Friday First Loves: Saturday supplement

Here’s what I love about T’Internet: it’s always there.

No matter how many manuscripts you promise to read, how many hours you spend away from the desk, no matter the amount of work and IRL’ing required – the internet is still on and waiting for you. To celebrate the almost-end of April, the settling of much Icelandic volcano ash, and the fact that yesterday was the first warm Friday in weeks I’m delighted to present first loves of an entirely refreshed nature.

Wordwise I finished two manuscripts for review and loved exactly half of them. There’s deep reassurance in the fact that anyone can write, and that publishers here have an open mind when considering what to read. Also, as a Red Pen Brigade aside, I spent half my reading time doling out revisions to comma-heavy sentences … and loved it.
There may be some value in organising a workshop on punctuation for grown-ups, since so many of us (on occasion, your humble narratrix included)  seem to have picked up the basics and never bothered to go further. Hmm, who do I talk to about an adults-only grammar lesson?

As for favourite tweets, I’ve been off-line recently and am only now catching up with the new ideas and finds floating in the tweetspace. From the team at lecooldub came a link to the Pen Pal Project kicking off at Kilkenny’s Little Ghost Gallery. The idea is an optimistic one, linking two artists only by post to create work for an upcoming event. I like the derring-do nature of random combinations, and if I had a set of wheels I’d be heading up on Friday 4 June to see the results. In a more business-socks context, the ever-capable deltacopywriter shared a link to a well written piece on press releases that managed to lift my eyebrow on formatting and inclusion of social media.

Out in the real world, Reilly Towers is a hub of activity as The Student prepares for exams next week, I dust off the bike, and Spring arrives with watery, chill light and the grim determination of an entire country determined to barbecue no matter how cold it actually is outside. I may still be wearing turtlenecks and tall boots, but dammit if I haven’t switched to my spring jacket and a lighter-coloured scarf.

To close out this edition I’ll share a comic that a friend tweeted yesterday. I’m laughing, but  wondering if this is a subtle warning to leave the proofing pen at work…

Ha ha, you guys.

A short song of bright praise for writers

Over the month of April (well, so far) I’ve been elbow deep in writing from writers across genres and tone. It’s been gorgeous stuff, and incredibly exciting to get a look at the work being done by storytellers right now.

Kicking off the month I took part in a day-long seminar by writer Paddy Kelly held at the New Theatre in Dublin. Drawing anecdotes from his own career, and teaching from materials in his to-be-published book on writing, Kelly easily filled the day-long talk with great pointers on structure, character building and elements of something called “The Western Narrative”.
Buzzing with ideas (and still yawning from the all-nighter I pulled finishing an outline for a long-overdue story) I headed for Reilly Towers, ready to writer the Great Expat Novel…

And was distracted by the bright cover art on my fresh copy of Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Lacuna“.

Bought in a huff of defence after a harsh bookclub-slating of her earlier masterpiece “The Poisonwood Bible“, I’d held off on Lacuna for fear of being disappointed. Not to worry.
Known for her rich, scenic language and biologist’s eye for nature, I drew deep into the vibrant world of early twentieth century Mexico as seen through the eyes of budding writer (and wan hero) Harrison “Insolito” Shepherd. The tale was a partial revisit to Kingsolver’s successful formula of dual-citizenship growth for American hearts in foreign lands, with central figure Shepherd’s upbringing in pulsing, ethnic Mexico balanced against an adulthood in the US, his birthplace and eventual courtroom.

Again, as done so elegantly in Poisonwood, the author wove real history and historical figures into the narrative – this time bringing the powerful personalities of Rivera, Khalo and Trotsky to life around her ghostly hero.

Reviews for Lacuna have been mixed, with some readers finding fault and vacancy in the bright and dusty journey to adulthood amidst larger-than-life embodiments of infamous legends, and others singing high praise (I’m in that choir) for Kingsolver’s clear gift for description and character. I might be in white-knight mode after defending a Kingsolver favourite last month, but when the fangirl blinders are off I still find the meat of this story to be well worth savouring*.

Rounding out the last week, as I swept volcano ash off window sills and ignored most of the hand-wringing that passed as news coverage (long story short: travel sucks this month), I got my hands on a few manuscripts passing through Irish publisher Maverick House. With two reader reports to send off this week, I’m already delighted with the variety of titles passing through this small Meath press. All in all, not bad for a month with Mars in retrograde (or so I’ve been told).

So that’s me, how are you?

* So there.

Thursday Amours: Playing catch up

Good news, everyone! The lap top has returned; shiny, re-cased and cranky as always. Sometimes when a partnership is this good, there’s no reason to change.

It’s been an interesting few weeks here at Reilly Towers:
Wordwise I’ve brushed up on my academic editing skills, revisiting proofing for fun and profit (profit being jelly doughnuts and all the tea I can drink) on a group thesis that’s due…*ulp* tomorrow. As nerdy as it sounds, just being in the same apartment as a group of students slaving away on a final year project makes me miss my last semester at Dear Old State.

IRL, work at the gallery has geared up and the team has begun promoting the venue in earnest. There’s a proof of our fund-raising brochure on my (invisible) desk at the moment which, along with my other tasks to complete before 5pm, I’ll be proofing for a review on Monday. Once we’ve gotten this first step completed, I’ll be working on next steps to develop their Twitter and blogging regimen (read: create one).

In Client News I’ll meet face to face with the lovely new client at their offices in far away Wicklow tomorrow. As the meeting is at 9am and I don’t own a car, getting there will be an adventure in itself. We’ll be reviewing the press release / site updating / web review work done in recent days, then schedule next steps for updating their online profile, SEO and possible social media routes. Should only take an hour.

Speaking of books, I’ve just about gotten through Shadow Prowler… just about. With a few new titles coming in, and with book club moving on to next month’s title, it’s time I put this beast to bed. Review coming to the blog next week: be ready.

Writerly Socialising will kick off on Friday afternoon with a meetup sponsored by Creative Dublin at the Smock Alley Theatre;  looking forward to saying hello and having a good natter about creative work in Ireland. Tomorrow evening I’ll be joining the Yelp.ie brood to celebrate the début of the site’s new community manager with a few bevvies at Le Cirq.

Oh dear, that doesn’t leave much room for Friday First Loves, does it?

Not to worry, duckies. I’ll think of something. And in the case I do not, or am in no state to do so, I leave you with this:

Friday First Loves: Absentee Vote

Tragically, we’re facing a period of separation.

That lovely old macbook I broadcast from has gone in for a much-needed case repair. I’ll miss the lovely skin* but I’m looking forward to typing with ease… and not picking case splinters out of the carpet.

I’m on a substitute PowerBook G4 which features a larger screen, a contemplative hard drive and the cumulative weight of two well-fed Jack Russells. My files are in stasis, my RSS feeds halted and my general outlook rather less positive.

This is worse than forgetting a cell phone.

So I’m dedicating my Friday First Loves to the things that cheer me up:
Kittens
Good Books
Dinner

Who knows, maybe we’ll meet again on the weekend to discuss Monday or even Tuesday First Loves once my poor patient is out of hospital? Flowers are welcome at Reilly Towers along with cards of sympathy and large sums of money.

*Know a good vendor of Macbook keyboard skins now that shuffleart is doing backs only?

How many Patricks are there, anyway?

Just a note from your friendly Dublin-based copywriter on how to describe a saint’s day here in Ireland.

It’s not St. Patricks Day.
It’s not Paddys Day, or Pattys Day (but wouldn’t that be great for all those Patricias out there?)

It is the day of St. Patrick… St. Patrick’s Day. Shirt, shoes and possessive apostrophe required.

That’s all, carry on.

Friday First Loves: Getting The Hang Of This Blogging Business

My dear and gentle readers, I promise to (very soon) get the hang of posting a few times a week while doing all those very fun Real World things. Since the week’s been so delightfully busy, let’s talk about what I loved best about it:

Wordwise I got down to brass tacks on copy and layout for a fundraising pack in support of the gallery. The print format will be an A2 full colour poster with narrative panel folds. Might be nerdy, but I do love putting together copy. After doing so much web and radio work over the past year, I’m surprised how much I’m looking forward to seeing this go to print!

Unrelated but just as exciting is my cracking start to a full-tilt copywriting campaign for a new and very lovely client. Starting with a press release and a list of “elevator pitch” lines, things are going swimmingly. Also, who doesn’t like a contact who picks up the phone saying,

“Bridget Reilly, how many Irish mammys does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None!”
dramatic pause
“Ah sure it’s grand here in the dark.”

Also, in other word news I forgot to mention  an excellent if breathless talk given at Gutterbookshop last week by author Paddy Kelly. There was a bit of self-promotion and research pimping, but overall the night was an excellent workshop (made me long for my own notebooks and plot cards) and a great taster for Kelly’s April 10th course. If I can scrape up an extra 60 yo yos for the day I’ll be there! Side note: GBS owner Bob continues to draw solid crowds with his fantastic post-work events, I’m well cemented as a fan.

Sadly, I’m very behind on favourite tweets, although a few sparklers have come through from @adrianwreckler with his commentary on bubbling Newstalk scandal, the debut of the unbelievably true @shane_mcgowan account, and special thanks to @judycopywriter, who had nothing up words of encouragement for your busy narrator.

Getting out into the real world this weekend with a babysitting gig, a cross-pond meetup and the debut of some of my very favourite returning Spring / Summer City Centre events. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m really looking forward to being in Temple Bar this weekend! Gorgeous Georgian Farmleigh just needs to open and I’ll be transcendently happy. So that’s all that’s fit to WordPress this week. I’ll be working on that schedule of copywriterly posts to tantalize and entertain starting Monday.
Abientot y bon weekend!

Friday First Loves; Sunday Make Up

Wrapping up a rather quiet weekend following the forward charge of an absolutely breathless week of new faces, ideas and walking routes through town, I’m finally in a position to report on the dear old Friday First Loves (while the shoulder of lamb gently cooks in the oven).

Wordwise I’ve been rather quiet as I meet and greet with creative folk IRL. I groused mysteriously about time-wasters – stemming from a meeting which was purported to be one (profitable) thing and turned out to be something quite different. Frankly, I’ll not be agreeing to any meetings to “explore” ideas without:

1. A pre-existing contract
2. Charging for my time
3. Mace

Still talking writing, but in an entirely different and more positive tone of voice, I’ve linked up with an arts centre in the heart of the city to do a bit of blogging, marketing and general awareness-generation. The directors are wonderfully passionate people with great links to Dublin’s art community, and the atmosphere is clicking with excitement. Social Media Marketing for the arts is an interesting angle, and I’m already elbows-deep in spreadsheets, written notes and calendars as I begin the lovely work of getting things humming.

Favourite Tweets were fast and furious, with updates flying in from Dublin Book Folk on the closing of Hughes & Hughes. On the eve of our Fair City’s celebrations of World Book Day, it seems ironic that a well established book seller has been forced to shut up shop.

The 23 year old chain had been a staple of air travel for many, and the emerging story looks as through those very shops in Dublin Airport was the undoing of the company. A rather revealing article in the Sunday Independent puts flesh on the tweeted bones of the story, and I can’t help thinking the entire sordid tale is a micro-study of the formulas that put this country between rocks and hard places.

On Friday I was #FFd by @marymayf for blogging about books. It’s a nice tag to have, and is inspiring me to really get rolling on the stacks of books I’m working through and share them here with you. Poor Shadow Prowler is still waiting to be devoured…

Til next week! Er… tomorrow!

Self Betterment: Ooooh Edition

I’m up to my elbows in spreadsheets and loose leaf tea at the moment, but there’s interesting things happening in D2 this afternoon. Tomorrow there will be a post full of legit commentary and information, but I’m just delighted to be in a place where I can say “spraymount” and no one thinks I’m making a dirty joke.

… at least until they hear the punchline.

About Time: “Grr, Arg” Edition

Time is a precious commodity when working for oneself.
Without getting too ranty, there’s been a few instances this week where my time has been squandered by wasters with little concept of its actual value.
There’s a few stories to share, and I’ll be expanding shortly.

Needless to say, I’m sticking with Harlan Ellison on this one:

Friday First Loves: Cold hands, warm heart edition

I often update faithful readers on the weather here simply because there’s no way of constructively criticising it. Take this week for instance, nothing higher than 39° with rain, sleet and snow.
That’s no way to run a country.

Cowen, look into it.

Online things have been quite civil, with people of the quality content production persuasion gathering at Ben Locker’s blog to debate whether “copywriter” is still an apt title for the work our kind do. In a word: …(probably) not (?)…ish.

General consensus was that no one term was descriptive enough, and most of those put forward were too broad or left whole genres of the business behind. Very interesting though and worth a look to see how other professionals talk about the work.

A read of Hey Whipple, Squeeze This a few years ago told a younger BReilly: Copywriter that pen-grippers ought to drop the title altogether and embrace the title Creative as a more expansive description of the job. Fair enough, I’ve been an image-searcher, fact-checker, proofer, referee, client translator and more in my time.

Sadly, the technique works for inside discussion with other creative folks but still falls flat at parties.

To date I’ve told people I’m a writer, an ad-writer (with and without the hyphen), someone who writes commercials, “No – not that kind of writer”, a communications specialist… inevitably I sigh, smile and say: “You know Peggy Olson on Mad Men?” and it ends well.
Thank you, Peggy, at last my sister-in-law knows what I do. She also thinks I drink a lot of bourbon, but it’s a fair trade-off.

Wordwise I considered the growing tide of “International Language” emerging online. There’s a lot more in the hopper about that; my inner Journalism major is itching to put a thesis together. Side note, I’ve fallen for the very new Writer Exciter podcast series from Litopia… give this week’s episode a listen and you’ll see why.

A few favourite tweets this week came from unusual sources: following a Hansel Moment I discovered someone has taken the time to create @ACenterForAnts… oh, my youth. Andrew Nattan stirred up a few taradiddlers with the tale of a client rewriting copy, a not completely unfamiliar story … ah, my blood pressure.

Finally, I’m getting the wheels turning on a new project – very excited altogether and generally giddy to start work.
Work which I am currently (clearly) procrastinating on.
Right, back to it.
See you next week.

PS: Just received reading copy of Simon&Schuster title Shadow Prowler to read / review. Love a chewy bit of scifi, can’t wait to see how this stacks up!