To write is human, to edit is divine. Stephen King
Terri Webster Schrandt

How Writing Built My Blog

To write is human, to edit is divine. Stephen King

Imagine my excitement when Hugh Roberts asked me to write a guest post and be his featured blogger for March. I stand in very good company with previous guest bloggers whom I have followed because of the nature of the content they share. If you’ve been a reader of Hugh’s blog long enough, not only does he share great blogging tips but he’s written a fabulous set of fiction stories and hosts the increasingly popular weekly photo challenge.

What can I share with Hugh’s readers?

For my guest post today, I’ve decided to approach this from a writing perspective. This a blog after all. Most bloggers write.

So as they say…once upon a time…a writer was made.

The Making of a Writer
I started my “official” writing journey as a cub reporter for the high school newspaper in my senior year. By the second semester I was promoted to news page editor. Near the end of that senior year we entered San Diego county’s high school news competition. Not only did the newspaper win first place, I won first place as reporter for the news category. Totally unexpected given that this was my first year.

Sidebar: My writing journey really started at age five when I started reading…everything. I loved school because we were required to read.

Once in college I realized that I had decent writing skills and excelled in classes like organizational communication. It was much easier to write about facts in non-fiction than to write fiction.

I took those skills into my career in recreation and leisure services (yep—parks and recreation!). I wrote pages of public service announcements, developed, wrote and edited marketing content for publications and catalogs advertising recreation programs. I already had a great eye for proofreading and corrected many of my colleagues’ writing mistakes. I became so successful that I did this for the entire department for 15 years. I eventually managed and wrote website content for our ever-changing online aquatics pages.

The Making of an Editor
In the meantime, I looked for part-time side work to supplement my single-parent income. I knew that I was a good proof reader and copy editor because of those experiences I acquired. When I was introduced to the editor of a local monthly magazine, I asked her if she ever needed proofreading for the publication. She said that her proofreader had just quit and was looking for a new one. She gave me a stack of pages and said, “I pay $10 an hour, so log your hours and we’ll see how you do.” I ended up editing content for her magazine for eight years. She also referred me to other side work proofreading and copyediting books and other publications.

Eventually, most proofreaders were put out of work as computer technology increased. If you ask me, editing and proofreading programs and apps leave a lot to be desired. As writers and readers, how many typos do you see in published works?

Speaking of published works, I managed to publish several articles in PRB Magazine. You can read Aquatic Management Training  or an earlier article Tap Additional Revenue Streams .

The Making of an Educator
In 2007, I decided to enter the graduate program in Recreation Parks and Tourism Administration. My ultimate goal with a master’s degree was to be able to teach part time at the university in the department. During grad school, I grew fascinated with the four generations in the workplace and how culture and historical events shaped the values and characteristics of each generation. There’s nothing like writing a 90-page thesis to hone your writing skills, not to mention learning to take criticism of your work. From this I learned a lot about my particular writing style and my continued love for non-fiction writing.

In January, 2011, six weeks after I completed the master’s program, I was hired as a lecturer for a university teaching in the recreation, parks and tourism program. Fast-forward to 2016, now retired after 35 years as a parks and recreation practitioner, I continue to write and create 4+ hours of lecture material each week. I then present them to Millennial students with somewhat short attention spans.

The Making of a Blog
Once I finished and published my thesis, which focused on the four generations in the leisure workplace, I used my research and literature review to construct and offer presentations for trainings and workshops. Soon after, I started a blog on WordPress. The blog was devoted mostly to generational training and information and was slow to progress because it was the equivalent of writing a research paper for each blog post… and even I got bored with it.

There is a lot to be said for leisureI continued to realize the importance of good writing once I started blogging. However, academic writing using references was tiring. I got discouraged and let it fall by the wayside. On a random day in September 2014 I logged into WordPress and saw the invitation for WordPress’ Blogging University 101 and 201, which helped me develop my blog to what it is today.

My blog became about the perspectives I had on life, work and leisure. I have come across very few blogs that focus on leisure, play and recreation. I’ve noticed some bloggers do blog about travel, lifestyle, and fitness, but they don’t introduce the broad concepts of leisure in the sense of the value it provides. I bring that perspective of how valuable leisure is in our lives from the points of view of practitioner and leisure educator.

The Making of a Published Author?
This summer, I hope to get started on writing and self-publishing an e-book about finding time for leisure.

 

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38 comments

  3. You did a good job with this Terri. Blogging has improved my writing too. If it weren’t for blogging (and I did the blogging U courses, too, and found them effective), I might have taken a lot longer to find my sense of humor voice! And that’s been a vital find for me.

    So looking forward to your new book! Hope it’s as fun (and exhausting and frustrating and all that writing a book is) as you hope it to be. I’m proud of you. Janet

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  4. I haven’t decided if I am a photographer who loves writing or a writer who enjoys the photography as much as the writing. Either way, I admire your perspectives on writing and leisure.What a great way to spend your retirement! And now you’re planning to write a book! Wonderful, Terri.

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  9. I just fell in love with your blog. You take a lot of care to craft the language around ideas that extend beyond the page, which is what I look for from blogs these days. I also grew up listening to my mother read me Stephen King and so anytime I see someone giving him props, I have to say a little something nice 🙂 Really wonderful to have found your site here. Definitely glad to NOW be following you. With Gratitude and Joy, Zach from StrengthsLife.com

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      • Stand By Me is so amazing. The Long Walk is one of my all time favorites, totally un-celebrated, but amazing and heart-bending. I hope you enjoy my site. It’s a tour of my brain and the work I pour into the world. Peace and gratitude, Z

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  10. I enjoyed reading this. I think the love of writing starts with the love of reading. I loved Stephen King’s book “On Writing.”

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  11. What a great and inspirational read Terri! Thanks for sharing your journey and I can’t wait to read the book when published. Thanks for sharing with us at #OvertheMoon link up.

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  17. Hi Terri, I am just catching up on posts I saved to read. It is nice to get to know more about you. I didn’t know about the editing/proof reading part of your journey, though I guess I should have known since your blog is so well done. It upsets me to see so many blogs with poor writing or poor grammar. I always want to fix them!

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