"She Doesn't Have A Stick In Any of Her Body's Orifices"

 I do so love Melody Watson, my website designer.  Melody is the ultra-cool woman who designed the web site for my book, Lessons In Stalking. She is a woman of extreme patience combined with a true artists eye for shading, color, and technique.  When we met to talk about my site overhaul, she was very professional in her questions. I, however, was ill-prepared to answer.

Melody:  "Have you given any thought to color schemes?"

Dena: "Um, no blue. Oh, and I don't like pastels. My home is yellow and red. And I like purple. But I probably can't do purple on a professional site, huh?"

Melody: "Well, we'll see. What about pages? Do you know what pages you want for your navigation bar?"

Dena:  "Oh. Lessee...probably the same ones I have now, except I'll take out some and replace with others."

Melody, smiling serenely as she sips her coffee: "Sounds lovely. We'll come back to that as well. Now, what is the feel you want for your site? When someone, a potential client, pulls it up for the first time, what do you want them to go away thinking?"

Dena: "Professional yet fun!" (See, I actually had an answer for this one) 

Now, if someone gave me the task of creating from scratch a new website with "any color but pastels, unsure about pages, and totally professional yet fun," I'd run screaming from the room. I need much more direction than that. Melody, however, thrives on it. She loves the thrill of creating to the client's vision without the client (moi) even clearly knowing what their vision is.

So we've been hammering ideas back and forth and landed on one that we're both excited about it. As we discussed it, here's a portion of the e-mail Melody sent me and that she graciously gave me permission to post here:

And if I get it just right, your site's visitors will think "highly professional but she doesn't have a stick in any of her body's orifices" and they will think, "wow, she's incredibly sophisticated but I could throw back a beer with this woman, too!" and they will want to hire you immediately just so they can try and get anywhere close to what a kick ass woman you so clearly are, just by visiting your site. It's subtle and it's bold, all at the same time...it's aged and shows fine history, and the texture is nearly palpable. But at no point does it overwhelm or overshadow the content of the site.

 Does it get any closer to mind-reading? I almost burst a lung laughing at the line, "highly professional but she doesn't have a stick in any of her body's orifices."  I've threatened to use that as my new tag line:

"Looking for a writer to inspire and motivate your tired copy? Hire Dena Harris! She's highly professional yet doesn't have a stick in any of her body's orifices."

 

That is soooooo me.  Now admit it...aren't you kind of curious to see the new site?

So You Want to Write A Book

Everyone has a book inside them.  There is not one person who if you asked them if they had something to write about wouldn't answer "yes."  Of course, the majority of people are not writers so the books won't get written. Even people like me who are writers still may not write the book. It awaits to be seen if I have it in my to do fiction or not. Last year I was leaning toward yes. Now I'm re-evaluating.

The "standard" advice is to write what you read and I'm a non-fiction gal. I get much more excited by the thought of gathering research and conducting interviews and taking a whole mish-mash of data and creating order out of it then I do at the thought of coming up with a plotline and a character who isn't a direct knock-off of a friend in my life.

I'm also seriously considering the idea of hanging my shingle out as a ghostwriter for non-fiction.  I have a few friends who've approached me about working with them on their fiction but I tell them upfront that I still struggle with fiction writing so I don't know that I'm the best one for the job. I've agreed to "edit" or maybe even collaborate on a book and I'm excited about that prospect (why go down in flames alone - ha ha).

But, there is more non-fiction on the horizon. I'm helping a friend/associate prepare a non-fiction book proposal and if it sells, she wants me to help her write the book.  I spoke with one of my magazine editors yesterday who said she passed my name along to a big-time pet author who is looking for a collaborator on his next cat book.  For this same editor, I'm ghostwriting an article for a vet and there's interest in taking the topic and turning it into a book.  

 Then there's my book on public speaking. I alternate between great excitement about the book that turns into "What do I know? Why on earth would anyone read a book about public speaking written by me?"  But I'm so close to having a draft ready to send out that I'm not willing to give up. I keep saying I need to "find" time to work on but there is never, ever time to be found. So I'm going to have to get serious and block out time on my schedule to work on that and nothing else.

Here's what I like about what I do. All of the above projects could come to fruition or not a one of them might ever  make it off the drawing board. But it's energizing to think that "Hey yeah. Maybe I will be collaborating with that vet next year," or "Wow. I may be listed as a co-author on a book in a category that would open new doors for me."

The really fun part is that even if none of the above materializes, other things as yet unknown will. I love the not knowing, the anticipation of what will arrive to fill my days. 

I'm a firm believer that the days ahead will be filled with many, many good things. 

Web Site Overhaul

I have thrown myself into the abyss. I met Wednesday with my web site developer, slammed a cup of decaf, took a deep breath and said, "Trash what I have. Start over."

I'm referring to redoing my primary web site at www.denaharris.com.  It's breaking my heart to change it. I love, love, love my manic kitty-cat graphic--the same one you see here at the top of the page. It's served me well these past 3 years. People laugh when I pull out my business cards which has kitty on them and the cards are always good for a conversation starter. They were especially effective when I started out as a writer as much of what I was doing was pet related writing.

Lately though, I've been courting--and landing--more corporate work. Writing web site content, creating press releases, pulling together a press kit, drafting brochures... I estimate I've spent  50% of my time on projects like these in the past 2 months vs. my traditional magazine writing.

The thing with magazine writing is that  few if any marketing pieces are needed. If I want an assignment I write a query letter and wait for a yes/no response. Compare that to if I want to write a brochure for someone where they want to visit my website, see prior examples of my work, meet to discuss vision and pricing, have me prepare a quote for them... Wait. Why do I want  corporate work???

Ah yes. The challenge. It's something new. And because the work is coming to me. I have a file of leads people have given me that I'm waiting to follow up on because I need to send them a brochure or intro kit. Once I have my marketing items in place, I'm confident the work will come in.

And I'm not giving up magazine writing. I've got several new pieces in the works and just today landed a ghostwriting article I'm excited about.  It may lead to a book project, which is something I believe I will very much enjoy.

I have a lot to say about books and book projects. So much, in fact, that I think I'll hold off and make that my blog for tomorrow.  

Meanwhile, wish me luck writing content for my new site. Amazing how simple it is to create text for others but when it comes to tooting my own horn I wind up with sentences like, "Hire Dena. She write real good."

Nowhere to go but up.

"I Feel..." (Or do I?)

Last night in Dale Carnegie the focus was on overcoming arguments and then learning techniques to agree to disagree with others.   There was discussion on avoiding words such as "but," "however," and "nevertheless" when in conflict with someone. ("I hear what you're saying, BUT...")

Instead, the benefit of using phrases such as "I think," "I feel," and "I believe" were discussed. For example, someone says something you disagree with. You come back with. "You raise a good point. I believe ..."

I remember reading quite a few business books that advise people--especially women--to avoid using the "I think, I feel, I believe" phrases because these phrases make you appear indecisive and/or weak.

Here's my question--do you agree? Admittedly, those business texts I'm referring to were books I read years ago.  Is it true the new "Emotional Intelligence" indexes encourage rather than discourage the use of these phrases in business?

Not a life or death question, but still kind of interesting. Would love to hear people's thoughts on the matter.