Outtakes 147

Brain Dead
By Cait Collins

There are just some days that kill every brain cell in your head. I’ve spent the last two days doing prep work. In other words I sort the correspondence requests that come into our work list. My favorite expression has been, “Whaaaaat?” In other words who wrote this and what were they thinking? I love my job and the various aspects of the position, but I haven’t written a letter in two days.

The letter writing and researching are my favorite parts of the job. Digging for what happened, why it happened and then preparing the response are a pleasure. Sometimes its like working a puzzle, and then there are the days when every request is simple and done in a few minutes. The length of time required to assist the client is not important. Helping the client and making him happy is the real purpose of the job.

Pleasing our readers is much the same as responding to a client request. We take the time to research, plot, plan, write, edit, and polish until we produce a story, a novel, a press release, or a marketing plan that meets the needs of the reader. Knowing that we’ve done our jobs well is a reward in its self. But the financial rewards and recognitions don’t hurt at all.