When you want to bite more than you can chew

Spacebar was created only a month before my Institute in Pune for a one month residential training for Teach For India commences. And it all happened so quickly. I started taking interviews in mid-March and by April 1st, I had an employee on board - one who truly loves to write and isn't doing this just for kicks. With TFI Pune Institute just around the corner, I spend many evenings wondering how I'm gonna do all of this successfully.

I have planned to give TFI my first priority and take Spacebar up the ladder slowly and steadily. This means that I will only focus on bagging the jobs and supervising deliverables, while the employee (hopefully employees, in due course of time) does the chunk of the work. I will, therefore, pick up jobs according to his areas of expertise. Which is why this month was crucial for me. I wanted to train him and understand his strong as well as weak points. School vacations are when I plan to dig into Spacebar in a full fledged manner for the next 2 years.

When the real TFI begins in June, I'm told I'll have 6 hours of school and then another few hours of after-school activity as well. That, coupled with Spacebar might make me tear my hair off! Most importantly, I want to do justice to the kids who I will be responsible for and if push comes to shove, Spacebar will have to pause. That I am very clear of.

But a struggle this will be. And somehow, even though there is some concern, mostly I'm excited. Because I have never tried to push the envelope so far in life before. I want to know if I can do it. Whether I succeed or not, either ways I'll learn.

And so for the first time in life, I'll bite more than I assume I can chew!

Not so content-ious

Every time you turn around, you see text somewhere. It starts the moment you wake up to your alarm saying "7:00 am" (or 11:00 am, who am I to judge? :-P). Your home is text-filled with the most obvious - books, magazines, newspaper - to the less obvious like body products, food packets, remote controls, electronic items....I can go on and on! Text is all around us.

But very few seem to wonder who comes up with the ideas for all this blah blah. Let me pick up a bottle of Nivea Express Hydration Body Lotion that's lying next to me (the papers say Mumbai is at 10-20% humidity levels, okay. I need my moisturizer!). "The ultra light formula of the New NIVEA Express Hydration Body Lotion, with Sea Minerals works deep within the skin, repairing....." - who the hell wrote this???

Content writers :)

Content is everywhere. It's on everything I mentioned above AND in bulk usage on the Internet. Every company needs content for their website, company literature, product literature, white papers, blogs. Businesses need content for their sales pitches. Individuals need content for the blogs, books and e-books that they write. Schools need content for their students' curriculum, textbooks and activity books. Colleges need examination content. Have I put my point across adequately?

So the big question is - who writes this content? And the simple answer is - inexpensive labour that breeds in our beloved country. In the information age that we live in, content is king and we are the perfect subjects! All around the world, individuals and companies and looking for content writers. To write stories and poems and emails and speeches and travelogues and website matter and product synopses and service descriptions. And...here we are, a country that speaks more than decent English and writes it even better!

This is the place, I tell you, this is the place! Do you love to write? Let's make content together, baby!