Business and Life: Trends

What else is there?

Book Launch January 28, 2018

Giving My Self to the Wind    I had so much fun. The top left photo is of my husband Don and my son Ted with me at the Gatsby Books signing. Next on the left, friends Tim and Nancy Thomas, and then my brother Bob and me.  The threesome at the bottom are my […]

The Challenge and Joy of Finishing

Mozart. Bach. Van Gogh. Rodin. Margaret Mitchell. Stephen King. Stephen Spielberg. George Lucas. Have you heard of these folks? They all finished something. Did they know they were done? Probably, they just got tired of messing with whatever they were working on, put a period, an ending, a final splotch of paint or marble or […]

Neverland

Penelope Peters did not want to grow up. She wore pigtails even as she entered college, an all-girls establishment. After she graduated she sailed to a faraway island where she took care of the Lost Girls. One day, the evil Madam Hook kidnapped some of the girls and took them to her place of business, […]

Published!

This is my book. I wrote it because I had to put my self out. Be out. These are pieces of me (they’re always called pieces, whether a piece of music, art, or writing) that assure me I was here. I never thought of that before, but it’s true. Creatives leave these little breadcrumbs like Hansel […]

WRITING Is Not Easy

We are inundated with content all day long. We are buried in promotions. Suffocating from inbound. Struggling to create outbound. So because writing is all around us, it seems that it is an easy thing to do. But it’s not. WRITING is not easy. Good writing is really, really hard. People write emails all day long. […]

Results

You’ve hired a writer.  Congratulations! I’m thrilled. You’re excited because your work is done. But wait.  We have to talk about that. As I view the content landscape, I am convinced that people hire content writers  expecting magic—as in seeing instant results and an immediate increase in business. It would be lovely, a writer’s wish, a […]

You Need a Break

Hire a professional. Perhaps a professional writer, even. Maybe you have too many projects for the writers on your staff. Maybe you’re the writer and the staff—and you’re doing it all. Sometimes it’s just plain hard to come up with a new angle. Your writers and you have been writing about the company for years. […]

Exclamation Points!!!

Has anyone noticed besides me? When I first started writing professionally, the rule was “only one exclamation point on a page.” What happened? The little devils sneak into so many places, they’re like ants, crawling through paragraphs carrying their dead and dropping them here and there, I guess. I don’t know. Exclamation points are everywhere. […]

A Necessary Convenience

Q: What 20th century “convenience” is most taken for granted?
 A: 69% voted for TOILET PAPER; 42% say the zipper; 38% say frozen foods Q: If stranded on a desert island with only one “necessity,” what would you choose?
 A: 49% of people surveyed chose toilet paper as their greatest island necessity ahead of food. […]