inspiration from the uninspired

who reads them anyway? before i started writing messages for souvenir programs, i didn't even care to read them. i didn't listen much to speeches when they turned out to be boring. but the good speeches i did listen to and commented well when i needed to just to show appreciation. only the messages that caught my attention were the ones i scanned over only to turn the page.

there's my dilemma. how do you get the average non-message reader to read what Mr. Big Boss' greeting? how do you get the short-attention-spanned audience to listen to what Mr. Big Boss has to say. more importantly how can a writer write messages and speeches that would supposedly inspire, when she is not exactly inspired herself?

no, its not the lack of a love life, nor is it that my total self-confidence and esteem has been dampened yet again by .... no not that... ok maybe the latter, though it has nothing to do with my job. but when it comes to writing as my job it shouldn't matter. like ate monette said once, when writing becomes a responsibility... creative responsibility.

here i am. not exactly a writer, but someone who can write a good piece given the drive, a good hook and inspiration to get it through, plus of course enough information. most of the time i'm able to get the information, sometimes the drive to go look for it myself, but when it comes to putting it down on paper, it will take me a while before i search the air for a good hook. then it would take inspiration to take the hook well onto paper composed into something inspirationally worth reading or listening to.

see, i don't exactly love my job, nor do i hate it either. but writing these inspirational pieces in a span of at minimum a week is getting to me, and its not doing well for my performance at work. my rate is about one message a day, and really good one in one week. something that makes me thank the university that my salary is per day based instead of output based. (but then i think of the five days i wont be getting for vacationing this Christmas)

i guess i've pretty much invited the language and vocabulary taking phrases like "distinctive excellence" and "godspeed" - which i don't know what it means at all - and sprinkling them over a message or two. and i'm getting the hang of writing things at point blank, handing the prettily glazed words over but not inspiring anyone much not even myself. there's where it begins to sound monotonous, and boring. who reads them anyway? who cares to listen?

which brings me to my first dilemma... there you have it. inspiration from the uninspired... nothing inspiring at all.