I ran across a couple of words this week (on Word Spy and Buzz Whack) that particularly appealed to me:

Staycation. When you spend your vacation at home. (Thanks to high gas prices and a sluggish economy, it’s all many of us can afford.) Also known to those of us from Quebec as Balconville, after the 1979 play of the same name by Quebec playwright David Fennario.

Free-range kid. A child who is given lots of time for unstructured activities and play during the day.

Friendquest. Requesting someone to be a friend/buddy on an online social network.

A coupon for a free item seems like a good way to market your business, doesn’t it? Maybe not, if the place you turn it in can refuse to honour it.

We have such a coupon, expiring May 31, for a free sub at Quizno’s. In our household, the subs are known as good, but pricey, so Son #1 set off for the local shop with high anticipation. He was back soon after, no sub in hand. It seems the coupon is only good at “participating” retailers, and the local store refused to accept it. When asked who would, the employee unhelpfully replied, “Nobody in Oakville.”

Contrast this with Harvey’s, which offered a free hamburger to anyone, no coupon required, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. last Sunday. Son #2 and I went and joined a line-up at our local store. We had to wait a little while, but everyone was in good spirits and the line moved quickly. We added fries and a drink to our order, as many did. Son #2 normally gets chicken at fast food places, so if you can believe it, this was his first fast food hamburger. He liked it. We’ll be back.

It’s not too difficult to see which marketing was more effective.

As the school year winds down, Son #2 is headed for graduation from high school. While it’s not graduation from university, it is nevertheless a momentous occasion. (Sentimental creature that I am, there will be a tissue or three in my pocket.) So it seemed timely that I ran across (in the Mental Floss e-newsletter) a link to the YouTube video of Steve Jobs addressing graduates of Stanford University in 2005. Among his inspiring words (which echo some of the sentiments expressed earlier) :

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”

And later:

“Don’t live someone else’s life.”

As Son #2 is poised to leap into his adult life, I hope my own example helps him take that message to heart.

You’ve often heard the advice, “do what you love and the money will follow.” In the dating world, the equivalent is “do what you love (or even just like) and the love will follow.” At the very least, you’ll have fun, but you may also meet someone special who shares your interest.

I think this is very true, having met my husband when I went on a camping trip with a girlfriend. The funny thing is that we really weren’t more than occasional campers. The stars just aligned to put us at the same campground at the same time.

Yesterday, my handsome, smart and funny non-camping husband and I celebrated our 26th anniversary. So I have no current dating record to talk about!

If you are a blogger, consider yourself patted on the back by Anne Holland, Content Director of MarketingSherpa. She encourages bloggers in the May 12 newsletter (see #9) thusly:

“Starting a blog is easy. Keeping the blog going for more than a few months is hard. If you are one of the relatively few, the proud, the multi-year bloggers, you should give yourself a gold medal for sustained effort above most people’s capacities.”

She goes on to give tips for improving blog results, and I found #4 interesting: “Use keyword analysis to inspire more posts.” So of course I checked my own stats, and found that some people had found their way to my site by searching “writing samples” or “how to write writing samples.” It’s true I have a category called “writing samples,” intended to show different things I have written. But I haven’t given advice on advice on choosing a sample – until now. Here goes.

Tips for showing your writing samples:

1. Consider what you want the sample to show and be sure the sample does so. For instance, you might want to pick a complicated topic and show how you turned it into an easy read with logical flow. Or you might want it to show how you organize and express your thoughts. Make sure it gives people a feel for how you can convey ideas or details.
2. Pick things you’ve done for different clients and different purposes. In my case, I included an employee newsletter article, a profile of a person and a case study, all pieces I enjoy writing.
3. Don’t fall in love with your own writing, but don’t be shy to include a sample that you particularly like. I’m fond of my profile of judge Stanley Grizzle because he was such an interesting man. And lest you mispronounce his name, as I did, you should know that it makes him sizzle if you rhyme it “Grizzle.” It’s “GrizZELL.”
4. If a client is particularly happy with a piece of writing, think about choosing it.
5. Ask permission.
6. Make sure there are no typos or grammatical errors. If one slips through and someone tells you about it, fix it!

Any other ideas?

Networking gets a bad rap. Really, if you go about it the right way, you don’t have to break into a cold sweat. Forget the (bad) advice to go in and give out as many business cards as possible. Instead, look on each networking opportunity as a chance to make a connection with someone else.

Making those connections is one of the secrets to success promoted by Keith Ferrazzi in a book I just finished, Never Eat Alone And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time. He suggests going in with the idea of helping friends connect with other friends. The spirit of generosity recognizes that you may not get anything in return immediately, but you will build the relationships that encourage others to think warmly of you. Among his other suggestions:

Don’t keep score (just help someone if you can without expecting an immediate payback).

“Ping” constantly (keep in touch).

Never eat alone (he says “invisibility” is a fate worse than failure).

I agree with much of his advice, perhaps because I thrive on relationships myself. A great day recently featured three hugs — two from friends/colleagues I had met through a networking group but hadn’t seen in several months, and one from an IABC member I had just met for coffee, after sharing ideas on her new freelance business. A couple of long-time clients regularly greet me with a hug, too.

I wonder if some of this hugginess is due to being a “woman of a certain age” (in the polite sense of no longer young, but not yet old), with a a good sense of the importance of friendships/relationships?

Yesterday marked the birthday of Queen Victoria, who reigned when Canada was born. It’s a classic Canadian holiday, dubbed “May two-four” in a nod to both the date (the Monday closest to May 24) and the ceremonial purchasing and consuming of at least one case of 24 beers sitting outdoors in the sunshine with friends and family.

Well, that didn’t happen, although we did have wine with dinner. We don’t have a cottage, so did not have to join the throngs on the road heading off to open the cottage, then huddle indoors in unseasonably chilly weather. It was really too cold to plant anything, although I dressed up the deck with a few pots of flowers. So it was at least a restful weekend.

Thus I found myself on the computer yesterday catching up on blogs I’ve not had a chance to read. I came across Brian Clark’s post at the Copyblogger about how emergency brain surgery woke him up “to getting on with living the life I want to live.” His close is too good not to include here:

“What do you want to do? Why aren’t you doing it?
“I don’t care what your answer is — this is the only shot you’ve got. This is not a dress rehearsal.
“Who are you to chase your dreams no matter what, you might ask? Who are you NOT to?”

My sentiments exactly. You?

Freelancers sometimes run into clients who question quoted rates and ask for less. Most seasoned professionals will agree that you shouldn’t let yourself be “had” on price. State what you are worth, making sure you convey the value in what you are providing (which may be your X years of experience, your track record in the industry, your ability to deliver a close-to-final first draft, or similar). If budget is really an issue and the lesser amount is all that’s available, offer what you are willing to do for that amount. Still not acceptable? Some jobs just aren’t worth it, and you may have to walk away.

If you need a little reinforcement to support you in sticking to a fee you feel is right, here’s a great line from Matthew Stibbe’s blog, Bad Language:

“Nobody asks for the cheapest brain surgeon.”

He’s referring to the idea of finding a niche and becoming an expert. If you want to hire an expert, you understand up front that there’s a cost to it, which does virtually take “how much?” out of the equation. Great advice.

Another great line from a different post: “I have to come to the party dressed as myself” (in reference to making a personal connection while interviewing people).

With golf season upon us, Golf Town has been busily advertising and I have to say, these ads are good. In one, you see a mom at the wheel of her mini-van, counselling her unseen charges to “stay together” and “don’t cry when we have to leave.” Then you see that she isn’t talking to little kids; it’s a group of men bursting to exit the van to shop at Golf Town. In another, a bored man waits outside what looks like a changing room. Cut to the woman he’s waiting for, who isn’t trying on clothes; she’s testing golf clubs. Great way to take a familar scene and give it a surprise ending, and recognize that both men and women are golfers.

I tried to find out who is responsible, and it seems to be Toronto agency Top Drawer Creative, although there isn’t a clip of the ads on the site. If this is the agency, bravo to the writers and creative types. It’s rare and refreshing to actually look forward to seeing an ad instead of reaching for the remote to either mute it or miss it by skipping to another station.

The Friday edition of the Toronto Star led into Mother’s Day with several essays about moms. One by Toronto writer Elyse Friedman was particularly funny; it captures the desire to do right by your child and the guilt and fear that you might not be doing so by “faults” like not making the bed or swearing. Here’s a snippet:

“The truth is we sometimes want things and do things that aren’t in the best interest of our children. And so, as Mother’s Day looms, I thought I would take a moment to prepare an apology for my unconventional (I hate to use the word ‘bad’) parenting in the hopes that my grown-up son will someday read it, and if not understand, at least forgive enough to cast someone thin to play me in the movie.”

After a long list of potentially bad behaviour, past and future, she concludes:

“No doubt I am forgetting any number of transgressions. So in conclusion, my darling boy, I will just say that I’m profoundly sorry for everything that I have done wrong, or will do wrong in the future. You are a complete delight, a total sun-shiny joy and in my view, the perfect child. I wish I could be the perfect mom.”

I love that last line about the perfect child and feel that way about my own sons. OK, nobody is perfect and I’m conveniently forgetting/overlooking some things, but in the scheme of things, the imperfect things are insignificant. If I have been able to be a good mom, it is totally because my boys have been similar joys; and of course because my own mom is pretty terrific!