A Child Is Born

BREAKING NEWS: Woman Gives Birth To Baby

A married woman of childbearing age has given birth to a baby boy.
The event followed nine months of pregnancy.
"Both mother and baby are doing well," a spokesman for the woman said.
It is now expected that the baby will grow up.

I saw a link to the above Huffington Post (UK Edition) jab on one of my Facebook friend’s pages (yes, I admit, I look on there occasionally), with his comment:  “This says it all.”

And I suppose on one level, it did say it all. But then, one of his Facebook friends offered a follow-up comment: “Yeah, like there's nothing else on the planet to think about.”

Now, we all know there’s plenty on this planet to think about – globally, locally and even our tiny little specs of lives. Although, as Rick so eloquently said to Ilsa in Casablanca – “I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.”

Of course, there are plenty of more important topics to consider, huge problems to solve, big trouble brewing all over the place. But, gosh, wasn’t it nice just for a moment or perhaps nine months, to consider the birth of a child in a seemingly real life fairy tale?

I went to a winery with some former colleagues the other day, all single women. The subject of “how hard it is to find a good man,” came up. I tossed out that Prince William seemed like a good man – charming, bright, fun-loving, humorous, devoted. No wonder his wife looks at him, at least in publicity shots, with love and longing. Yet, she also presents the image of an independent thinker, despite her royal position; a woman trying to bring old traditions into a modern world, one who is handling all this scrutiny with grace and poise. Not a bad role model, I’d say.

The ladies I was with, all intelligent, well-educated career women agreed. So let me just say: It’s a departure, guys, from reality, not so unlike science fiction, westerns, Rambo or Stephen King novels. And as I expect many women can attest, as did my friends, it’s a pleasant departure where they can take a moment to ponder romance, love and a marriage of communication and commitment. It’s a form of fantasy where we can ignore the advantages that the prince and princess obviously have, and at the same time overlook the disadvantages of living in the public eye, although this is what brings their story to us, the masses.

Indeed, many women gave birth that day, and all the days before and since, and most were not observed or applauded so publicly and with such attention to their maternity wardrobe or the size of their post-delivery bellies. Just my opinion, but I like hearing about the birth of a royal baby, born to a loving couple. It’s light and it’s fun. It was a welcome break from the news about such despicable characters as Anthony Weiner and Bob Filner.

Okay, enough of this, you say. It’s time to get back to reality -- murder and mayhem, with some rollicking politics thrown in for real fun.

Lesson 4: Adverbs and Passive Voice Spoil A Good Story

“Adverbs, like the passive voice, seem to have been created with the timid writer in mind.”  Stephen King

In my training years ago as a publicist for General Electric, my manager taught me how to write tight press releases. People have a short attention span, he’d say, especially editors who get thousands of press releases a day that they need to sort through to find the real news. While a press release is a different form of writing than a novel, readers still want you to get to the point of your story – clearly and without, as Mr. King says, “using a lot of tiresome, unnecessary adverbs.”

I’m looking over some of the sentences in the book I’m writing and removing adverbs, especially those that emphasize or amplify a point, for example: At first he had been very charming. He made her feel incredibly desirable. I deleted “very” and “incredibly.” They are unnecessary modifiers. A book overflowing with adverbs can be tedious to get through. Still, it’s hard to let some words go and they’ll creep into the work of the best authors.

The same holds for the passive voice. Again, to quote King in On Writing: “Two pages of passive voice – just about any business document ever written, in other words, not to mention reams of bad fiction – make me want to scream. It’s weak, it’s circuitous, and it’s frequently tortuous, as well.”

Yes, there are occasions when the passive voice makes sense and may be unavoidable, as in business or legal documents. For example: Our position was made clear in the original proposal.  Still, the author of this memo could have written: We made our position clear in the original proposal.  It’s a bolder approach so perhaps not good if the document is contributing to a negotiation.

In fiction, forceful action verbs paint a clear picture of what’s happening. Active verbs show a character doing something. Passive verbs show something being done to a character:

Active: He moved back around to his side of the desk and brushed her lightly as he passed.
Passive: She was brushed lightly by him as he moved back around to his side of the desk.

Active: Three months after becoming CEO, Karl Ernst fired Jim Pandera.
Passive: Jim Pandera was fired by Karl Ernst three months after he became CEO.

Put these two points to work to improve prose.

Lesson 3: 1000 Words a Day

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”  Stephen King

“Write a lot” is the advice of many, if not all, popular writers. Aaron Sorkin is among them in an interview in this month’s The Writer magazine. In On Writing Stephen King asks, “How much writing constitutes a lot?” Ten pages, or 2000 words a day, are his target. That seems manageable for prolific writers like King, Grisham, or any of the others we have come to count on for brilliant story-telling.

For the rest of us, new to the fiction-writing craft, he suggests 1000 words a day to avoid discouragement, and one day off a week, at least to start. 

Since I began my novel, I’ve managed to put 4500 words on paper, or my computer anyway. I think I’m doing pretty well, but then go to the library and start reading some of Stephen King’s novels off the shelf. Oh man – what an imagination! I get discouraged.

But then Stephen tells me, in his book: “Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation. Affectation itself, beginning with the need to define some sorts of writing as ‘good’ and other sorts as ‘bad’ is fearful behavior.”

His advice to “read a lot” is much easier behavior, although that can be off-putting as well. Currently I’m reading Ken Follett’s Century Trilogy. I’ve finished Fall of Giants, and am in the midst of World War II in the second book, Winter of the World. No doubt Mr. Follett and his editors are busy polishing up the third entry about the Cold War in Edge of Eternity, due out in 2014. These are enormous tomes with characters and narrative bringing history to life. I’m learning more in this ambitious epic than I ever did in school – about the historical events it depicts and about brilliant narration and dialogue.

So now my door is closed and I’ve shut out the world – or so I’ve tried. Max and Rusty, my cats, don’t cotton to closed doors. They’re scratching and meowing to get in. Okay, okay, I open it a crack for them to enter. Then Tim, not a cat, sees this as an opportunity to come in and talk about frustrations at work. This closed-door thing isn’t working out too well. But soon he will leave and the kitties will sleep for the remainder of the day. No more excuses.

I press on. I have a story to tell and I’m going to tell it fearlessly in my own style. Counting this blog entry as part of my 1000 words would be cheating. Today’s work is cut out for me and it’s time to begin.

Lesson 2: The Truth Will Out

"The job of fiction is to find the truth inside the story’s web of lies.”  Stephen King

As I close the door to my writing room and sit at the desk in the corner, I have an idea brewing in my head about a story I can tell. The idea solidifies following a conversation with a former colleague about a bizarre situation in a company where we both once worked.

I reread a section of Stephen King’s book where he talks about what to write when you sit down and close the door:

“Write what you like, then imbue it with life and make it unique by blending in your own personal knowledge of life, friendship, relationships, sex and work. Especially work. People love to read about work. God knows why, but they do.”

In my case, work has involved writing for and about technology companies, their products and marketing them to prospective customers. What I have enjoyed reading is mysteries and biographies. Sometimes the two intersect.

My idea is to combine personalities I have met in the workplace with a story that reflects events and activities that I have observed -- some disturbing, several unethical and a few illegal. So taking Mr. King’s advice quite literally, I’ve decided to pursue a story that plays off some of these workplace incidents. Adding a healthy dose of imagination, I will take them to new heights, discourse and possibilities. As Mark Twain said, “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”

While most of the story will be fictitious, it will be an honest depiction of actual events.

The working title for my book is CEO.

Writing Lessons from Stephen King

"Put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support-system for art. It's the other way around."   Stephen King

I’m sitting in a corner of a room I now call my writing room, at the antique mahogany ball and claw foot secretary desk I refinished some 30 years ago with my Aunt Helen. I’m reading A Postscript which wraps up Stephen King’s nonfiction book called On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft. Here he details the accident that nearly killed him in June 1999. He had been in the middle of writing this book when a van hit him on a highway in Maine during one of his walks. Right now I’m thanking whoever there is to thank, mostly Stephen, for not dying and for finishing this book. It has been a pleasure to read and an inspiration. I’m about to finish the last few pages. I’ve already started to reread this book by listening to a CD where the author is reading it.

I want to be a writer – a real writer; a fiction writer perhaps. I’ve been a business and technology writer most of my professional life. Writing about robots for the factory, small electric motors, office furniture, semiconductors and software. Now it’s time to really write – from my heart. Write about things I’ve seen and learned during my life.

Following Mr. King’s guidance, I will try to tell some good stories by writing interesting narration and dialogue. I will monitor my progress in this blog, since that’s also what some writers do these days. I will attempt to write a novel at the same time. I hope it’s worth reading. I will share it with my “Ideal Reader” at a minimum. Maybe one day Stephen King will read it and get some satisfaction from knowing that he helped to create at least one better writer.  

Really? You want to change the logo? Again?

Whether a monolithic organization with a history spanning more than a century, or a start-up technology company with less than 10 years under its belt, a company’s logo is quite possibly the most important strategic marketing asset it has. At a minimum, it’s what customers, investors and the press look for when they purchase your product, visit trade shows or seek your website. It can also be a reassuring presence to employees.

Marketing executives come and go in organizations and while they may want to put their particular stamp on the company’s brand image in the rush of being a change agent, they should consider what’s best for the company first and foremost. Sadly, some suggest changing the logo without really thinking it through from every angle – like the effect on brand recognition across all audiences, or how it will translate on all marketing materials.  Cost of change is also a factor especially when start-up cash-flow is a challenge.

Before jumping on the logo change bandwagon, be sure to consider why you think change is necessary. Is the company going in a new direction? Has the logo become dated?

Many companies make minor adjustments to a logo over time without damaging overall brand recognition. General Electric is one such example. Here is how it has transitioned without impacting the long-standing equity associated with what employees affectionately have called the GE “meatball.”

Sometimes there are good reasons to change a company’s corporate brand identity. One case in point I experienced was when Hyperion Software merged with Arbor Software to form Hyperion Solutions. The decision was to keep the Hyperion name, but demonstrate to the employees and customers of both companies that it was a new organization with more products for customers to choose from. Without going into the lengthy strategy that Landor Associates put into the thinking behind the merged companies new logo, here is how the mark transitioned starting with the original when IMRS became Hyperion in 1995, to a “quick fix” logo on the date of the merger announcement in 1998, to the one finally used (and designed by Landor over months and at great expense) prior to the company’s acquisition by Oracle in 2008:

  

Here’s one more example. While I was at Westbrook Technologies, a relatively young content management software company, I implemented a subtle change to the logo. By transitioning its colors from primary red and blue to a richer-looking navy and burgundy, the mark received a nice facelift without impacting its valued recognition among the software product’s users. I know, taste is subjective, so it’s important to consider many factors and having a solid marketing when changing a logo. 

An article I read on this topic, by Roxanne Weber http://online-logo-design-review.toptenreviews.com/your-logo-your-most-important-strategic-marketing-effort.html , had what I thought was particularly valuable advice:

Once you have a logo, stick to it. While it may be tempting to change your logo every time a new ideas comes into your head this can be counterproductive. First, building a brand name takes time and effort that hopefully builds a return when customers see your brand and purchase your products or services as a result. Changing your logo is like changing your brand, and it’s like starting from square one. Second, customers may see your constant logo changes as a lack of stability.

Hmmm… lack of stability. Yikes. Now that’s one trait a start-up company wants to avoid!

Transportation

I’m not talking about a car, train or plane. I’m talking about being transported into another world. I never thought I would appreciate a book based on fantasy like Harry Potter, but I did. Finding myself of late spending time in hospitals, first with my elderly aunt, then my father, and then my aunt again, I found refuge amongst the pages of this imaginative tale which transported me, in my mind anyway, to another place. The magical characters and scenes that the writer brought to life as I voraciously read her books or listened to CDs in my car provided a much needed break in the midst of my fears and anxiety.

Such inventiveness from J.K. Rowling is an inspiration to anyone who longs to be a writer – a great teller of stories whether fiction or non-fiction. Every character, device and backdrop she created; every spell, potion and charm pitting good against evil made the “real” world of illness and medicine seem less threatening and more manageable. At least that’s what happened for me -- someone who squirms at the sight of IVs and blood, and cringes with every beep on a monitor flashing vital signs.

I’ve just finished the seventh and last book in the series – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Despite Sheldon’s spoiler revealing the death of key characters in an episode of Big Bang Theory, I found it helped to prepare me for Dumbledore’s shocking death and departure from Hogwart’s. It did not, however, prepare me for Dobby the house elf’s demise and I quite literally sobbed in my car on the way to pick up my father for yet another doctor’s appointment. Still, it was probably a badly needed and welcome catharsis.

My aunt continues to recover at St. Vincent’s Hospital. My father is back home and doing quite well, thank you. When I need it, I may return to the pages of Harry Potter for a second reading. I’ve always appreciated good writing, and now I’ve learned the value of good fantasy for transportation to otherworldly places, no matter where they might be. They offer a respite from being primary “care partner” as health centers now call it.

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”

Dumbledore beamed at him…”Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”