From the DreamWorks cafeteria...

A reflection 💌

Dear Treasure,

It’s a little bit before 8:30am and I’m sitting in the DreamWorks Animation cafeteria in a suit jacket that I bought yesterday just for this, anxiously waiting for a meeting to begin.

Me at the DreamWorks cafeteria with my mug of coffee.

I have a little tray to my right with some eggs, a sausage, a banana, and some coffee (as seen in the photo above). Did you know they serve free breakfast AND lunch at this studio? Talk about a workplace that supports its employees!

You might be asking—

Why are you at the DreamWorks cafeteria? 🌙

Great question. Cue the video edit fade-out to the backstory.

It all started about a year and a half ago, while tutoring and freelance writing, I got a message from a recruiter about a part-time tech writer job at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). 🚀

At first, I thought it was a scam—but it wasn’t. I got to work at place where the Europa Clipper was being built and where they showcased a real-life moon rock!

I learned so much and met some amazing folks.

Sadly, a full-time position did not become available and I juggled multiple jobs for a while.

But during that time, a recruiter reached out to me about a full-time tech writer job at NBCUniversal. I, again, thought it was a scam. 😅 It was not.

It’s the job I’m at now, and I get to work with some incredible people and, on breaks, walk around real-life TV sets!

Today, I get to explore how I can support DreamWorks, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, as a technical writer! 📝

I know that I can be easily excited and a bit too chipper at times, but it really is cool to be here and I feel like a kid again.

And it’s just so fun to be walking where they make movies like Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, and my personal fav—Wallace and Gromit! So exciting and humbling.

I remember when I worked at NASA JPL, I took a photo of a sign with two arrows that gave the directions to the "Cafeteria" and "Space Flight Facility." Seeing them on the same sign totally captured the craziness of working there. Then, someone walked by and saw me taking a picture of the little sign.

I felt super embarrassed, but then she said something like, “Don’t let it get old,” and smiled at me. And working next to such incredible things never got old. And I feel that same excitement now at NBCUniversal and DreamWorks.

I honestly also felt the same excitement working at Lowes. I would stand at the self-checkout and think about all the cool things people came to the store to build!

And sometimes I’d get in trouble for writing poetry in my tiny lined notebook while standing there. Once, I wrote a poem about the lighting section. Sounds goofy, but go to the lighting section at a hardware store sometime.

All those lamps side by side, lit and glowing! It is kind of magical! 💡

Being a tech writer is something I could have never imagined for myself, but it’s been really fun and challenging so far and it’s taken me to places I never thought I could go.

My passion is truly for creative writing, but I’m hoping that this tech writing journey will help my creative writing too.

Ann Patchett worked for magazines before writing novels, and she said it helped her—despite the struggles of having two writing jobs instead of one more physical job for balance. And that is where I’m at.

Being a tech writer and a creative writer means a lot of sitting and thinking. Sometimes, it feels like they pull from each other rather than give to each other. And I certainly did feel more creative at times at Lowe's.

But I’m learning how to have patience with myself and find space to write creatively about all the cool things happening here, the things I’m learning, and how I’m growing as a writer and a person. 🌱

It’s messy and hard and also beautiful.

I’ve gone through many life transitions over the past few years, and some have been hard and others have been easier.

But overall, I’m still celebrating the beauty in the mundane—the DreamWorks cafeteria walls, those NASA signs, and of course, the old glow of Lowe’s light section that I’ll never forget. I don’t want to take any of it for granted.

Where have you found beauty lately? 💌

I'd love to hear from you—leave a comment or reply to this email.

Thanks for being here & following along with my writing journey,

With love,

Ash