Welcome back from the (non-long) weekend!
I have one important word for writers this week: Trampoline. Finally. Finally Fuel Your Writing has found a reason for me, as a writer and editor, to get that one beautiful piece of equipment dreams that I have been asking Santa for since I learned how to say the word. It’s Monday, and most of us are looking at a work week ahead with lots of serious desk time—or for freelancers, floor, kitchen table, and (if you’re lucky) back patio set time. Don’t relegate yourselves to these areas when the work is done. Go for a run, jump, or swing; get your body juices flowing again. And when you’re joyfully launching yourself into skies, you can thank Fuel Your Writing—and me.
I’ve used this space before to express my love for a favorite writer: Dr. Seuss. (And I’m willing to bet Mr. Geisel had his very own trampoline.) And now For Bloggers, By Bloggers also believes in using the good doctor to inspire fearless blogging. They discuss (among six other things) looking at your ideas from a new, upside-down angle to make a headline pop. However, a ridiculous (terrible?) case from Copyranter shows that provocative headlines are not always the most suitable. Who let that past editorial?
Speaking of thorough (and hard-working, and creative, and pretty…) editors, have you heard about Groupon? The mega-hit localized coupon email service is about to go public with an estimated value of $25 billion. Let me say that again: $25 billion. From an email service. So what is Groupon’s Secret Sauce? Look at Groupon’s staff of 400 creative, funny writers and tough, tough editors. And I’ll take the words right from their “mouth”: “And I’m not talking about … scrubs who think Microsoft Word gives them a license to write. … I’m talking about poets, and creative writing majors, and artists of every stripe. Writers. We’re a $5 million a year company (and growing fast) because of our misfit collection of rebels, hippies, and poets who can write well.” Value your writers, value your company.
What Groupon is definitively not doing is just posting stuff online, as For Bloggers, By Bloggers believe many bloggers do. The day of the emotional diary entries on your middle-school LiveJournal is over. And take these words from FB, BB to heart to echo the massive success of Groupon: “Sure, when this whole [blog] game got started it was simply people logging what they were doing/thinking/feeling on the web and then got tired of saying “my web log”, but when basketball started it was just a Canadian gym teacher in Massachusetts nailing a peach box on a wall to keep his kids active on a rainy day. Just because something starts as one thing doesn’t mean it can’t transform into a well-respected, rule-abiding discipline.” Good writers, not just any “scrub” with Internet access. There’s your success.
What about you? If you come across any interesting or relevant posts, leave them in the comments section and maybe I’ll feature them in next week’s Round-up!
