REALITY VS. FANTASY   

Following is one professor/management-trainer/business consultant’s opinion based on in-depth observations and lifelong association with thousands of community college and four-year university students in academic and work settings on five different campuses in three different States:

The ability to distinguish life and work performance reality from fantasy is far superior among older, more work-experienced, but lower academic-ranked 2-year community college students than it is with four-year university students. 

     What?  You’re crazy!  How’d you figure that?  It’s apples and oranges.  How can you compare some rinky-dink community college with Yale or Harvard?

     Actually, there is no comparison.  Rinky-dink community college students are far more accomplished in meeting and exceeding the demands of life and work reality than their Ivy League counterparts.

     How’s that possible?  Just think about it. 

     Joe and Theodore graduate high school together with approximately the same grades.  Theodore heads straight to Princeton with Dad’s money where he excels in English Literature and plays lacrosse.  Joe enlists in the army, is shipped to Iraq and earns quick frontline promotions for his heroics and leadership under fire. 

     Joe re-ups for another couple of years while Theodore, at age 22, graduates with a BA in English and a lacrosse trophy.  Theodore’s Dad rewards him with a summer on the beaches of the Caribbean, before heading off to graduate school (that Dad’s paid for) to get his master’s degree. 

     Joe returns home and takes a nights and weekends job on the loading platform of Ideal Computer Company while he takes daytime classes in programming.  Theodore spends every minute alternating between weekday studying and weekend partying.  Dad wires him money whenever expenses come up. 

     At 24, Theodore gets his master’s degree and decides he wants to teach.  Dad agrees to pay for doctoral studies and sends him off on another summer junket to the Caribbean before beginning his PhD program. 

     Joe gets promoted to a warehouse supervisor position , marries a childhood sweetheart and becomes the father of twins.  His wife’s father dies and Joe agrees to take on her two younger siblings until they get through high school.  Joe takes a second job on weekends to feed the extra mouths. 

     Joe’s wife helps him through enough independent study credits to qualify for admission to the local two-year community college (where 98% of fulltime students are fulltime employed and average student age is 30), where he enrolls in the computer design program. 

     Theodore earns his PhD degree and, at age 28 (he took time off to rest; guess where?), starts teaching English Lit at NYU.  Joe struggles with juggling his two jobs, family and studies.  In the next two years, Theodore has two years of professorship under his belt, but no real job experience, no steady relationships, except (still) with his Dad’s wallet. 

     Joe has completed his two-year degree, been promoted two more times and is a program design supervisor earning enough to support his family comfortably, help his wife start with her studies, and replace his weekend job with a new computer design company he’s launched, and been able to hire his wife and her younger brother and sister.  Joe earns three times as much as Theodore.

     Theodore gets caught in a campus-wide budget squeeze and is released before tenure time is accumulated.  His Dad sends him to the Caribbean to get rejuvenated.  Theoodore returns to the only job he can find, on the loading platform of the Ideal Computer Company.

     Sad, but true.  And, after working with more than 20,000 students, I can attest that this story is more the rule than the exception. 

Bottom line: You only appreciate what you work to earn, and life experience counts a whole lot more than academic experience when it comes to separating reality from fantasy, unless you’re an academic, and naturally will want to argue all this.  If that’s the case, go find a mirror, and have fun! 

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

  Open minds open doors.

 Thanks for visiting and God bless you.

   Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

“I coont efen spel

                                         

untreeprenewer,

                                     

an’ now I are one!”

                                                                 

     So you’re tired of working for someone else and want to be your own boss, eh?  You know people who’ve done it successfully and wonder what they have that you don’t? 

     Well, here’s an Entrepreneur Personality Test from Dr. Alan Jacobowitz.  Count the number of “yes” and “no” answers you give:

Here we go:

1. When you were very young, were your parents, close relatives or close friends entrepreneurs?

2. Did any of that business carry over into your home while you were growing up? 

3. Did you have a lemonade stand or a paper route as a kid?

4. Was your academic record in school less than outstanding?

5. Did you feel like an outsider with school classmates?

6. Were you often scolded, punished or reprimanded for your school behavior?

7. And TODAY, do you have difficulty getting satisfaction from any job with a large firm?

8. Do you often feel that you could do a better job than your boss?

9. Would you rather play sports than watch them on television?

10. With books and magazines, do you prefer nonfiction to fiction?

11. Have you ever been fired from a job or left one under pressure?

12. Do you almost never lose sleep at night over your work or personal business?

13. Would you rather jump into a project than plan one?

14. Would you consider yourself decisive, a good thinker on your feet?

15. Are you active in community affairs?

If you answered “yes” to 12 or more of the above questions, and you are not an entrepreneur already, you may be missing your big chance.  Tune in tomorrow to see if I can discourage you!  halalpiar   

# # #

See Nov 29th post (below) for New Year’s contest prize and rules – Then GO FOR IT!  Emails to Hal@TheWriterWorks.com with “SOUNDS OF THE SEASON” in the subject line.  # # #

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 88 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

Gutless, incompetent, greedy

— the US Postal Service! 

     While everyone out there is busy flexing holiday business muscles by beating up on our gutless car manufacturers, incompetent government, and greed-saturated Wall Street, I propose we have overlooked the longest standing American institution of them all –which happens to be gutless, incompetent AND greedy– the US Postal Service!

     Whaaaat?  I LOVE my mail carrier. 

     Oh. yeah, well I have news for you: my Father was a US Post Office Special Delivery Messenger for over 20 years (and no gift to higher learning I might add, but I loved him nonetheless). 

     There is no Special Delivery designation or service anymore.  It’s been replaced by overnight delivery services and the Internet.  Whaaaat?  Yup, nobody in the P.O. (including the “Postmaster General”) had any B.R.A.I.N.S. or the foresight to see it coming.  And when they finally did, the solution was layoffs and stamp price hikes?

     Having Special Delivery service in the 30’s and 40’s, then closing it out as express mail options came on the scene, is like being ahead of the other team 25 to 0 in the first inning, and losing.

     I practically grew up in and around the stupidity that permeated the P.O. (or “P.U.” as my Dad routinely called it while holding his nose).  Add to that, the fact that my career has included massive direct mail experiences (including responsibility for 1.6 million mailings per month at one point, and annual mailings of 8-9 million at another), and I can tell you with some measure of authority that Postal Service management has gone from dumb to dumber in two short decades.

     What prompted this tirade, you might ask?  This week, I received a lunatic 4-page survey from the highly undistinguished Gallup Poll asking for multiple choice answers to 37 zillion stupid questions about how pleased or displeased I was with the US Postal Service.   

     First of all, the missive was addressed to my long-closed and dis-incorporated company of years ago and delivered (only heaven knows how the wheels of government turn) to my relatively new P.O. box in a different state! 

     I mean, I would love to hear the explanation of what the value is of how what I think of whether my P.O. box mail arrived before or after 10am in the last 30 days and if the carrier behaved pleasantly.  Duh.  Do you, in other words, make it a policy of tracking your routine mail deliveries by time periods and carrier dispositions?   

     What contribution are answers to these inane questions ever going to accomplish in helping this disintegrating giant of disorganization to rise up and slay the (now commonplace) successful overnight delivery companies of the world?

     Don’t the ninnies who run this establishment realize that while Fed Ex and others have been busily teaching their drivers that they are not just drivers, that they are account managers (and this, by the way, for more than 20 years!), and realize as well that the public has simply passed them by?  Are they blind to the fact that UPS has risen to the occasion and outperformed them? 

     Have they never heard of being competitive in the marketplace?  Do they still think they are viable?  Have they ever reckoned with being referred to as “snail mail” all these years of emerging Internet communications domination? 

     Oh, and who’s worse?  The Postal Service for being so blind and unbusinesslike for so long, or the Gallup Organization for taking advantage of the P.O.’s plight, to whip together this ludicrous questionnaire?

     $urely, this $urvey wa$ a big-ticket a$$ignment to Gallup.  Dear Postmaster General – You should know that I could have solved the problem (instead of prolonging the agony with meaningless surveys) for whatever amount was paid to this failing polling organization.  The solution is called strategic competitive marketing.  Surveys won’t show this! 

     The Postal Service obviously hasn’t a clue.  Gallup knows even less.  Maybe they deserve each other: two fading giants of the past.  Let’s hope someone wakes them up, shakes their boots, and gets at least one of them back to planet reality.  halalpiar        

# # #

See Nov 29th post (below) for New Year’s contest prize and rules – Then GO FOR IT!  Emails to Hal@TheWriterWorks.com with “SOUNDS OF THE SEASON” in the subject line.  # # #

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 87 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

And the time to turn on

                                               

that front burner is now. 

     Necessity, you’ve no doubt heard, is the mother of invention.  And I’ll bet you could pop off a few quick examples, right?   

     Surviving a stressful economy requires businesses to do things differently.  We can’t all, arguably, qualify for government bailouts, so we’re backed into corners.  Because we know from life about logistic concepts like “strength in numbers,” we may of necessity end up choosing to combine forces with diverse, even competitive entities. 

     But that’s not a bad thing when it comes to, for example, sharing marketing expenses — unless your egotistical needs to run your own show are too big for you to justify teaming up with others.  That is a bad thing.

     By joining forces, a great deal more becomes possible in terms of both stimulating sales results and saving promotional dollars. 

     One of the most successful regional advertising campaigns I ever produced was for a major lumber company (that also sells a great deal of hardware), which featured wholehearted advertising and promotional endorsement exchanges with a major hardware store (that sold a little lumber) that was located a block away. 

     The two family-owned entities had battled one another for generations, but the advent of a giant home center moving into the area (that would sell both lumber and hardware) prompted the odd bedfellows arrangement. 

     The two retailers combined advertising dollars, and alternated sponsorship messages that always featured testimonials from the other.  Both businesses increased sales and, by working together, both were able to cut marketing expenses.  Each successfully reduced spending totals by one-third while gaining one-third more exposure than they each started with. 

      The home center backed off to a more distant location.

     Contractors, physicians, lawyers, accountants, and others commonly share customer, patient and client referrals.  Online companies engage in cooperative ventures literally every minute of every hour.

     Print and broadcast media often swap space for airtime, and will often barter advertising packages for products and services that they can use as give-aways and contest prizes to gain readership and listenership and viewers.      

     So it’s nothing new.  What’s new is the economic squeeze that pushes considerations of cooperative business marketing efforts to the front burner.  And the time to turn on that front burner is now.  A little receptivity and a lot of responsiveness are the prime ingredients to make combined efforts be productive.  Surely you can muster those? 

     My Father always used to say, “He who hesitates is lost!”  And my Mother always added something about “A word to the wise . . .”     halalpiar

# # #

See Nov 29th post (below) for New Year’s contest prize and rules – Then GO FOR IT!  Emails to Hal@TheWriterWorks.com with “SOUNDS OF THE SEASON” in the subject line.  # # #

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 86 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

This is the time

  between waves. 

     Have you ever noticed the utter serenity of the sea in between waves? 

     How much is that like your life and the work you do? 

     Thanksgiving visits and family were here in a tidal wave (perhaps more like a tsunami for some), and gone . . . tiny stones and shells aclatter, scamper down the beach in withdrawal as the tide turns low. 

     Business activity slows incrementally to more of a crawl each day between now and New Year’s when it all grinds to a halt.  Ah, but not for entrepreneurs or manufacturers!  Not for writers!  Not for retailers!  Not for emergency personnel!  Not for those forced out of work by economic uncertainty.   

     This is the time between waves. 

     Now is when small business owners and operators and manufacturing enterprise management can finally take a breather from the year-long pounding of phones, faxes, mail deliveries, media broadcasts, meetings, conferences, emails, text messages, trade shows, endless travel itineraries, and industry reports, and get some real work done.

     Now is when their attentions shift to strategizing, planning, scheduling, catch-up reading, assessing, courtesy-calling, audits and inventories, and getting ready for the next big wave in January. 

     Writers?  Yup!  Now is when writers can drop back from their day-to-day discipline and actually review what they’ve done; this time between waves is the perfect time to edit and polish and prepare to get the manuscript or feature story done, to get an agent, get a publisher, get a direction for developing more freelance work. 

     Retailers?  Let’s not even go there.  This between waves time is “make it or break it.”  No time even to think. 

     Emergency personnel?  We all know that emergencies never stop and, if anything, they increase dramatically during the holiday season . . . and afterward, especially during the depression-heightened month of January! 

     So holidays mean relaxing business ebbs for some, and ulcerous anxieties for others.  Where are you right now?  You’re definitely not a retailer or EMT or ER nurse because you’d never have time to read this. 

     So since you are reading this far, it might be useful to remind yourself to make the choice to take full advantage of being between the waves.  It’s easy to get caught up in nonproductive activities, but you won’t get this valuable “down time” back until –maybe– the end of next year!  DO relax, but don’t fade away.        

     If you’re out of work, don’t count yourself out and head for the bridge.  You have the ability to pull yourself back up, kick yourself in the butt (a bit tricky, but not impossible for most!), and propel yourself forward back into the job market. 

     Remember that every problem that a company has is an opportunity for you to find the job that’s right for you, either in that company or another.  Stop beating yourself up.  Get focused.  And go for it!  Make it happen!  You can do it if you really want to.  All behavior is a choice.  Choose to make it easy

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Yep! History In The Making… 

This being a thankful week, I thank you for joining me today.  With anticipation of my blog post #200 coming on Thanksgiving Day, YOU now have the chance to be part of history in the making . . . 

     I am asking all my friends and blog followers to write favorable comments in the window below that I can take with me to Washington. 

     I will print out your comments and hand them over as accompanying support for my request to be granted a real, honest-to-goodness, taxpayer-dollars-paid-for government bailout. 

     This financial relief will enable me to continue writing blog posts that benefit society without putting any compensation burden on me to have to sell advertising banners, or pay myself a salary with money that I’m just not earning right now. 

[Of course the future will be different, and I’ll only need annual bailout money for possibly seven or eight more years until my, ahem, ship comes in!]  

     I don’t think this is asking too much.  After all, I have a great many years under my belt of paying taxes at great personal sacrifice.  It’s probably time to get some of that back, maybe even more than what I’ve paid in. 

     I have also accumulated significant business debt that came about as a result of my focus change to write helpful business and personal growth hints for others instead of to make sales for myself. 

     Being accustomed to a $900,000 a year lifestyle, I imagine it would be awfully hard to get myself under that to qualify for those campaign-promised tax cuts so I wouldn’t have to be paying into the bailout kitty — let’s see, was it a $250,000 level according to one candidate, or $100,000 level promised by his running mate?  Hmmm.  Well, a hundred, two hundred and fifty, not much difference. Whatever. 

     Paying for incompetence with bailouts funded by taxes.  Now that’s a unique idea.  But, hey, that’s what government is for anyway, isn’t it?  I mean, who else could I turn to?  You might find this surprising, but no one I know of has the ability to pump $3,000,000,000,000+ into shoring up sinking businesses.

(Oh, and, don’t kid yourself: considering that absolutely no one on this planet has even the slightest clue about how many billions and trillions are about to get shell-game shifted around, or by whom, and to whom, and what for, and for how long, and where it’s all coming from, it could be the + on top of that three trillion that’s the real kicker!).

     Of course, I’m sure I will need to unionize first to qualify.  It’d be wonderful to add a dozen or so employees to my blog staff (maybe I could write posts twice a day!) just so I could collect. 

     None of the union folks would actually do anything, but what else is new?  They provide qualification clout.  That works.  Why, it’s almost like being able to get more food stamps by adding more kids to the family!       halalpiar     

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Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 76 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

Beating Business Breakdowns

     Why should your business needs be any different than your personal needs?  Well, sure, I know there are different parts involved, duh, and that living/breathing humans are different than paper-based legal entities.  But . . .

     When your body, brain, or emotions break down, you get professional help to work out and then implement some kind of rehab plan.  (Or maybe you first go get what doctors today like to softsell as a “procedure” –less threatening sounding than “operation,” but otherwise the same thing– and then do the rehab deal. 

     Either way, because you want to restore your vitality and get back to some level of normal functioning, you engage the services of people who are trained and experienced at assisting and guiding your physical, mental, and emotional functions:

• PT (Physical Therapist)
• OT (Occupational Therapist)
• ST (Speech Therapist . . . yes there are some rumblings about switching the designation to Speech Pathologist, but not from my corner; therapists are helping professionals; pathologists deal with dead bodies!), and 
• Psychotherapists (who of course will deal with you whether you’re dead or alive).  Just a little humor here.

     The point is that businesses have physical, mental, occupational and emotional breakdowns too.  And these will usually require the retention of professional “rehab” services as well: 

• accountants
• lawyers
• turn-around specialists
• sales and marketing consultants
• management consultants
• technical consultants
• business development specialists
• human resource consultants
• financial consultants
• creative consultants
• IT consultants, et al. 

     The secret is of course being able to sort through the myriad of options and alternatives available and to select the combination of services that best address the rehab interests of your particular business needs. 

     Spend the time and energy to make it happen.  Cutting corners on this process can get so expensive or troubling that it can easily overshadow the original set of problems. 

     Remember that you get what you pay for. 

     Don’t worry so much about industry-specific experience or if the individual or entity you’re considering claims expertise in numerous related areas or has a solid track-record in diverse industries.  What’s important is to feel sure that the person or group has the right attitude and chemistry match to work with you and your support team. 

     Don’t be put off if you only get slim pickin’s for references since most business rehab people work with strict confidence arrangements.

     One highly successful business owner I know routinely brings in outsiders to assist with growth or repair issues.  He makes a point of taking prospective specialists and consultants to lunch or breakfast to get a better sense of the person’s real self

. . . I look to see if he or she says ‘please’ and thanks the waiter or waitress, offers to leave a tip when I pick up the tab, eats like a vacuum cleaner, orders alcohol, takes cell calls, etc.  There’s a lot to learn about how someone will work with you and your organization simply by observing how that individual behaves in a social setting.  I generally include an associate in the experience so I have four eyes and ears doing the sizing up,” says my business owner friend. 

     Periodic “how goes it” evaluations and recommendations from outsiders is also recommended when growth is part of your business goal.  Call if I can help you sort through and identify some best practice solutions: 302.933.0116     halalpiar

# # #

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 73 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

Hey, Home Depot!

Hey, Lowes!

Hey ACE Hardware!

Contractors, Repairmen, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ear!  Pack your tools up safe before you drink beer.  Or if today, on the Milky Way, a grease gun floats by . . . SIGH.

You’ve no doubt heard the news by now that one of our space-orbiting Astronauts lost a bagful of tools in the middle of doing a spacewalk repair.  Priceless.  Well, not quite. 

Actually the tool bag contents are estimated at roughly $100,000 worth of stuff, including a high-tech grease gun.  Hmmmm, whatever will space aliens think when they find out that Earthlings have been at war, shooting grease at one another?

There’s an old movie (name escapes me, but please let me know if this rings a bell): It opens in some desolete, remote jungle clearing occupied by a native tribe (Aborigines?) that has never before been exposed to civilization outside its own primative fire and spear devices of living, when suddenly from a rare passing airplane, a Coke bottle falls from the sky into the sand and ends up wreking havoc on the puzzled tribe members who I seem to recall think it came from God, dropped on them with some deep meaning from heaven.

Okay, now fast forward to the week before Thanksgiving, 2008, and a $25,000 (or $50,000?) greasegun crash lands in your front yard snow bank (if you’re in Maine, Alaska, Minnesota, Buffalo, or Canada, or the Swiss Alps or . . .) or your Southern California, Florida or Caribbean swimming pool, or W H E R E ? 

W H E R E ?

Tell me where it lands? 

What’s the situation? 

Has someone just screamed into the sky for help with the annoying garage door squeak? 

Is it in the middle of a major football game? 

How about you, all you Home Depot and Lowes employees?  Where are your voices, Sears Craftsman, and Black & Decker retailers? 

What would YOU do with a $100,000

bagful of high-tech space shuttle tools? 

Send me some ideas Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (“Space Tools” in the subject line.  I’ll publish your response, even your (decent) photo right here for all to see. 

Be creative or not.  Hard-nosed capitalists are also invited.  I’m waiting!  halalpiar        

 # # #

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 72 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

BULLETIN!  NEWS FLASH!

From the wire services . . . The communications industry has been rocked by the surprise announcement today of a new microchip that developers claim will allow the sending and receiving of text messages simply by thinking of the person with whom a user will want to communicate. 

The bead-sized chip, called “BeeDee” short for BrainDrain(c) was developed after three years of research on chickens. 

BeeDee(c) is embedded in the skull with a simple, minimally-invasive procedure that any family physician will be able to do during an in-office visit.  No anesthesia is necessary. 

The announcement came early this morning from two teenage tech game developers who embarked on the research project as a response to their chronically sore thumbs.  

     Weird news, huh? 

     True?  Naw, at least not yet.  I suppose we couldbe close to something so bizzare actually happening.  Well, okay, maybe not “chickens,” but mice are kind of overused these days.

     What’s the point? 

     In business, as in life, it seems that those who succeed most often are those who expect the unexpected.  Now I’m not advocating endless planning and worrying about what hasn’t yet come (and may never).  I’m simply saying something I’ve said in other ways on different days, that the healthiest physical, mental, and emotional place to be is the same place every good Boy Scout would recommend: PREPARED.  You know that place? 

     No, don’t start getting out your boots, umbrella, parachute and belt-holstered knife.  Not that kind of “prepared” (unless, of course, these kinds of items fit your lifestyle or situation). 

     I’m talking about regular stretching and exercising plus eating and sleeping right to be physically prepared for whatever comes along.  I’m talking about quickly considering “what’s the worst that could happen?” before taking any non-routine action so that at least you’ve thought it out and can respond promptly if necessary. 

     I’m talking about always keeping an open mind when dealing with others and try forcing yourself to listen 80% of the time and talk only 20% of the time. 

     Whoa!  Are you kidding?  Nope.  Try it three times this week and watch what happens!

HOW “NEWSWORTHY”

IS YOUR BUSINESS? 

     You’ve probably heard me rant and rave about the greed and minus-zone integrity ratings of media mogul management.  It’s all true.  But, by the way, they have to eat too, and they can’t rely on advertisers alone for the news they report. 

     So, when it’s time to start winning public exposure for your business services or products, it’s time to start thinking and planning a public relations news release program.

     Except for the preparation of releases (research, interviews, and detective work; creative “NEWSWORTHY” writing; printing; clipping; folding; envelope addressing and stuffing; stamping and sealing; and mailing followed by or combined with emails, faxes,  phone calls, and–where possible, personal visits), the resulting publicity is free. 

     But getting it all to work is not easy.  Gaining media coverage of a release you send out takes:

1. Priming the pump, because media people prefer to deal with established businesses that have an established paper trail of prior professionally-written and formatted releases, and
2. Following the (typically unspoken) guidelines to gain editor and/or writer attention, stimulate interest, and bring about action.
3. Following-up tenaciously with a focus on building a working media relationship, and with asking straightforward for the editor’s/writer’s help.

     There are a lot of parts to this fascinating “art” that include making sure that envelopes are addressed and return-addressed in certain ways and stamped with real postage stamps. 

     The release should be no longer than one and a half pages, double-spaced with one-inch borders, not stapled, showing clearly the contact person’s name/phone/email information.  Spelling and punctuation must be as perfect as possible. 

     Fancy paper and ink colors and type sizes get disgarded.  The last page should end with # # # and the release should be folded accordian style so that the headline is the first thing seen as the pages are removed from the envelope. 

     There are probably another hundred or so subtle non-rule rules that will help insure receptivity, but the bottom line is that whatever you send must answer: Who? What? When? Where? How? . . . and it must be NEWSWORTHY. 

     More on this in upcoming posts, including how to handle accompanying newsworthy photos.  If you prefer to not wait and want immediate input, email me at Hal@TheWriterWorks.com or call me at 302.933.0116 and mention this blog post in your subject line or voicemail message.                         halalpiar

__________________________________________

As my computer guru Michael Infusino, who God Bless him for putting up with me, prepares to move this story that’s grown past blog post borders (and has had to be too squished) to it’s own page on this site (you’ll get the details as it happens!), I’m taking a minute to explain the basis for it:

An earlier (archived) post emphasizes the importance of starting ALL writing (literary, commercial, business plan, love letter, whatever) with a 7-words-or-less “billboard” encapsulation that has a beginning, a middle, and an  ending … and is persuasive!  The following story is (for fun and practice) a 7-words-or-less-sentence-or-phrase-added-every-day story.  Be a co-author:  Take your best shot!____________________________________________________ 

BE A CO-AUTHOR!  ENTER YOUR OWN 7-WORDS OR LESS TACK-ON to the “billboard discipline” story started 41 posts ago. The next 7 words could be yours! 

STAR STRETCH by Hal Alpiar, Lois Anderson, and your name here!

TO READ THE DAILY-GROWING STORY AND/OR ADD YOUR OWN 7-WORDS-OR-LESS PHRASE OR SENTENCE CLICK ON THE “BOOKS” TAB ABOVE, THEN ON “7-WORD STORY,” OR SIMPLY CLICK ON THE “7-WORD STORY” LINK IN THE CENTER COLUMN ON THE RIGHT.

                                                                     

TACK ON YOUR OWN 7-WORD SUGGESTION! 

If chosen, your name will appear as co-author!