It was supposed to be a lark – Interview someone and then write a column about that person – do one a week. Simple, huh? Fun, right? Yeah, I thought so, too.

Rant ahead, folks . . .

       That was before the grammar police got ‘hold of me. And, here, I have been termed the grammar police by others for years! I ain’t got nuthin’ on the newsies, though.
      Sent in my recent column one evening and when I checked my email the next morning found not one, but FOUR messages from the news clerk whose job it is to edit the column. The first was an acknowledgement of receipt. The next three messages were questions and reminders of news standards.
      Um, folks . . . this isn’t NEWS, here. This is a column about your NEIGHBORS, letting you get to know them a bit better.
      It wouldn’t have been so funny, if it weren’t for the questions asked. Okay, the one I understood – I should have named the female as the male’s WIFE for goodness’ sake or otherwise identified her (mother of his child, girlfriend, etc.).
      However, we live in an oil state – a state that is well-oiled (with well . . . oily politicians – but that is another rant, thank you) – in other words, a state with folks who live in, work in, and breathe in the oil production business on a day-to-day basis.
      The terms used in this interview were terms that even I, whose husband has NEVER worked in the oil patch, know in a semi-intimate way.
      Terms like 3s and 3s, as in, “he works 3s and 3s on the Slope.” (note from Newsie: we ALWAYS say North Slope – never just Slope – sigh! Noted, and thanks). Her question to me was “3s and 3s? Is that 3 minutes, 3 hours, 3 days, weeks, months, years?” Sigh – Slopers, oh, excuse me, North Slopers always work in multiples of weeks – so, this is 3 weeks on and 3 weeks off. Beg pardon.
      One last question took a little bit of digging. I understood the term, but found it a bit difficult to explain the term.
      Jug Lines. As in, he was working with jug lines, jumped from the helicopter to get them, fell into a lake and nearly was killed. Jug lines.

WHAT????

      The guys on these crews (Lessa’s hubby was one at one point) are known as juggies, btw. They work on jugs (the vehicles), on a jug line (the terrain), tossing out jug lines (the actual tubes/cables they work with). They wait for the seismologist to do his big boom (searching for oil under the ground), pull up the jug lines, move further down the jug line, toss out the jug lines and do it all over again.
      How better to explain that – and still stay within my word limit? Can’t. Won’t try. It’s up to her now.
      Talk about a power trip. I have heard over and over and over again lately from her: “do thus and so by way of the style guide line.”
      It was supposed to be fun, my friends. I love to write – this was a way to feed that obsession AND earn $30 per column.
      I had a word limit of 350 to start. (Hello? People, I can’t even say HELLO in under 350 words!) When one of the original 7 columnists quit and they decided not to seek another to fill her place, they gave the remaining 6 columnists her word limit so ours was raised to 480 words per week. I NEVER have a problem filling the limit.
      But this is what I will do for your $30 per week. I will go out and find someone to interview – this can be somewhat dicey at times. I will take MY time and THEIRS to do said interview. I will give them their 15 minutes of fame – for which they receive only said fame while I receive said $30. I will then take an hour or so to decipher my scribblings into some semblance of recognizable words – THEN I will edit and edit again until my writer’s soul is satisfied that I have properly given them their due. Then I will edit once again for length, cutting it down to those 480 words.
      After that, I will send it to my interview subject to allow them the courtesy of looking over my take on their words, giving them a chance to correct or change before I send it to you.
      THEN I will send it to you (newsie/editor) and wait with bated breath for your nit-picking to make sure I am meeting industry standards as YOU see fit.
      And they say writers are temperamental. (hey! I just learned that it is temper A mental, not temper-mental like I had thought! Well, it is a GOOD day when you can learn something while you are ranting, right?)
   
Stepping down from my soapbox now . . .

/rant

:moose: