During a recent family visit, as my uncle sipped mint tea, my father asked me if I had any articles in the day's paper. I replied yes and handed him the paper. My uncle stopped his sipping, and seemed confused – until he realised that I am now a working woman, and with a surprising job.
And so the questions began. "What is it that you do exactly?"
And then more. "How are you able to write? Where do you get the ideas from? Do you have time? What sort of vocabulary do you need to include? Where do you go? Do you find the people to answer questions? Do they talk to you?" On it went.
My father left the room as I fielded this barrage of questions, returning with a folder of all the articles I had written in the past three months.
From courts to shut down groceries, from reckless driving to new year's resolutions, to job fairs, to marriage, divorce and the Federal National Council, my uncle seemed lost just by reading the headlines. And the questions continued: "How are you able to focus on your job? How can you write about everything?"
My answer was simple: it is a responsibility I was given, and I must do a good job. At first, it was hard to do it without being nervous, but I still worked hard enough to complete an assignment. With time, the responsibility grew and I had to work on many other articles on a wide range of topics. It took time and effort, and and I was still nervous most of the time, but I overcame it. And I am still learning and hopefully with time it will get easier.
My uncle didn't have the time to read all the articles themselves, but he was still impressed. I am, it seems, getting somewhere.
