3 secrets for copywriters and marketers

If you’re balking at getting into social media…just do it! There’s literally millions of people out there blogging and twittering away, and sharing great info, insights and experiences.

It’s become an excellent filtering system, with your ‘community’ leading you to the really good stuff.

For example, yesterday I took half an hour out of my day to browse through some of my favourite bloggers. Something always catches my eye and gives me the nudge I need!

Like this great article from Gary Bencivenga (one of his fabulous Bencivenga Bullets): 3 Secrets for Multiplying Your Productivity, Success, Income, and Personal Happiness as a Copywriter or Marketer.

Those three ’secrets’ are great stuff. I especially like the 80/20 rule, which I’ve heard a lot about but never really looked into it. 

But wait…there’s (so much) more! So dive in and enjoy!

elle

The writers’ lunch

Solving the fly problem, writer style!

There’s something a bit decadent about stealing a few hours for yourself – and your writing buddy. Sash and I do it (almost) every Tuesday, and it’s brilliant.

It took us a while to set aside that time to feed our creative souls – and we still feel a tiny bit guilty that we’re not generating an income sitting there!

Is it a woman thing? We’re so used to looking out for everyone else’s needs and being on-call 24/7, that taking time out for ourselves takes enormous determination.

And we both know, from our own experience and talking to so many fellow writers, that it’s why we feel we shouldn’t take the time to write.

I love what Louise Doughty says in her book A Novel in a Year:

“The problem…with getting started seemed to stem from a common need, the desire for someone else to give them permission to go ahead with an activity that neither settles the bills nor involves paying attention to those we love.

…Hell will freeze over before I spend a morning folding clothes and putting them away in drawers when I need to be writing instead. If my family want their clothes, they know to look on the laundry rack.”

Don’t you love it when someone makes such perfect sense?

Our Tuesday Collabs start with a Pilates session, then coffee and fabulous GF banana bread at our favourite cafe in West End. Or, like today, lunch.

We spend the time catching up, planning or doing our next collaborative writing project, talking about the manuscripts we’re working on… So far this year, we’ve written a short film script, made serious progress on our manuscripts, and come up with some fun writing plans (and dreams).

Today, a fly flew into Sash’s shiraz. I’m not sure if that’s a sign – but it involved laughter, so it must have been.

We solved the fly problem, writer style – with our coasters and pens. And we’re so busy being creative and motivated, there’s really not much time left, these days, for guilt trips.

elle & sash

Easter Madness

Photo credit: freeimages.co.uk

Darrel Lea is packed. It’s the Thursday before Easter and I think the entire annual aid budget for a Third World Nation is being spent on chocolate.

First, I try to get into Darrel Lea through people lining up to buy their eggs. Then, overwhelmed by pressing bodies and chocolate cravings, I try to get out of Darrel Lea (without eggs).

That isn’t going to happen in a hurry. I say a gentle excuse-me to a lady in the line blocking my exit strategy. She doesn’t move forward or backward to let me pass. She just stares studiously ahead with a set jaw and an armful of moulded chocolate.

“Excuse Me,” I say, slightly louder. No response. I want to put my face very close to that determined jaw and say in a Clint Eastwood make-my-day voice, “I know you can see me and I know you can hear me…” But I vowed to give up egg-rage for Lent.

Instead, I gently nudge her toward the counter, hit the gap like a footy pro and flee through the egg-laden hordes.

I’m not sure if it’s age, cynicism or a lightly-oaked version of both, but I’ve completely lost the Easter – and Christmas – spirit.

The only thing that keeps me hanging in there is a penchant for warm Christmas pudding with lashings of custard, and smooth Swiss chocolate Easter eggs.

My children think I’m terribly jaded and unromantic. I don’t see their point. Okay, the Christmas tree is rather bedraggled. It’s a relic of their fading childhood and those bygone days when Christmas trees were genuine fake green.

They want to know when I’m getting married to their step-dad, although every time we mention a date now they just laugh. Which is understandable, I guess.

We’ve made a date every year for thirteen years. But just one look at those wedding buffet prices and the decision is difficult – skiing in the Dolomites, walking the Annapurna Trail… or a wedding. Gee, let me think.

Clearly, I don’t have an issue with romantic sunrises or snow-bound mountain lodges. It’s more a rejection of traditional events designed to bolster the flagging retail sector. From birthdays, weddings and christenings to Christmas, Mother’s Day and every other present-buying celebration, we are sucked into a never-ending purchasing cycle.

The only reason no-one has come up with ‘Kid’s Day’ is because there isn’t a parent out there who’d be fooled (or is there?). It’s Kids Day every day of the year. Even on Mother’s Day they ask me what I want, help me choose it, then steer me to the counter to hand over my own credit card.

Cynical? Who, me? Brand me what you like. I’m still going to pass on the whole faux celebration gig. Don’t buy me anything. What I really want is great company, conversation and laughter – oh, and to watch the sunrise over Machi Picchu sometime soon.

That’s it in a (chocolate) eggshell really.

elle x

OMG…GFC…WTF? When acronyms drive you nuts…

I’ve never been a fan of acronyms, although I know they have their uses.

Like saying ICB instead of Inner City Bypass. Or not having to write out the full name of a company every time you refer to them in an article. Or using PMP instead of ‘project management plan’, and HR instead of Human Resources, and compressing six word government department names…and… well, the list goes on.

Which brings me to the GFC. Now there’s an acronymn that’s sure to raise your anxiety levels. It’s also a sign that this financial crisis is very serious.

I’m old enough to have lived through some nasty financial dips, but you know they’re really bad when people start using acronyms – and delivering them in hushed tones, with pale, anxious faces.

And you try not to let it get to you… think positive, stay focused. Tell yourself we’ve become a bit soft, coddled by our affluence. That all over the world, people are displaced and made destitute by natural disasters, war, and human greed.

And for a moment, you count your blessings and you know that whatever life throws at you, you’ll handle it.

Then you turn on the radio to listen to some upbeat music… and some commentator starts prattling on about the GFC.

I just wish it was as easy to turn off the GFC as it is to turn off the radio.

 

elle x

Etiquette? Yes, please!

Yesterday, I was picking up a few things from the supermarket (which always ends up as a trolley-load, because once a week is enough for some things!). It’s a strange place, with big columns in the middle of aisles, so a bit of etiquette goes a long way as we all maneouvre our way around.

Did someone say ‘etiquette’? One lady had parked her trolley right next to the column, while she did a bit of brand comparison. She appeared oblivious to the pileup she was causing as she meditated upon the tins of tuna. And I was the first in line.

“Excuse me…” I said, softly, so I didn’t alarm her. No response.

“Excuse me…” Louder this time, but still politely (trolley rage is not my thing!). I mean, she could’ve been deaf, right?

This time she looked around, looked me up and down and said, “Yes?”

“Could you move your trolley so I can get past, please?”

Well, she reacted as if I’d asked her to donate a kidney. She huffed, muttered “sorr-eee”, and moved her trolley just enough so we could all squeeze past. Did I say trolley-rage isn’t my thing. I lied.

When did “excuse me” (delivered respectfully) become an offensive phrase? And what do you do in situations where you need to get passed, and someone won’t budge a single centimetre? If you push, you get snarled at. If you say “excuse me” you get the same response.

I read recently that etiquette schools are taking off in Brisbane. I’m sure it’s happening elsewhere – and not before time. Kids are being taught to use a knife and fork, and learn ‘table’ manners – among other things. You might wonder, like I do, why this doesn’t seem to fall under ‘parenting’ these days?

I’d like to add “excuse me” to the etiquette curriculum…along with:

•  language lessons in “please”, “thank you”,  “sorry” and “you’re welcome”
• Sending RSVPs when they’re asked for, by the date on the invitation (not the day/night of the event). Oh, and actually turning up or at least advising the host if something’s come up…
• Sending a brief, handwritten “thank you” note or even a quick email when someone mails you a gift (so at the very least, they know you’ve received it), and
• Being spatially aware, especially when walking (four abreast is not pathway-savvy behaviour) or walking on bikeways (and if you do, not getting upset when someone tells you to get off the bikeway – it is for your own safety after all!).

These are really all simple acts of respect for others that seem to have dropped off the radar.

Yes! Bring back etiquette training… and possibly extend it beyond ‘kids’, because they’re not the only ones who’ve forgotten (or never learnt) the simple art of manners.

Perhaps actually sitting at the dinner table to eat would be a good start. With the television off. 

Did I mention I’m in training myself – for being a grumpy old woman… fun.

elle x

 

*image source: freeimages.co.uk

Free books

I don’t know about the rest of you but I love books. I’ve recently downloaded a few and thought I’d pass them on. They are all in the science fiction/fantasy realm though, so if that’s not your interest then the rest of this post is not for you. 

Sean Williams The Crooked Letter is available. 

A Battlestar Galactica novel is available here

Cory Doctorow’s novel Little Brother can be found here. You can also read a bit about Creative Commons Licensing, which I know very little about but he does. 

Personally, I still like to own a copy of the little suckers. There’s just something about a book that some of us will never let go of. That said, free downloads are also a way to introduce yourself to writers you may not have taken a chance on in the bookstore. 

Enjoy,

Sash.

(and tell me if the links don’t work, because I’ve checked and they seem to be.)