the Diva Platform

Whew!  I’m done with a really stressful writing assignment!  Done done.  Not “turned in, but there might be rewrites.” Done.

I’ve started writing for HowStuffWorks.com, which an old colleague of mine turned me onto.  I’m terribly happy to have the gig–not only is it a good move career-wise, the work is also pretty interesting and right up my alley.  Random stuff to learn?  Figuring out how stuff works?  Sign me up!

So far I’ve written three articles–I’m not sure if any of them have actually published yet though (you’ll hear about it when they do).  The most recent was on a specific type of skin lotion called a mattifying lotion.  Basically, these are lotions that help with oil control and give your skin a matte finish.

One would think writing about cosmetics might be fun, but it’s really about chemistry.  Let me tell you, I certainly struggled with this, seeing as how it’s been ages since my high school chemistry class, and my memories of chemistry class involve spending a lot of time at the teacher’s desk trying to get him to explain the material to me.

Back when I was a researcher, if I had to search a topic I knew nothing about, I’d figure out the keywords and eventually find what would help answer the question.  Now, I actually have to read said material and comprehend it–or at least comprehend it enough to write about it.  I’m on the flip side, and sometimes it’s a bear.

For this assignment, it meant stressing out over not finding much information about mattifiers.  I’d find that they were products, but I’d rarely find out about their chemical makeup.  This was incredibly frustrating and stressful, and all I can say is thank goodness for some Dow Corning white paper I found that went through some skin care chemistry.  After reading it about ten times, I understood a smidgen more and was able to locate other information to help me pound out this article.  A field trip to Ulta also saved my ass.  This great guy who worked at the Benefit counter took me all around the skin care section and showed me different mattifying lotions–which included putting some oil on my hand, then adding a bit of mattifier and seeing how the lotion soaked up the oil.  So cool!

Still, the article took me way more time than I’d planned on, and now that I’m finished with the article, my brain has already reclaimed that space where I put all the chemistry information I learned.  I could tell the second I read the e-mail from my editor saying the article passed muster.  She went on to say something about viscosity and methyls and polymers and some other big chemical-y words, and at that point my brain barely registered them as being in English.

Sigh.  Sometimes it’s tough to admit I just don’t get something, and I don’t think I’ll get much when it comes to chemistry.  Still, I’m relieved to know that I’m able to understand enough about it to be able to communicate it to someone.  For that skill alone, I’m glad to have struggled through this assignment.