Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Pitching a Post

I swear that time did not exist today.

I'm not sure if it was the extra caffeine shot that I am 99.9% sure the Starbucks barista slipped into my coffee or if it was my absorption in the singular task I was given.

Anyway, today I spent a very large amount of time (like, very large) writing a blog pitch for one of our clients to send to the Huffington post, researching how to do so, and editing their bios.

Again, I have no idea why it took so much time to do so.

I wish that I could have done this task before last Thursday, when I sent several blog post pitch emails to various websites with our own post, so that I could have been as well versed in sending such an email as I am today (those were shorter and a little less detailed, however it still would have been helpful).

I don't think I have ever edited and researched so much for a singular email in my life. Ever.

Despite the large chunk of time it most likely took from Nikki's day (thank you so much Nikki) it really was a good exercise. Although, the extra caffeine did not help, as I was continuously shaking and squirming in my seat the entire day.

It helped to "think like Ernest" as my English teacher used to say - Ernest Hemingway that is. Being concise and to the point is paramount, and Ernest was way ahead of his time in his writing, since these words hold even more true during this day and age where people would rather read a Twitter feed than a book.

By the time I sent the final draft to Nikki, it had been chopped in half, tweaked, read over at least thirty times, modified there, altered here - the main objective being to have it relay as much information as possible while also being concise and keeping the reader interested.

The task required much research as well, but most of my time was spent editing this single pitch.

It got me thinking of how if I were Nikki or my mother, this would have taken at most 15 minutes (perhaps I am wrong), and today it took me almost my entire time here to do so. I hope this is something that comes with practice - because while I enjoyed it, I don't think it should typically take this long to write and edit a pitch...

Anyway, another great day at Frozen Fire. I hope that in some way I contributed half as much as I gained.

Also note to self -- never drink a Starbucks coffee unless I have watched the baristas like a hawk to see that they don't put extra caffeine in my drink... I have never struggled so much to sit in one place!