The life of an Odyssey writer can be a busy one. Once-a-week deadlines may not seem like that much, but a new idea every week can prove to be taxing. Sometimes it's a pain, but there's never a better feeling than seeing your own work published. Here are generally how my weeks go by as an Odyssey writer.
Saturday:
Ah yes, Saturday. Last weeks article is submitted and ready to be edited. You are happy because you can finally sit back, relax, enjoy college, and remember all the assignments that you put off while working on your article. Remember that math homework that you meant to take to the tutoring lab before Friday? Well, it’s now Saturday, and the tutoring lab is closed. But at least your article is in, right?
Sunday:
It is that special day once more for everybody -- the day of rest. Unless you write for the Odyssey. Or work in a restaurant. Or are a college student. OK, it is not that much of a day of rest. You spend your day enclosed within your cocoon of academia and migraines inside the corner of the library. Of course, some kid decides that for some reason it's OK to talk on the silent floor about his crazy Saturday night that you care nothing about. You check the Odyssey group chat to see a writer was removed -- guess somebody didn’t turn in an article. You wait the entire day hoping not to read an email telling you that your article needs to be revised and resubmitted. And of course that email comes. You put down that math homework that you already don’t understand to fix your article. You check your watch and it just reads late. Article: fixed, math homework: done, rest: unchecked.
You wake up and immediately hate the world for the existence of Monday. But then you remember Mondays aren’t that bad because you write for the Odyssey, and Monday is your publishing day! Today, classes don’t seem as boring, and the world doesn’t seem as Mondayish. Your morning class is finished, no email saying your article has been published. OK, that’s not so bad. Noon rolls by, and you go in and out of your afternoon class with still no email. Not a big deal -- it’ll be published soon. Finally, around 9 p.m., you get an email saying it's been published. Just in time to share it on Facebook and have no one see it!
Tuesday:
It's Tuesday, so you should probably start thinking about that next article to be written right? Nah, it’s only Tuesday. There are still three more days to have that article written.
Wednesday:
You wake up to check the number of social media shares on your article. You pull it up on your phone and are proud of your 87 shares over the last two days. It was a good, insightful article, so, of course, you are proud. Eighty-seven shares, off to a good start! You are immediately disheartened and your dreams of a $20 writing bonus crushed when you see that “25 Reasons Why Santa Clause Is Better Than The Easter Bunny” has over 56,000 shares.
Thursday:
Only one more day until your next article is due and have you started? Nope. But you have an idea of what you want to write, so really you’ve basically almost finished it so no need to worry about it anymore today.
Friday:
Oh my God, you did it again, didn’t you? It’s now nine o’clock Friday night, three hours away from deadline, and you’re just sitting down at your computer. You look regretfully into the blue screen of your laptop. You’re sure that it’s staring scornfully back. Not to worry, your 19 years of procrastination has prepared you for this moment. Again. You spend the next three hours typing out some resemblance of an article and hit submit for editing and the only thing in your head is Frodo sitting on an erupting Mt. Doom. "It's over, It's finally over."
