and editing articles about career advice, because they actually help people. So in my mercenary career, sure, I prefer to do good whenever possible.

But I'm always impressed by "real" writers -- the ones who write books. The ones who have creative ideas in their heads that they just have to get out on paper and share with the world. I get excited when I see someone reading an article I create, but fiction is so personal, I imagine many authors feel naked when they see someone reading their books.

I've been thinking about this, because I was recently at a party, and I was talking with Dave Yoo, whose first book, Girls for Breakfast, is coming out at the end of May. We talked for some time about how nerve-wracking the whole process is: how he's excited and anxious about people reading his words, how his agent had to call him back because she was on the phone with Nick Hornby and what it takes to get signed for a second book.

In some ways, I'm definitely jealous. I just don't know that I would ever have the attention span to write an entire novel. But I certainly want to thank those who can. Reading makes for good writing and editing.

You can check out Dave's book site here.

Paid Time Off

At last week’s company meeting, the rumors were confirmed: As of January 1, 2005, Monster is switching to a paid time-off plan. And I’m having a lot of trouble deciding whether I’m happy about it.

The deal is that sick, personal and vacation days are all put in one bank for employees to use however they see fit. In theory, this should be great. I’m pretty healthy and usually only take a couple of sick days off per year. With a paid time-off plan, I can use what previously would have been sick days to get a little extra leisure time in.

But what about those people who often get sick? They won’t want to use their PTO days to stay home, nursing themselves back to health. They’ll want to pick up some extra vacation time from the new plan as well. Will these days be so precious that they’d rather come into the office sniffling and coughing? I can already see the germ cycle will be with us for some time as people refuse to get better before coming into work. And with the shortage of flu shots this year, the timing couldn’t be worse.

Take a look at John Rossheim’s story, “The Pleasures and Perils of Paid Time-Off Plans” while I take another dose of echinacea.