Weight Watching the way I Write

So, on this endless post-grad job search I've been on, I've come across some interesting things on the editorial side of magazine publishing.

First, I found a job listing for Weight Watchers, which I am a member of. As we learned a couple of weeks ago, WW is heavily immersed in Plato's objective to "help me use the weight loss plan that has worked for millions."

And while I've honestly been slacking in the weight loss department for a while, my job search has continued to be constant; almost obsessive. After hours of sifting through job ads, I found that Weight Watchers Magazine was looking for an intern for their offices in New York.

Since I'm a member and familiar with the program, I clicked on the entry to read the job description. It was mostly the standard description of duties I had been used to seeing for all the others such as: must be proficient in AP style, must pitch story ideas and work closely with the editor, must have a strong writing background with communication skills, etc.

But one job description that struck me was, "must be a self-starter with an ability to write impeccably on deadline."

Let's think about this for a second. First off, what does, "write impeccably" even mean? What i consider as impeccable writing may not be what WW considers as impeccable, so, what scale should we measure this definition on? It technically means, "behavior, performance, or appearance to the highest standards of propriety; faultless." But who gets to decide what the "highest standard" is? And no one writes faultless upon the first draft.

And second, why is our culture so oriented towards deadlines? Is it because we know at the end of that final crunch before time runs out, we have to turn in something as they would say, "impeccable" and that's where our inspiration comes from? Or are we just that lazy that if no deadlines existed, we would never be motivated enough to get through the writing?

I wonder what Peter Elbow would say about these requirements. Because like him, I wish I could find a job where I could write in a style and time frame that worked for me and not just by any magazine's rules and standards. Where do our rules and standards as writers come into play here?

Oh well, if following their specific writing rules gets me a job, that's exactly what I'll do!