As a writer who writes fiction but trained as a journalist, it sometimes still surprises me how quickly I can swap writing ‘hats’.
Today for instance, when at work, I noticed something in a press release that, according to my journalistic training, held a bit too much opinion for that kind of article. It may surprise you to know that the general news is supposed to be devoid of opinion and should focus solely on established facts, leaving opinion for columns devoted to that kind of thing. Of course, in practice, it doesn’t always work out that way, but I was surprised how quickly I noticed the problem. I haven’t had to wear my journalist hat much lately and I’m glad it still works.
One of my most troublesome hats is my editor’s hat. For those of you who don’t know, I am a professional editor (if you’d like to know more, visit my editing page), and sometimes that can be a curse. We visited a different church yesterday, as my son was performing at item there. Immediately, I noticed every missing apostrophe in their promotional material and every instance of poor grammar displayed on their screen. My husband had to contend with my constant muttered corrections as I grumbled about all of them. This is nothing unusual – my editor’s hat is probably the one I use the most frequently. I’m always editing everything, even if I don’t have to.
Then there’s my fiction hat. I put that on again this week for the first time in a while. I’m writing a little something which I hope will contribute to Sarah Fenhardt’s story. For those of you who don’t know who Sarah is, she is my protagonist in the Verindon trilogy. I won’t say any more about this little contribution yet, as I’m not sure if anything will come of it, but I’m happy to say my creative side came out as soon as I put the hat on and it was easy to slip back into Sarah’s skin.
Most published authors wear a multitude of different hats as part of the work of being an author. They have to be a salesperson, an accountant, an advertising expert and a dozen other things.
Are you an author? How many hats do you wear? If you’re a reader have you tried to count all the different hats you wear during the average day? Let me know in the comments at the bottom of the page.
I feel your pain, Lynne. 🙂
It can be tricky …
Too many hats, some days, Lynne! I write novels, but also write short stories to contribute to the skill. I work as a Learning Support Assistant at a school, but today they were short of teacher so I had to switch roles and put on my teaching hat for the day. On weekends I’m a youth leader at our church, which can sometimes confuse my occasional teaching role. As soon as work finishes, I’m a wife, a mum, a cook, a cleaner and whatever else needs doing. But I love it all and am happy switching hats, even though it can be tiring. I think all my ‘other’ hats contribute to my writing, so it all has duel purpose. As writers, we need to get out among people to make us better writers. We’re not always that type of ‘animal’, so getting out and about sometimes needs to be forced.
So long as your hats don’t get mixed up it’s fine. 🙂
I’m always “editting” when I’m at church, too. The main offenders are your/you’re and apostrophes either in the wrong place or missing altogether. I too do some editorial work. Also I’m writing a fantasy trilogy, bk 1 is already in print, and I’m writing an historical crime story. Occasionally it takes me a while to adjust to the change of hat; especially remembering to switch the editor off while writing a draft for fiction. Sometimes it all feels slightly schitzophrenic.
Yes, it does feel that way, doesn’t it?