A. James Editing, Inc.

As you may remember from previous posts, I’m a networking junkie.


There’s something unspeakably cool about meeting a stranger at an event, meeting them for coffee a week later, and then hearing their voice on the phone asking if I can ghostwrite their weekly blog. (The answer was yes, btw.)


I was at one such networking event on Tuesday called the Schmooze, put on by Harlo Interactive.


I go to this event every month, and so do a lot of other professionals in Portland. Because there are so many regulars who attend, inevitably you start to see a lot of familiar faces.


Some might see this as a bad thing. Viewing networking as a way to meet new people to do business with. Seeing the same old faces means you’re not meeting anybody new, and thus, not drumming up any new business.


For those of you with this point of view, I would encourage you to instead see these familiar faces as opportunities to nurture and solidify existing relationships.


It’s true that prospective clients and partners will refer you simply because you’re the only copywriter or health coach or apparel designer they know, but imagine how much more strongly they’ll be invested in your success if they actually like you, know you and trust you.


So don’t snub those familiar faces. Give them a hug, catch up on the latest, and then move on to someone new.


Cake. And eating it too.

I had the pleasure of visiting the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) yesterday with a friend. They currently have a space exhibit that is full of all kinds of interesting information, some of which might actually be useful to one’s everyday life.

At the very beginning of the exhibit, the last words spoken by Gene Cernan, the last man to step on the moon, are written large on a wall. This is what is written on the poster:

This is Gene and I’m on the surface and as I take man’s last step from the surface, back home for some time to come–but we believe not too long into the future–I’d like to just say what I believe history will record. That America’s challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow, and as we leave the Moon and Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and God willing as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17.

You can read it as many times as you like and you still might have difficulty. It’s true that people do talk like this, improvised and uncut, but that’s where a skilled copywriter comes in with the skills and knowledge to either create an excellent piece of copy from scratch or, as would have been the case with this quote, rewrite copy to be more easily read without sacrificing the meaning of the original document.

With my copywriting powers combined, this is how I would have rewritten Gene’s quote:

This is Gene and I’m on the surface [of the moon]. As I take man’s last step from the surface, back home for some time to come, I’d like to just say what I believe history will record: that America’s challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow. And as we leave the Moon and Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed [to] the crew of Apollo 17.

Gene’s speech is still a little choppy, but those are his spoken words after all. What I did was utilize various forms of punctuation to force readers to pause and allow the text to move forward smoothly. The exhibit goes until May 31, 2010.

As most of you are aware, some Toyota vehicles have a dangerous defect that causes cars to accelerate rather than slow down when the brakes are applied. This new evidence could vindicate Koua Fong Lee of St. Paul, MN whose Toyota Camry hit the back of a car, killing three of its occupants, in 1996. He has been in prison ever since. Read the full Huffington Post article here.

True to form, I found an error in this copy. It’s not a typo this time but a matter of a comma that could have been employed to make this sentence read a little easier.

Attorneys for both the 32-year-old St. Paul man as well as the victims’ families say they’re encouraged by the evidence that the problems went beyond models that originally were recalled.

I would have added a comma after “families” like this:

Attorneys for both the 32-year-old St. Paul man as well as the victims’ families, say they’re encouraged by the evidence that the problems went beyond models that originally were recalled.

That’s all.

In a first for Latin America, Mexico City legislators voted to legalize gay marriage. Though it would seem Mexico seeks unity through inclusion, this article is missing something in an otherwise almost perfect article:

Last month, an Argentinean court narrowly blocked what would been the continent’s first gay marriage.

The word “have”. It should be between “would” and “been”. What can I say? It’s a gift. Read the pithy article here.

I was fortunate enough to be able to volunteer at both the and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) Tradeshow this year, both held in Portland, OR. Though both events revolved around authors and the written word (two of my very favorite things), it was obvious to me that I highly preferred one to the other.

The PNBA Tradeshow…

…took place in September and it was excellent. It was my first time volunteering for their annual event, though I had written the author/book blurbs for their program this year and the year before.

Unfortunately for book lovers, the event was not open to the public and was attended exclusively by authors, booksellers of the Pacific Northwest, publishers, and volunteers like myself. Volunteers had considerable access to the authors and I spend quite a bit of my time conversing with one of my favorite authors, Jennie Shortridge.

The volunteers were fed, pampered, and allowed to take complimentary copies of books and get them signed by the authors. It’s a great event for book lovers and aspiring authors. If you live in the Portland Metro Area and would like to volunteer with PNBA next year, I would strongly recommend you do so. You won’t regret it. I’ve linked to their Web site above.

The Wordstock Festival…

…took place earlier this month and was egregiously lacking in comparison. This was also the first time I had volunteered with Wordstock and it makes me a little sad to say that I don’t plan to do so in the future.

The staff members were absolutely fantastic, but there were way too many volunteers. That’s great that so many people wanted to be involved, but it was awful because there was truly nothing for me, and many others, to do. I spent my entire four-hour shift sitting in a chair, listening to authors (Jeff Mapes, Robert Spector, Michelle Huneven, Dan Chaon, Tom Malterre, Shannon Borg, Piper Davis, Ellen Jackson, and Julie Richardson) speak about their books. The authors were all worth listening to, but I’m more of a doer and would have preferred something more active or at least interactive.

There were some fabulous sponsors of the event like Powell’s City of Books and Columbia Sportswear. Powell’s had a mini bookstore set up in the middle of it all so attendees could purchase the books of the authors who were speaking. Columbia provided these amazing yellow shirts, made from a very soft, very comfortable material for the volunteers to wear.

I found the event to be very large and extremely impersonal. My job was to shuffle the authors from the stage to the signing area…as if they couldn’t read the sign hanging from the ceiling: “Author Signing”. There was little time and even less atmosphere to pursue a conversation with an author.

Resolution

I suppose I had been spoiled at the PNBA Tradeshow and my expectations were a little higher. The Tradeshow was held at a hotel so it was very comfortable, intimate, and the venue was pretty small when compared with the Oregon Convention Center where the Festival was housed (the purpose of the building being to host large events of various lengths, widths, and heights).

My disappointment at the Wordstock Festival was so great that I informed a relevant staff member that I wouldn’t be returning the next day to work my second shift. I knew there were plenty of people to take my place.

For non-volunteers, I definitely recommend the Wordstock Festival (only because you can’t get into the PNBA Tradeshow). For volunteers, the PNBA Tradeshow is second to none and before the event had ended I was already looking forward to next year.