I love my job, but...

I love my job but I have to say I am so happy to be off for the next week. I have been working non-stop for the past two months. Hence why this thing hasn’t been updated frequently.

For those of you who don’t know what I do, I write and help design a catalog for a major department store. I also write the copy for the internet. It might sound boring which I thought it would be when I applied for the job about a year ago. But actually I find it just as satisfying as my old job as a reporter.

When I was a kid I was always into clothes and fashion. I picked up the interest again after I found this job. Now I am able to use my skills as a writer and a designer to do something I like.

So I work with a team of other copywriters, layout artists and art directors to put together these catalogs. There are about 18 of us on my team. It’s a lot more work than you would ever believe. It takes us about 2-3 months to get out an average catalog of 100 pages. There are a lot of things that have to be right like the prices, fabric content, etc., so there are a lot of checkpoints involved.

When I step back and think about it, it’s almost amazing how we can put together a catalog in such a short amount of time. There’s the planning of what will be on each page. Then we have to obtain the sample of the items so the model can wear it. Speaking of models we have to obtain the models and set up a shoot somewhere to take the pictures. Accessorize the product. Get the pictures taken. Touch up the photos. Reshoot if something didn’t come out well. Get the specs from the supplier. Write the copy. And that’s about half of what we do. We even have people who stay in the dark room all day to make sure the items are true to its color in the catalog. It’s a lot of work, but I’m glad I’m part of the team. I believe at one point this month our team was working on 700 pages at once. Not to mention Internet items we had to get up.

People ask me all the time if I miss newspaper. Yeah, I miss the fun of doing the hot news story. And sometimes I wish I could just go out there to a scene of crime and start asking questions. But at the same time I have fun putting these catalogs together. I can’t wait until we finish a book to see the end product. I love writing copy for the dresses online, especially writing for the prom dresses.

I’m not sure how long I’ll want to do this, but I am sure happy about it now.