Mildred

The Truth About Being A Great Writer

While standing on line at the local butcher, Mildred, my mother-in-law, leaned over the counter and said softly, “So Bernie, how does Mrs. Fisch do her pot roast?”

His answer changed my life.

Bernie bellied up to the counter, his heavy lidded eyes rolling sideways before pushing over a scribbled piece of butcher paper with his grubby finger.  ”What do you think of that, Mrs. K?”  Mildred adjusted her glasses and peered keenly at the note before her.  With a dismissive sniff, she slid the paper into her purse and smiled innocently.

“The best cooks are thieves,” he winked at me.  ”Julia Child stole her sauce recipes from the French, Martha Stewart practically copied her Christmas cookie book from Good Housekeeping and Mrs. Krakauer here, let’s just say she borrows from everyone.  And so should you.”

Me?

I was stunned.  From the very first time I sat down to dinner cooked by my mother-in-law, I believed she was making everything from time honored, secretly guarded recipes handed down from generation to generation.  Someone else with a better recipe for brisket?  Are you meshugah or what?

Yet, here before my eyes was Bernie, the butcher, telling Mildred  that the key to great cooking is grand larceny.  And from what it sounds like, she has some pretty fancy partners in crime.

Who benefits from all this stealing?

If you have to turn out momentous meals every day, coming up with your own unique original ideas is gehackte tsuris – who needs it!

And its not because Mildred is lazy, she’s busy.

The only way to survive, look fabulous and stay in control is to steal a secret from Julia Child, Martha Stewart and Mildred P. Krakauer.

Copy from others knowing that true genius stands on the shoulder pads of others

What About Writing?

I couldn’t help but wonder, “Could it be possible I am needlessly killing myself trying to be original all the time?”  Of course  I am.  And so are you.  We are stressing, worrying and inwardly freaking out each time we come face to face with the blank page because we want so badly to write something fabulous, something that will transform a reader by the simple experience of reading our words.

OK, here is what I think, after being in the trenches for twelve years as a professional author & illustrator, grantwriter and blogger:

You can mistakenly believe you are the most original, prolific and constantly amazing writer in the world and sputter into a fit of depression when it becomes impossible to maintain these high standards for yourself.

Or,

You can steal.

Why am I telling you to do this?

Because I know that if you are serious about your writing, you will see very quickly that there are better ways to write better and more efficiently.  Many successful writers like, Shakespeare, Jefferson and Wilde have perfected the art of copying, or as Bernie would say, “borrowing”, from others because they quickly understood that true creativity is seizing the genius in the ideas of others and making it your own.

Let’s Look At Headlines

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity”

A great quote from Simone Weil.

How do you attract and earn someone’s attention?

Let me borrow a great word from Mark Ragan, the force at Ragan Communications: Cosmotize.

I just adore that!

When you are standing on line at the supermarket, you know your eyes go right to those riveting covers of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Vogue and GQ.

Did you know those headlines are over half a century old?  The ideas behind them are basically the same, the wording or the language changed over time, and yours to steal for your next piece.  The raison d’etre for a headline is to get you, the reader, to read the first sentence.  And then the next sentence, and so on.  If you can’t get someone to read your headline, you can forget about them reading your article.

Everything starts with the headline.

Look at any great headline carefully and you can see its bones, its architecture, its template that will work for any topic.  Just like the recipes in Mildred’s trusty collection, I am building a swipe file with hundreds of headline templates on my computer where I can scan them whenever I need to craft a killer headline of my own.

A Shortcut To List Headlines – Snack Size Content that Readers Will Eat Up

Everywhere you look,  there’s a headline like this, “43 Ways To Drive Your Man Crazy In Bed.  Be Sure to Check Out #7″, or “101 Killer Resources To Make Money As A Mommyblogger”.  You see them on magazine covers, on the blogs you follow and on morning and evening news shows.

Why are they so popular?

They work.

After attending the Boot Camp for Nonprofits!  Power of Giving Forum – an exclusive event for Con Edison partners presented by Ragan Communications,  as well as the Corporate Writers and Editors Conference  (hashtag #raganCWE) the following day, I have a new respect for the power of headlines.

To help you write something that has the power to be a transformative experience, like Mildred’s pot roast, let me square my shoulders and become one with Bernie, the butcher.  I will share what I learned in a roomful of PR and marketing professionals from experts in their industry that earns its right to exist by how well their communications can create profit from attention.

Mark opened the session by inviting us to ask ourselves, “would I pick this up at the newsstand?”,  or “will people want to read this and do I love producing this?”.  At the top of his list of tips was this: List story.

List story: organized thought with a teaser title.  This is hands down the most popular and most powerful headline and story one two punch combo in the history of writing.

Here’s What I Have For You:

I did a little research project in the magazine section of my local bookstore and analyzed the most frequently used list headlines into a short list of templates.  These templates are shortcuts that you can use to fill in the blanks and jumpstart your writing with a great headline.

1. 5 Ways to (do something)

Give people a little selection, not too much, and some meat on the bones for each way so that they feel they can make an informed choice.

Example:  7 Ways to Write a Better Grant

2. 52 Killer Resources for (audience)

This is a great way to dominate a narrow subject with a long list of bullet points.  Readers will shake their heads in amazement, “Wow!  There’s so much I didn’t know!”

Example:  101 Dumpling Ideas For Your Next Party

3. The Top 10 (techniques, resources, tips, you name it)

People love this.  They want their options reduced, reviewed, rated and presented to them in a tidy list.

Example:  The Top 10 Holiday Offers Your Customers Will Love

4. 11 (topic) Secrets Every (audience) Should Know

Curious about what secrets you are missing?  Your readers will be too.  This is one of the most effective and irresistible Cosmo headlines.

6 Sexy Secrets Every Cosmo Girl Should Know About Her Man

5.  7 Surprising Reasons (topic)

Instead of creating curiosity, tap into the curiosity that is already in your reader with this provoking headline.

Example:  15 Surprising Reasons Why You You Need Memory Boosters

6.  The 9 Laws for (topic)

Some people love being told the rules of the game.  Others want to study the law, figure out how to get around it and rebel against it.  For both, they will still want to read  what those rules are.

Example:  The 5 No Nonsense Laws of Nonprofit Fundraising

7. 5  Things your (audience) Needs to Hear You Say

If you are like me, you wonder a lot about if you said the right thing or if you just put your foot in your mouth.  Pick someone important to your audience to make the headline even more compelling.

Example:  Want a Raise?  7 Things Your Boss Needs to Hear You Say

Why kill yourself?

Mildred pulled a stubby pencil out of her purse, scribbled something on the butcher paper and pushed it back over the counter to Bernie.   She smiled.  He winked.  Then he looked up at me and said, “And what can I help you with today?”

I thought for a moment.

“I’ll have what Mrs. Krakauer is having,”  I held his gaze and said, “Theft and pot roast.”

We are all in love with the written word

The annual LitTAP convening draws people out of their insular silos and into a space where we are startled by the presence of so many others just like us – lovers of the written word.

Actually, I am hopping around in the space where text, image and  restless thought live at the center of the Venn diagram of my life.  I wrestle with each demon that fights for center stage.

It is a stage as gracious as the head of a pin.

This recent convening took place on another kind of stage. A sound stage at Kaufman Astoria Studios at the intersection of creative industry, Queens Council on the Arts, fabulous food, the Museum of the Moving Image and the flagship performing high school created by the Sinatra family and Tony Bennett, Astoria’s home boy.

A perfect place to make visual how one board member’s passion for the work of the Queens Council on the Arts became the site of a statewide discussion on how we and our board members can be better champions of the literary world. H

Here are some things I heard that stuck with me:

• Mission gives you the power to say no.
• Don’t be afraid to make the ask. Think of it as a chance for someone to invest in something they care about.
• “No” is often code for “not yet”.
• Say “Thank you” a lot.
• I don’t know what to do first. Maybe I should eat this cookie.

Love those Poets in Unexpected Places!

I captured what I could with my Flip video camera.  Watch the magic here!

How a Blog

You had me with the full can of soda.

“Yes,”  Allison Steinberg smiled and dotted the i and crossed the t of the seven word mantra of JetBlue.  ”We bring humanity back to air travel.”

And that means we get the full can of soda.

How many people, how many times a flight, have wondered about that moment when the air hosts and hostesses see saw their drink cart through the aisles.  How very smart of JetBlue to recognize the big picture of that little moment.

Allison Steinberg is the Senior Media Analyst at JetBlue Airways and the author and editor of JetBlue’s BlueTales blog.  Her presentation entitled, “Leverage a Company’s Blog to Increase Your Brand Awareness” was one of the morning sessions at the 4th Annual PR and Media Relations Best Practices Summit presented by Lawrence Ragan Communications, Inc. at the Con Edison Headquarters Union Square in New York on Tuesday, April 9, 2013 where she shared insights for getting and tailoring content unique and valuable to audiences and how to use your blog to make your messages credible and consistent.

Why blog?

Of course a blog will do all those bloggy markety things like “create brand awareness”, “increase customer loyalty”, “step up SEO”, etc.  By publishing relevant, timely information that gives readers the “why” behind the “what, many marketing mitzvahs will tumble your way.   Some are:

1. you will educate you customers on your product and services
2. you can entice reporters to go to your blog as a source
3. you can grow niche audiences of customers, business partners, reporters, employees and industry geeks

How does Allison do this?

“The blog is the center of gravity,”  Allison stated, almost maternal in pride and tone.   She spoke about the different kinds of stories you could find on the blog.  Stories about what’s new ( a new airport), behind the scenes (just how in the world does that carousel luggage thing work?), a human interest angle ( a customer story), updates for the media (facts & figures, info rich stream of information about an event or crisis).  The one that piqued my interest was the “Day in the Life” story she does that follows a JetBlue employee.  Don’t you wonder about what happens during the working hours of a pilot, ticket agent or mechanic?  Personally, I am intensely curious about the people who figure out how to make those cookies.

Allison also does a series called, “Unpacked” where you can discover delightful bits of airplane arcania like “How do you choose new cities?’ or “What is turbulence?” which is something that takes on enormous significance especially when you are in it.  She says it creates informed customers.

Here are some of my favorite takeaways from her presentation:

• Set a cadence.  The informal voice engages more than a press release.
• Encourage everyone on your team to mine for information and visuals.  ”Wing Woman”, a column created by a jetBlue employee has become a very popular blog.
• To be an ongoing media hook, insert yourself as a credible source into a media story.  I am not sure which story she was referring to but I believe this is a good way to manage crisis communications.

What about you?

“Adapt, reuse content.  Mix original reporting with some behind the scenes stories, how to’s, announcement of new products.”

For example, JetBlue did a pre-press release story on the blog about the American Airline merger.  It was released on Valentine’s Day and featured an image of a heart candy with a message that read, “SINGLE & LOVING IT”.  An instantly recognizable candy with a twist to its traditional messaging of “BE MINE” and “I LOVE YOU” to mirror the tongue in cheek, sly wink of a story that reasserts the pride JetBlue has in being independent and all that it does to set itself apart from the pack.

A sweet ending with the full can of soda.

OK, I have to start off with a confession:

Why are so many guys wearing dark suits with brown shoes.  All around the room on the nineteenth floor at Con Edison Headquarters Union Square all I could see were lots of men in suits wearing brown shoes.

Is it a brand thing?  Did I not get the memo?

Here I am, at the 4th Annual PR and Media Relations Best Practices Summit thanks to the generosity of ConEdison who opened up twenty five slots to this event for their nonprofit partners.  By the time I signed up, I was number twenty three.  It is just my nature by association to be thrilled about the chance to attend and guilt stricken at the same time.

Why?  Because I know I would feel terrible if I was number twenty six or twenty seven to sign up and not get in.

So here is, in the spirit of sharing my furiously scribbled notes with all of you who did not get to attend this terrific event, is my summary of insights from the closing keynote speaker, Andrew Davis, the exuberant author of Brandscaping who turned the usual way of thinking about creating branded content on its ear with cheerful, unapologetic logic that is exhausting and exhilarating.  Here is a link to his presentation.

How to think of content as a product

Rather than list ways to rethink about what you share with the world, Andrew leans out and pokes you with a question:

“Hello?  Anyone out there?  Hey listen, I have two books to give away.  Who wants a free book?”

That got one woman twitching and jumping up and down in her seat – and a free book for having more energy than the rest of us at the end of the day.

The real question was this:  What if your goal was to own some quality time in your consumer’s day?

We used to set our lives according to our favorite television shows literally “making an appointment” with a product, in this case a series of stories with characters we cared about.  For example, the A Team opened up every show with an intro that was:

1. repeatable
2. ownable, as in intellectual property
3. built and reinforced a relationship you had with the characters

It had a format, it had a hook and it delivered content consistently.

What did the producers of the show get in return?  The most amazing thing in the world:  quality time in your day.

Why you should think like a movie

Who doesn’t know and love the little orange clownfish named Nemo?  This sixty minute plus movie that revolves loosely around the story of fighting all odds to go home had the side effect of creating a demand and insatiable market for clownfish and all kinds of stuff you get for your pet fish.

This movie had the power to move markets through powerful storytelling.

Andrew is right about the movie.

Do the math:  You just paid money for a ticket to sit in a theater with your eyes focused on one screen for at least an hour.  Think about what you could do with all that in place.  If you deliver a great, strategically designed story that your audience forms a bond with, they will form a bond with you and your content.  Move markets?  This stuff can change the world.

What is the most brilliant question in the world?

When I approached Andrew after his presentation, the most pressing question in my mind was – Will he take my credit card so I can buy a copy of his book?   He had already given the first of his two give away copies to the twitching woman and the second to a man who posed a cool question prompting Andrew to ask him for his name.  The man did not miss a beat and said, “I Need A Book.”  He got one.

I was thinking of all of the points he made, and the questions provoking the logic behind each one  - What if you owned some quality time in your customer’s day?  What if a zero opt out rate was your goal?  What if you treat your content as a product?  What if you thought like a movie, a TV executive, a partner with someone who already owns your next customer?

All great questions and all great examples and answers practically exploding with potential.  By this time I have gotten over my brown shoe thing and I am really loving how these guys are rocking this look.

“You’re one of ConEd’s non profit partners?”  Andrew pushed his glasses up and grinned.

“I am and I really can’t thank you enough for making me ask myself new questions about my content as product,”  I put my credit card down on the table and smiled, “I would love to buy a copy of your book.”

“What if I give you a copy?”  he said and handed me a book and signed it for me.  His generosity left me stunned and as I slowly walked away it dawned on me:  the most brilliant question in the world is what Andrew Davis wants us all to ask ourselves all the time.  Just the way he does.

So go ahead, start asking yourself this question.

What if?

So how am I doing five months to the day after Superstorm Sandy came crashing into our lives?

The seasons have rolled by, this year with a more acute appreciation of normalcy. Cheering the first coffee shop and nail salon to return. Watching more houselights flickering in the rows of darkened houses huddled against nightfall.

Halloween hobbled by, unrescheduled like its New Jersey counterpart.  But we partied with the little goblins on our street with whatever candy we saved from the storm.

There was a run on water heaters and boilers in November, before the temperature dropped below 32 degrees and the pipes froze. We heard stories of guys driving way out to Pennsylvania with what precious gas they could hoard – there was also a gas shortage, remember? – to pull boilers off the delivery trucks.

Somehow, we were able to get the trifecta in place. New electrical panel, boiler and water heater. That, and Boston Market, was Thanksgiving.

Christmas and New Years Eve we spent in our FEMA/Actors Fund supported apartment in the Avalon building in New Rochelle which was a break for me. Sky’s school was temporarily housed in another high school in East New York until mid January so my day did not start until I had driven through Westchester, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn to drop him off.

Back in Rockaway finally, we began rebuilding and repairing. Seven broken windows were replaced, the man cave in the basement was power washed and painted, all leaks repaired.

Signs of Spring

Everyone has new cars. Close to 2500 cars were ruined and taken away after the storm so no one even considered getting a used car. I refuse to tell you how many times I have tried my key in the door of a black Jeep that wasn’t mine.

We wandered into Bob’s Furniture last weekend and ran into other Rockawayites looking for basement furniture, just like us.

“Listen, for your basement you want to look at this selection,” Gary, our salesman and one of Seth’s Friday night poker buddies, settled into the display sofa with an appreciative glance. “Two words. Bonded leather.”

It seems that this was the weekend you couldn’t get your hands on any kind of bonded leather furniture. I really didn’t want to go schlepping out to Pennsylvania.

A Bright Spot

Seth found a story about CARE, the Cherished Album Restoration Effort, an amazing group of people who will restore up to 50 photos for people in the flood zone. Next weekend, someone will be coming over to scan our photos so they can be restored. This is the kind of disaster relief work that uplifts the spirit as well as repair the damage. The one thing everyone says they miss the most are the photos that were in the basement and ruined by the storm. I am so grateful to them for offering to save what precious images we have left.

That puts a big smile on my face.