Craft of Writing: Down with Adverbs?

They pulled me in with a video of my FAVORITE School House Rock episode, “Lolly Lolly Adverbs;” they kept me with the fabulous quote from Stephen King’s “On Writing.”

As communicators, we need to be keen on use of language and not be lazy “adverb offenders.”

Now I’m going to go feed my need for School House Rock episodes on YouTube. Beyond Lolly Lolly Adverbs, I freaking LOVED the Superhero Verbman. That music is beyond awesome!!!

Which episode is your favorite? I’d love to hear from you.

-Tina

The Daily Post

For most people the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Author Stephen King says that, for writers, the road to hell is paved with adverbs. Let’s do a quick refresher on what an adverb is, learn why adverbs get such a bad rap, and why you might choose to think very carefully before you use adverbs in your writing. (See what I did there?)

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Take criticism. It’s a gift.

Courtesy CliveSimpkins.blogs.com

It takes practice to see criticism as the gift it is.

The first thing you need to do look at criticism from a little different perspective. This of it as an opportunity. It means that there has been miscommunication or there is a genuine screw up. Both of these things need to be rectified so if someone takes their precious time to let you know about the problem – be glad.

I think of it as someone telling me I have something green in my teeth. Someone who likes you will tell you while someone who doesn’t care about you won’t. Granted, you may not get called names or cussed at when they tell you that there’s something in your teeth, but the favor is still there.

Let me provide a recent example. I work on a fundraising event called Holiday Market. I’ve purchased advertising on Facebook to hit all the women in the area. One of the women in the area was kind enough to leave an unflattering post that was along the lines of “I haven’t supported you since you changed your name to Holiday Market.” Alluding to the fact that we went all PC and changed from Christmas Market to Holiday Market. It’s always been Holiday Market.

This is where charm and grace took over and I thanked her for the post. I didn’t correct her or get defensive. I simply explained the reason we have our name and that I hoped she would join us for the best shopping experience of her life.

I used the opportunity to explain who we were, why we did what we did, that we love her and her input and that we want her in our family. Will she come to our event? Who knows. I do know that she can’t honestly tell her friends and family that we are rude and hate Christmas. Other people who read the exchange will see our organization as kind, attentive and thoughtful. You never know who is watching on social media.

Even if someone cusses you and your mother, stay cool. This could be just the chance you’ve needed to change a broken process; to update outdated information; to find out the way you do things is totally jacked up and needs improvement.

Courtesy ios.wonderhowto.com

I’m not saying it doesn’t suck and sometimes people are mean and life isn’t fair, BUT if you try at some point in the criticism to find the nugget of gold in the pile of bullsh*t you could come out smelling like a rose.

How do you handle criticism?

I’d love to hear from you.

-Tina

OMG Fundraising!

courtesy SignUpGenius.com

This post is primarily for those who are going into non-profits. There are probably some tips for sales too so if that’s your thing please stick around.

Money is what makes the world go around. Just because an organization is a non-profit doesn’t mean that money doesn’t have a huge influence on how they do “business.” Having more money coming in than going out can be an obsession – and a drag – if you aren’t prepared for this going into non-profits.

You can’t operate without income. Pure and simple. Whether your heart is in animal rescue, giving voice to abused children, cancer research, or saving an historical landmark, you need income to get the word out and address the issue of your heart.

“Everyone will support poor, hungry children. All I have to do is show pictures of the kids we’ve helped and share their stories and ask for money. No one wants to see a kid go hungry,” you think. “I’ll just do my fundraising  in November and December. Heck, this year I might even get out there in October.”

StaffingRobot.com

Fundraising is about building relationships ALL year long. Sure, your money may all get to you in Q3, but you have to earn it all year long! This is why e-newsletters, social media, press releases, events and appearances are so important. Communicate all year long. Have you gotten a prestigious grant? Everyone needs to know about it. Regulations change that affect your mission? Talk about it.

Find out why the folks support you already. Capitalize on that to bring in more people. Particularly with charities, people will support you when their friends do. It’s called trust.

Fundraising is only as successful as they relationship you’ve built with the community.

Do you have cool tips on how to build relationships for fundraising?

I’d love to hear from you!

-Tina

Working from home

courtesy static5.businessinsider.com

If you’re getting into this line of work thinking you can just hang out all the time in your jammies at home to work, you’re going to have a bad time.

If you aren’t engaged and productive when you work at home, you will a) have a hard time getting work done and/or b) have a tough time advancing in your career. Let’s look at the pitfalls to watch out for if you work from home.

a) You will have a hard time getting work done.

Check out this video that describes why it can be hard to work at home:

• you will be distracted by your life. You will clean house, make dinner, clean up cat vomit, pick up doghair tumbleweeds, eat, sleep late (because you can work into the night, right?), etc. You can develop bad habits fast. You will get lazy.
• people you work with won’t send you what you need. They will forget about you and why your work is important, and – most importantly – why it benefits them to communicate with you. You will lose touch and become a poor spokesperson for the organization.

b) You will have a tough time advancing in your career.

• you won’t know the people, the culture, the brand well enough to speak for them. You need to have a pulse on what’s going on.
• you will miss opportunities for the message. People downplay the role of “the watercooler,” but that is where you get the real story from the customer service reps on how consumers view the product because they are the ones who hear from the people who buy the stuff. That’s where you pull the subtle nuances you need to craft your message.
• you will miss opportunities for your career. It’s not just that you are “out of site, out of mind” for that promotion. It’s that you don’t know what your boss REALLY values and is looking for. Sure, you’ve got great organic engagement numbers, but is that what your boss truly values? (“value” is often different from “metric” as a measurement of good work and I’ll blog about that at another time)

I’m not saying that you have to sit in a cube, sucking down coffee and pecking away at your keyboard, heck no! This job is about relationships and you have to develop relationships at work to be successful at your job and in your career. When you do work from home, you have to go the extra distance to develop and maintain those relationships.

If you have the latitude on your work schedule, set times for when you’re in the office and stick to those hours. Make sure folks know when those hours are. If there is a deviation you must be sure people know it. Add your contact schedule in email salutations, include your contact info and monitor your contact devices constantly.

You can work from home and be productive and engaged, just remember that you may have to compensate for not being physically present in your work relationships.

What have your experiences been in working from home?

I’d love to hear from you!

-Tina