Trying to decide what to write about today, I came across this post from Mark McGuinness: Creative Block #5: Being Disorganised. It arrived in my email inbox this morning — right on time! I realized that a lot of my frustration and overwhelming feelings this past week have been caused by the piles of papers, books and textbooks currently surrounding my workspace. (I’d share a photo with you, but I’m too embarrassed to show you the MESS!) 😉

Today, I’m going to find some time to “clean up my act” and get organized so that I can approach the rest of my week with more clarity and a better sense of direction. I recognize that I’ve been “blocked” by my disorganization and I needed this reminder that disorganization is a creative stop sign! (Thanks, Mark!)

Until next time, let’s adopt some organizational and time management skills from our more left-brain oriented friends and unblock our creativity! If you’ve got some tips to share about this topic, please let us know by adding your comments here. Thanks!

Kathy Magrino

Creativity will always get you “bonus points” from me!… Earlier this month, students in my COM105 Mass Media Communication course at Rider University completed their first viagra canadian pharmacy round of “Team Challenge” presentations. The three objectives for the assignment were:

1. Introduce each member of your team to our class.

2. Recognize and identify the mass media affecting your lives.

3. Creatively present your introductory info and media findings to our class.

“Team RUWS” created a video (now posted on YouTube and shared with you with my students’ permission — click here to view) and, despite a little bit of technical difficulty, they entertained our class and impressed me with their creative talents.

My students are currently presenting their second “team challenge” assignments this week, and I’m excited to see what they will share this time! I’ll keep you posted…

Until next time, take care (and be creative, if you can)! 😉

Kathy Magrino

My favorite persuasive writing techniques are comparisons — metaphors, similes and analogies — and addressing objections, but not in the long-winded way some direct marketing copywriters use. Actually, if you combine these and other techniques into good storytelling, that’s the most effective persuasive technique writers can use.

Joyfully jobless Barbara Winter (@joblessmuse on Twitter) says, “What skill can put you at ease in social situations, make your business memorable and keep your curiosity on high alert?…It is, quite simply, a universal connector that helps us understand each other and ourselves, makes us desire things, gives us a sense of possibility. This magical tool is storytelling and it belongs in every entrepreneur’s toolkit…” Barbara masters good storytelling in her monthly Winning Ways newsletter and in her Buon Viaggio blog.

How do you persuade when you write? Let us know and share your persuasive writing techniques by posting your thoughts and comments here. Thanks!

Until next time, write on! 😉

Kathy Magrino

Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.” I definitely share a similar perspective, and I love the “thrill of creative effort”! That’s why I’m always trying to inject creativity into all parts of my life: at home and in my work, including the classes I teach each semester at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ.

We start a new semester at Rider today — an opportunity to inject some creativity into the learning process for 14 weeks of fun and learning! I’m teaching COM107 Persuasive Writing for the Media and COM105 Mass Media Communication this semester. I’ve taught COM107 many times before, but each semester I “change it up” to reflect what’s happening in the real world and to help prepare my students for potential careers as writers in the business world.

I’m teaching Mass Media for the first time — and I’ve designed the semester as a TV-inspired,  Survivor-like game. Hopefully, this will keep the creative juices flowing for everyone!

Wish us luck as we embark on 14 weeks of creativity, fun and learning in both of my classes… and I hope you, too, have the opportunity to experience “the thrill of creative effort” in your efforts in the coming weeks, too! Go for it! 😉

Kathy Magrino

Purpose. Audience. Style. Tone. (Easy to remember as “P-A-S-T,” an acronym I share with my students…) Whatever you’re writing, by considering these elements, you’ll be able to organize your thoughts and kick-start your writing efforts.

Purpose — Ask yourself, “What are my objectives for writing this piece?” Your answer will help you outline a path to reach your goals and determine your purpose.

Audience — If I could have figured out an acronym that started with an “A,” I definitely would put “A” for “audience” first. In my opinion, knowing your audience — the people you want to reach or connect with through your writing — makes the whole writing process much easier. Pretend you’re talking to this person or these people. In your writing, “talk” directly to your audience, using words like “you” and “your” and other conversational words and phrases, which brings us to the “S” in “PAST”..

Style — To be effective, the style and structure of your writing piece needs to meet your audience’s expectations — or it needs to cleverly attract their attention. At times, a conversational style is appropriate, but sometimes it’s not.

• If you’re writing a news release to send to journalists and editors, they’ll expect you to structure your news in an “inverted pyramid style,” where the most important news and information appears in your lead paragraphs, followed by the less important information. Also, news releases should be written in the objective third-person (without “you” or “your”…).
• If you’re writing a page for your website, it’s good to be conversational, but you’ll also want to use a “chunk” style with quick headings and sub-heads and bullet-point information.
• Sometimes an “unexpected” and creative style or structure will get more attention for your writing. On BusinessWeek.com, the authors of Social Media Will Change Your Business structured the article as a series of blog entries, which the authors were writing about in addition to other social media.

Tone — Determine how formal or informal your writing needs to be, depending on the audience and purpose. This is the “tone” you should use in your writing. If appropriate, don’t be afraid to use a casual, conversational tone, one that “talks” directly to your audience. Also, it’s okay to use technical words and acronyms if you’re sure your audience will understand — but only if your audience will understand what you’re saying!

Consider the “P-A-S-T” and move forward with your ideas and writing efforts. If you have any other considerations that help you kick-start your writing, please share them with us by responding below. Thanks for reading this post. Until next time, take care!

Kathy Magrino

That’s how viewers read the content on your website — and their eyes move in an “F-pattern” across the page. In a research study that I always quote to my students each semester, website-usability guru Jakob Nielsen found, “Eyetracking visualizations show that users often read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern: two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe.” The study also revealed, “F is for fast. That’s how users read your precious content. In a few seconds, their eyes move at amazing speeds across your website’s words in a pattern that’s very different from what you learned in school.”

To see “heatmaps” from the eye-tracking study, go here. This information can help all of us as we write, design and prepare content to be read on computer screens. In this instance, getting the “F” concept is a good thing! 😉

Until next time,

Kathy Magrino

I am from New Jersey, USA, and in looking at the “big picture” over the past few weeks and planning for the new year, I realized that I often relay information that has a global reach here and on Twitter. Unintentionally, I’ve been overlooking “the locals” — my friends and followers from New Jersey. Well, maybe “overlooking” is too strong of a word to use… what I realized is that I haven’t been offering “targeted” information for many of the people who I’ve connected with from my home state.

So, when an email from Darryl Walker of NJ-based Street Fairs LLC arrived in my inbox this morning, I recognized that it had some helpful information for retailers and small businesses in and around NJ.

Here’s the schedule for 2010 copied directly from the email:

NEW JERSEY STREET FAIRS from Street Fairs, LLC

April 18, 2010: Millburn/Short Hills, NJ
April 24, 2010: Tenafly, NJ
April 25, 2010: Tenafly, NJ
April 25, 2010: Summit, NJ
May 2, 2010: Cranford, NJ
May 15, 2010: Woodbridge, NJ
May 16, 2010: Bernardsville, NJ
May 23, 2010: Highland Park, NJ
May 30, 2010: West Orange, NJ
June 6, 2010: Metuchen, NJ
June 12, 2010: Westfield, NJ
June 13, 2010: Fair Lawn, NJ
June 13, 2010: Fanwood, NJ
June 19, 2010: Rahway, NJ
August 28, 2010: Westfield, NJ
September 5, 2010: Nutley, NJ
September 11, 2010: Rahway, NJ
September 12, 2010: Red Bank, NJ
September 19, 2010: Hackettstown, NJ
September 26, 2010: Fanwood, NJ
October 3, 2010: Millburn/Short Hills, NJ
October 10, 2010: Summit, NJ
October 16, 2010: Westfield, NJ
October 17, 2010: Cranford, NJ
October 23, 2010: Tenafly, NJ
October 24, 2010: Tenafly, NJ
October 24, 2010: Fair Lawn, NJ
November 7, 2010: Livingston, NJ

If you’re selling products or services or delivering information to people in NJ, this might be a good way to reach more customers in 2010. Darryl says, “We are expecting record spectator crowds this year… admission is free.” There is a fee to participate in these street fairs, but the fee varies for crafters, artists, retailers, food vendors and non-profit organizations. For more information, call Darryl at 908-654-1400 or visit www.streetfairs.org.

Next time, I’ll probably go back to offering some “global” information. But, for the future, I’ll try to remember to “keep it local” every once in a while. “Never forget where you are from” is good advice. 😉

Sincerely,

Kathy Magrino

I could write a lot of words reflecting on the past year, but I won’t. I want to briefly look back at 2009. I prefer to look ahead and to focus on the future!

What’s the one thing that impacted my year the most in 2009? Professionally and personally, it’s been Twitter. One year ago, I wasn’t acquainted with Twitter. Prior to March 2009, I was hardly involved with any social media. Today, you’ll find me “tweeting” on Twitter several times each week — and I’d like to do it more, but other business, teaching and projects sometimes get in the way.

Twitter has helped me network and connect with some great people over the past nine months. My success and satisfaction with Twitter in 2009 has been amazing — here are some highlights:

• Twitter helped me find non-profit “clients” for my students and fostered one of the most successful teaching semesters I’ve experienced at Rider University so far.
• Through Twitter, I’ve connected with one of my favorite writers and mentors, Barbara Winter – @joblessmuse, the author of Making A Living Without A Job. I read the first edition of Barbara’s book in 1994 and decided to start working for myself in 1995.
• I’m also planning a new venture (a real adventure!) with Alex Blom — @AlexBlom — someone I never would have met if it weren’t for Twitter! Alex is an Australian who is currently studying in Canada. I admire both his energy and his tech know-how. Stay tuned for more info about our plans…

I’m excited about the new year — and the new decade — ahead with Twitter and so much more in my plans! I hope you are looking forward to the new year, too, and I wish you a very happy and successful 2010!

Sincerely,

Kathy Magrino

P.S. Follow me on Twitter @kathymagrino.