This is a hard post for me to start because I love so many things about reading. It makes me sad when someone says they hate reading; books can offer so much.
I love that reading is an escape from my technology saturated days - computer, cell phone, digital camera, video camera, and television are all off when I read. It feels like a return to a simpler time and I cherish the silence.
I love that I can go anywhere I wish without leaving the comfort of my couch. I can go to New York, Middle Earth, the Dominican Republic, Hogwarts, medieval Europe, Japan...anywhere.
I love that I can meet so many different people, some that I would want to meet in real life and some that I would not.
I love how different authors play with language, and I love to explore the different worlds and characters they create.
I love how reading can lift my spirits if I'm stressed, angry, sad or lonely, and I love how reading inspires my own creativity.
I love how reading is a one-to-one connection between the author and the reader. Unlike most other forms of entertainment, when you hold a book in your hands, you are holding the creation of one mind. That is amazing to me. I like to imagine where different authors might have written their works.
I love that reading connects me with my parents. When I was growing up, my parents always read to me, told me stories, bought me books and took me to the library. It wasn't uncommon for the three of us to be in our living room, one of us watching a TV show and the other two reading...but all together in the same room. These days we pass books back and forth and talk about them over weekly dinners.
Do you love reading? What do you love about it?
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Five Random Things I Would Change if I Was in Charge
1. Mid-season breaks in television shows would not be allowed (ahem...Lost, Flash Forward, V)
2. Email addresses would be portable from one service provider to another, like cell phone numbers
3. Political candidates would not be allowed to spend money on advertising
4. Barry Melrose would do color for the NHL on NBC
5. I would re-do the series finale of Will & Grace
2. Email addresses would be portable from one service provider to another, like cell phone numbers
3. Political candidates would not be allowed to spend money on advertising
4. Barry Melrose would do color for the NHL on NBC
5. I would re-do the series finale of Will & Grace
Monday, January 25, 2010
Dating vs. Hanging Out
This evening, I was involved in some happy hour chatter about dating vs. hanging out. Here is what I have decided...if you are a man over the age of 30 and you use the term "hanging out" instead of dating, it should be required for you to have "not marriage material" tattooed on your forehead.
Seriously.
Seriously.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
What a Communications Manager Does for a Living
I am writing this post mainly for my family. I love them dearly, but I am tired of trying to explain what I do for a living. Like other people who work in an office, I attend many meetings, but I do so much more than that.
To start, I am the communications manager for a large performing arts organization. I am a member of the marketing department, which has 10 total employees and two interns. My areas of focus are our educational and fundraising programs...and other duties as assigned. My title is communications manager, but what I do can also be described as public relations and marketing.
I maintain the media list
A tedious, but important, part of public relations is maintaining a good list of media contacts. I maintain the list for our entire department, which is comprised of contacts at print publications, at radio stations, at television stations, bloggers and online outlets. I update our list with new email addresses for current contacts, add new contacts and delete those that, for one reason or another, no longer belong on our list.
I cultivate and maintain relationships with members of the media
It is much easier to obtain coverage for something when you have good relationships with the media. I meet with key contacts occasionally to determine their interests and update them on what I have coming up.
I write, distribute and track press releases
Press releases are documents that have all the pertinent information relating to an event, program, award or other type of announcement for which we want to obtain media coverage. The first thing I do when getting ready to issue a release is schedule it. I work with seven other people who issue press releases. As a rule, we allow only one to go out from our organization each day. After I have my release scheduled, I write it and distribute it internally as appropriate for fact-checking. Then I email it to our media list. I call or email key media contacts to make sure they've received it and to suggest ("pitch") ideas ("angles") for stories or interviews. Through Google Alerts and our clipping service, I check to see where we received media coverage.
I schedule media appearances and interviews
As a public relations professional, my job is not to get on the news. My job is to get our key spokespeople on the news. So, I will make arrangements for our key people to be interviewed on camera, on the radio or by a reporter for a print publication when appropriate. If that interview is to take place at a radio or television studio, I will accompany that person to the studio. Occasionally, one of our key people is not available and in those instances, I may do the interview myself as I did here: http://www.wkyc.com/life/programming/shows/goodcompany/gc_article.aspx?storyid=110107.
I write copy
Copy, NOT text or verbiage. I write copy for ads, brochures, catalogs, email blasts, signs, newsletters, playbills, postcards, websites, and probably other things that I can't think of right now.
I art direct
I work with graphic artists and our web manager to create the visual look of ads, collateral materials (brochures, catalogs, etc.) and signs. Everything I create has to align with our organization's brand standards.
This post is already getting quite lengthy, and I still have more to say! I'll save it for another post though. For now, I'll close by saying that, as you can see, there's never a dull moment in my job. Every day is different, and I love just about every minute of it!
To start, I am the communications manager for a large performing arts organization. I am a member of the marketing department, which has 10 total employees and two interns. My areas of focus are our educational and fundraising programs...and other duties as assigned. My title is communications manager, but what I do can also be described as public relations and marketing.
I maintain the media list
A tedious, but important, part of public relations is maintaining a good list of media contacts. I maintain the list for our entire department, which is comprised of contacts at print publications, at radio stations, at television stations, bloggers and online outlets. I update our list with new email addresses for current contacts, add new contacts and delete those that, for one reason or another, no longer belong on our list.
I cultivate and maintain relationships with members of the media
It is much easier to obtain coverage for something when you have good relationships with the media. I meet with key contacts occasionally to determine their interests and update them on what I have coming up.
I write, distribute and track press releases
Press releases are documents that have all the pertinent information relating to an event, program, award or other type of announcement for which we want to obtain media coverage. The first thing I do when getting ready to issue a release is schedule it. I work with seven other people who issue press releases. As a rule, we allow only one to go out from our organization each day. After I have my release scheduled, I write it and distribute it internally as appropriate for fact-checking. Then I email it to our media list. I call or email key media contacts to make sure they've received it and to suggest ("pitch") ideas ("angles") for stories or interviews. Through Google Alerts and our clipping service, I check to see where we received media coverage.
I schedule media appearances and interviews
As a public relations professional, my job is not to get on the news. My job is to get our key spokespeople on the news. So, I will make arrangements for our key people to be interviewed on camera, on the radio or by a reporter for a print publication when appropriate. If that interview is to take place at a radio or television studio, I will accompany that person to the studio. Occasionally, one of our key people is not available and in those instances, I may do the interview myself as I did here: http://www.wkyc.com/life/programming/shows/goodcompany/gc_article.aspx?storyid=110107.
I write copy
Copy, NOT text or verbiage. I write copy for ads, brochures, catalogs, email blasts, signs, newsletters, playbills, postcards, websites, and probably other things that I can't think of right now.
I art direct
I work with graphic artists and our web manager to create the visual look of ads, collateral materials (brochures, catalogs, etc.) and signs. Everything I create has to align with our organization's brand standards.
This post is already getting quite lengthy, and I still have more to say! I'll save it for another post though. For now, I'll close by saying that, as you can see, there's never a dull moment in my job. Every day is different, and I love just about every minute of it!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Where Eating and Sleeping Collide Part II
Enemy, thy name is aspartame.
In follow up to an earlier post, I thought I'd share what I learned about the fatigue I had been experiencing over the summer. I discovered that my problem was being caused by the artificial sweetener aspartame, found in diet soft drinks, some "light" foods and most notably for me, Crystal Light.
I had started drinking lots of Crystal Light in an effort to drink more water, and was probably drinking 4-8 glasses per day. A friend mentioned to me that that might not be such a good idea (thanks Tracy!) and I googled aspartame + fatigue. Turns out that some research studies show a connection between the two.
I stopped drinking Crystal Light and within a week, I was back to normal. And I've learned to drink water like a big girl. As long as I put it in a glass (i.e., not a plastic cup) and use a straw, I can get it down.
The good news is that my diet and my nights' sleep are getting along now.
In follow up to an earlier post, I thought I'd share what I learned about the fatigue I had been experiencing over the summer. I discovered that my problem was being caused by the artificial sweetener aspartame, found in diet soft drinks, some "light" foods and most notably for me, Crystal Light.
I had started drinking lots of Crystal Light in an effort to drink more water, and was probably drinking 4-8 glasses per day. A friend mentioned to me that that might not be such a good idea (thanks Tracy!) and I googled aspartame + fatigue. Turns out that some research studies show a connection between the two.
I stopped drinking Crystal Light and within a week, I was back to normal. And I've learned to drink water like a big girl. As long as I put it in a glass (i.e., not a plastic cup) and use a straw, I can get it down.
The good news is that my diet and my nights' sleep are getting along now.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Coming at You from My Couch
Oh yeah, it's on now! New laptop + new wireless router = more blog posts + start of my novel. 2010 is the year that I start WRITING. I've always dreamed of and sometimes talked about this. No more excuses. Here we go!
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