Out of The Zone: A Tuner's Perspective

Note: This is not a sports-related post. What I am referring to is the Comfort Zone--my comfort zone particularly. Today I did something my lovely bride has been chiding me about for months--I submitted a piece of writing to a local online magazine.

"But wait!" you might be asking (OK, you aren't asking it, but it's a nice construct), "You've been in the communications profession for years. Why should submitting a piece of writing be out of your comfort zone. Surely (not gonna do it!) you've done this many times before."

Well, yes and no. I have issued press releases and other materials under the guise of my employers in the past with a fair amount of coverage as a result. However, this is the first time I have submitted something on a get-paid-for-publication basis. Why have I not done it before? Well, frankly, it's because I don't consider myself all that good of a writer.

I liken the writing world to the piano world. You have those who build marvelous instruments; you have those who are virtuosi at playing that instrument, and then you have people like me--piano tuners. We tuners are those who can tinker with the language and make it sound right, and yes, we can even noodle with it a bit to play a song or two. But we are not builders and artistes--we are caretakers, and we serve a role in the preservation of the language, much as the tuner does in the preservation of the instrument. 

Give me sheets of information, a target audience, and a deadline, and I can tune the words to say whatever you like. Or give me your slightly flat instrument, and I can get it back into key. But I am not a constructor of baby grands, nor am I a Van Cliburn of the computer keyboard. I am much more comfortable as an editor, and reviser, and a proofreader. Sadly, there isn't much call for those tasks in my neck of the woods, so it looks like I'll be feeling a bit uncomfortable for awhile.