Hello Vocus!

Photo taken in Jim Thorpe, PA by my wife during our trip in June.

Today I made a decision that could change the future of this blog. You could say it was a “through the looking glass” kind of day when I decided to get this blog listed on Vocus. The hope is that I might be able to introduce a whole different world of opportunities because of it. When writing and posting every day it all comes down to having something to write about. This is one way to have some stories come to me which is why I might be able to expand upon the subject matter and maybe introduce some new topics.

I have worked with this service for a number of years now and the lists that it provides are an excellent way to find new reporters and bloggers. However, this is my first foray being on the other side of the screen. The years that I have used the site have been while working in public relations (which I still do) and now I am the one, potentially, being pitched. Actually, I am kind of on both sides of the equation.

For those of you unfamiliar with Vocus here is the basic summary from the company’s about page:

Vocus (NASDAQ: VOCS) provides leading cloud-based marketing and PR software plus consulting services enabling companies to acquire and retain customers. The company offers an all-in-one suite of applications and consulting services to help clients attract and engage prospects, capture and keep customers, and measure and improve marketing effectiveness. More than 17,000 annual subscription customers across a wide variety of industries use Vocus software. The company is headquartered in Beltsville, MD with offices in North America, Europe and Asia. 

Furthermore, the reason public relations professional use the service is because it allows them to “Connect with journalists and bloggers, send press releases, monitor news, reach influencers, and measure and share your results. Vocus PR Suite is designed to help marketing and PR pros increase their influence and tell their story online, across social networks and through the media.” While most PR/media interactions are relationship based (or should be) there is no getting around the fact that sometimes cold pitching has to be done. That is the nature of the business.

Moving forward this will certainly be a balancing act between my professional life and my personal writing life. I will be sending pitches and, hopefully, fielding them as well. Fortunately, the topics that I have covered thus far in the blog and topics I hope to introduce are completely different from the ones that I represent when on the other side of the mirror.

However, I think the most interesting, important, and beneficial thing that could, in theory, come from this development is the fact that being able to see a story from both sides can only help me both in my writing and with my professional career. Knowing how people on both sides of the pitch feel about the process is something that too few people understand and I am looking forward to experiencing that interplay. I am hoping for an interesting ride.

Avoiding Pumpkins

You can't move a letter without putting forth the effort.

The one thing that people keep asking me with regard to my blog is how do I find the time to write and post every day? Well it is quite simple really, I work the graveyard shift. Being that I am the only one up in the middle of the night it is easy to find some quite time to sit at the computer and jot a few notes about what is going on that day, what happened yesterday, or what happens to be on my mind at the time.

Finding time isn’t hard but figuring out what I am going to write about can sometimes be a challenge. I have a few weekly topics/series that provide plenty of fodder but they don’t account for every day of the week. Every week I know that there will be one Rotary related post, one travel post, and a “quote” of the week. Other regular topics include the Mason related postings, occasional networking events, and genealogy centric posts will soon become more prevalent. That leaves a lot of days to fill in.

In this instance I am fortunate to have some OCD writing tendencies. I have an excel file with all the ideas that rattle around in my mind. Most of the time I am able to get them scribbled down on something before they evaporate. To date, I have been diligent about this so that I have a list of topics that will take me through October. With that said, when a time sensitive subject or if the mood strikes me to write about something else, this digital calendar allows me to easily shuffle around the scheduled content. Every once in a while I can even get ahead and take a day off here and there.

Obviously, that has not always been the case as I have taken some postings down to the wire. But, knock on wood, I have yet to turn into a pumpkin and the slipper has always fit even though it sometimes causes blisters. And, fortunately, there has only been a few times where someone has reacted like I was Gus yelling “Happy Birthday!” I guess that is bound to happen when you share your opinion and limit the amount you allow yourself to be censored.

On the flip side of my OCD writing tendencies is the fact that I am constantly struggling with the internal editor yammering on and on about limiting repetition, eliminating clichés, over-saturation of adjectives, and just being long winded in general. I am making a concerted effort to silence that voice when writing this blog but it is a daily/nightly chore. This is designed to be an open, free flowing, sometimes rambling forum with the simple purposes of production, routine, and discipline. Hence, the daily posts.

During this time of transition and uncertainty, blogging on a daily basis forces me to focus on one thing for at least a small portion of the day. Sometimes I reflect on the good things in life, sometimes I vent about the annoyances, and sometimes it is simply a matter of recording experiences so that I can recall them in the future. Regardless of the reason on any given day, I am focused on writing and trying to free up my overly rigid creative process.

This is why I chose to write every day and why I force myself to develop content. What motivates you to write? Do you have a specific area where you write? How do you find the time? From where do you cull your content?