5 posts tagged “writing”

And my neglected Vox friends! I'm so sorry I've been such a bad neighbor. It's like I went away on vacation and didn't tell anyone, but also neglected to set my sprinklers to at least water the lawn periodically.

Bad, bad Eileen.

Anyway, work has been insanely busy (my real work, that is - the one that actually pays me bi-weekly), and I've been trying to make a go of this Examiner.com bit. For now, the latter is keeping me occupied and giving me a (sort of) paying outlet where I can write about things that irk or impress me about being a mom who leaves the house five days a week to collect a paycheck. (Okay, I write a lot about other mommy-releated stuff, too.) For now, I'm still entertained by the whole thing and devoting a lot of my writing efforts to that.

I have a few blog posts simmering in my little head, and I will probably have to take a day off work to kind of write them out coherently. In the interim, I've been lurking... and enjoying what everyone else has to say!

I'm in dire need of some help!

I just started writing for Examiner.com as the Orlando Working Moms Examiner. I've printed out an editorial calendar to give me some ideas on what to write, but it's been a little bumpy. Yes, I know I've been writing for them for all of 2 weeks. And, yes, I know I don't need to post something every day. But I could sure use some help finding some compelling topics that related to Working Moms (and, really, don't all moms work?).

If you're a mom, what are some things in the news or around you that concern/irk/interest you? And if you're a dad, what are some things that you'd be interested in reading about? (And if you're not a parent, what are some topics that would still pique your interest?)

Thanks in advance!

So, every week, I write and publish a department newsletter that is sent to all the Regional Retail Managers and District Managers. Most of the Regionals trickle it down to the venue level (which is the level that really needs to read it, anyway), and every now and then, it trickles up to the Area Vice Presidents or higher. It's a pain in the rear and not always fun, but I have most of it down to a science so that it's not the worst thing in the world.

This afternoon, the department head (my boss's boss) told me that she presented the last few publications to the CEO to show him what we, as a department, are doing to communicate with the field. Now, I have to admit, that gave me some pause. Given the nature of my topics, I have a tendency to get a little "preachy". I mean, how many times can you gently remind people they need to sell product? After a while, it gets old, and you start to think banging your head against the wall sounds infinitely better than writing another article about customer service.

Anyway, he liked it. And I mean genuinely liked it! (This is a man who does not mince words. If he thinks something is crap and/or a waste of time, he'll let you know in no uncertain terms.) He found the headlines compelling, the articles cogent, and the entire publication (all 3 or 4 pages of it) worthwhile. I believe she said his exact words were "a fantastic communication".

So, yeah. Good job, Eileen.

Now get back to work.

I watch the news in the morning because I like to know what's going on in the world... as censored a view as the news media gives us these days, anyway. I figure that a censored view that I can use as a jumping off point in efforts to learn more about given topics is better than no view at all. But I digress.

Now, I know I'm not the world's greatest writer or speaker. And I know that I've written more than my share of un-diagrammable sentences, especially those ending with prepositions. But I like to think that I have a solid appreciation for the English language and all its words and phrases.

This is precisely why I get so incensed every day when I listen to the newsanchors speaking, and why I'm beginning to get more frustrated with reading newspapers, too. Words and phrases are constantly being used incorrectly, and it just angers me to no end. Here is a brief list of my favorites:

- "Three more troops died in Iraq yesterday..." Wrong. Three troopers died in Iraq yesterday, unless there was a massive slaughter. A troop refers to a group of soldiers. A trooper is a member of a troop. So, really, we have not lost more than three thousand troops in Iraq to date - we've lost more than three thousand troopers. That's a significant difference.

- "Parents should make sure their teens know tattoos are all but permanent." Wrong. Saying something is "all but" anything means that it's, well, everything except that. Sadly, there's a line in Star Wars that uses "all but" incorrectly: "The Jedi are all but extinct now." Obi Wan should have said, "The Jedi are practically extinct now," and this morning's newsanchor should have said, "Tattoos are permanent."

- "Meantime, the police..." Wrong. It's "in the meantime" or "meanwhile". That just sounds stupid.

And, one of my favorites...

"The reason why doctors say... is because..." Wrong! That's a triple redundancy! You'd might as well be saying, "Looking back, in retrospect..."

Who in the world is writing the news these days? Where did these copy editors go to school? Where did the editors go to school?

I weep for the future.

Sorry my posts have been a bit scarce on here. It's in part because there really isn't much to report, in part because my head is too muddled from lack of sleep to come up with any funny/witty/ridiculous thoughts, and in part because I've been experimenting with Helium.

No, not the gas that makes you talk like Chip and Dale - the website!

I saw the ad on Gmail every time I got a message from Vox, and I finally clicked and signed up. It's basically pretty simple: you find a topic you want to write about, write, post, and wait to get rated. Your goal, as in all things in life, is to be rated #1 - but the top five will do nicely. The exciting thing is that of the five articles I wrote specifically for Helium, all of them are in the top three! (Two are #1, two are #3, and one is #2.) Okay, so some of those articles don't have much competition (up against only three others), but I'm still proud of it.

Anyway, what prompted me to write was that the article I wrote about my pregnancy journal - rated a lowly #3 of 4 yesterday afternoon - was #1 this morning!

See? I do know how to write!