Writing about writing - the guts of me

I've worked for a publishing company for almost 15 years now. I have loved selling and producing great advertising campaigns for a WIDE variety of clients. I have lived, loved and grown up swimming in words and images.

There has also never been a single word of editorial content, not an errant byline stating Created By Marielle Howard, printed in any of our publications.

Louisiana Business Inc, which was just Business Report and its annual supplements when I started this journey, has a strict, concrete thick strict, division between its advertising and editorial teams. This has given me both pain and relief over the years. Regardless of how I felt about our line in the sand, it was there.

I guess if I hadn't loved selling and creating advertising so much, the line might have posed a moral dilemma well before now. A few years ago, I began missing exercising the art of writing and reporting. But the line was still there.

My love of writing began in high school. A brave and brash English teacher taught a poor tomboy girl how to use poetry and prose to express herself. From tentative journal pages, to collections of short poems, to full fledged contest entries and even my first foray into publishing of mine and my classmates poetry in a magazine, Margaret Goode instilled in me a passion for the written word.

Mrs. Goode so profoundly influenced my life that to this day, I want to grow up to be a high school gifted English teacher. She changed my definition of myself, gave me permission to write my own story and the courage to laugh at myself along the journey.

And what a journey it's been. I continued to write after high school. From published analyses in my political science classes, to stories in LSU's student newspaper, I managed to feed my love of writing and share that love with a wider audience. My second degree in public relations was as much about my love of writing as my awareness that I would need a real job after college and I didn't know any political scientists.

After college, my writing became about profit. My career took a turn into the marketing world and I wrote, a lot. It wasn't the great investigative or insightful analysis pieces of my college days, but it was pen to paper with a paycheck. Oddly, this stab at writing was equally enjoyable.

From there, I ended up in sales and advertising. More specifically, I was in the business of selling advertising. Probing questions, concise proposals and fast ad headlines filled my time. All the while, life was happening and I drifted further from my love of creative writing.

A husband, kids, a career, cancer, life, death, marriage, sales, goals, life. My creative energy found lots of outlets. Photography, scrapbooking, home decorating, arts and crafts, teacher gifts, coworker gifts, baby gifts. I was telling stories, just in other ways.

One afternoon while at a professional conference in rural Tennessee, I learned about Eastern Tennessee State University. This magical place actually has a master's program in - wait for it - STORY TELLING! I told everyone I knew for months after this encounter that I was moving to rural Tennessee and going back to college. I felt my calling.

Then I discovered blogging. What a perfect way to burn my creative fuel! Pictures + words + readers, I thought this was going to be my lifelong outlet for all of the stories I've collected.

As I began experimenting with blogging, my work life changed. I'd never considered it, but the art of selling was being redefined in the most amazing way. Self appointed experts were now raking in the bucks teaching sales teams around the country that sales wasn't about probing questions, concise proposals and fast ad headlines, instead sales and advertising were now all about STORY TELLING!

If you ever doubt if there is a God, then the long thread of this story should at least convince you there is some greater and infinitely humorous power bringing us all full circle. I have no doubt there is a God and he had just revealed the guts of me - shown me my core purpose and passion in life - I am a Story Teller of the first order.

So now I am exposed to the core. I know what my Purpose is, with a capital P. Now what?
Lots of little projects, a story here, a press release there, a stint writing newsletter articles later and I was longing for a byline again. Part of me really wanted to see one of my stories, presented with authority, for consumers to chew on, be dragged into and sent away from different.

This summer, completely by accident, that powerful moment came.
"Would you consider reviewing the dinner you attended this weekend?"
"Would I!?!?"
"We'll have to get permission"
Patiently waiting while banging out the lead and first 5 paragraphs anticipating getting the chance.
"OK, this once, you can do this if you still want to."
"SIGN ME UP! WHEN IS IT DUE?"
"It's here!"

I have always been a story teller. At my core, it is what I am and what I love doing. I didn't need a byline to know that.

This byline gives me something completely other than validation of my life's true calling.
It gives me the joy of work.
It gives me the giddy excitement of opening an issue of one of our magazines like it's the BIG present under the Christmas tree.
It gives me immense gratitude for the people and challenges that have given me a voice.
It gives me pride that I work for an organization that gives stories life and import.

Zombie Slackers

One of our favorite fall activities is Baton Rouge' family friendly Halloween Parade. My dear friend Kelley Stein created this fun event to help celebrate her favorite holiday and raise money and awareness for some important causes in our community. You can learn more about her group and the parade here http://1031consortium.com/

Getting ready for the parade lets our family's inner artists run wild. We line our fences with float sized vinyl sheets and paint our themed float decorations for Cub Scouts Pack 205's float. Late each night, by the light of a projector, we, and occasionally some friends, get our Picasso on.

Last year's float was Where the Wild Things Are themed. We were pretty proud of our pièce de résistance. Of course, we also set the bar pretty high for ourselves in future years.

This week, we began designing, sketching and painting our float wrap. In fact, in one night, we were able to sketch, in white chalk on black vinyl, the entire design of one side of the float. All we had to do was paint in the colors.

That was before it rained overnight and washed our hard work away. Turns out chalk sketches on vinyl don't hold up in the rain.

And while David and Hunter were distraught at having to start completely over, I was not.

1. The only part of the design I worked on, and liked, I had taken the time to prime. I had done my homework, realized I only wanted to have to paint my design once, and so I took every precaution to make sure it STUCK. So even my sketched outline was still there after the rain, because I had properly prepared the surface.

2. I wasn't thrilled with David and Hunter's edited version of my original idea. My zombies were on a mission, encouraging viewers to vote in the upcoming elections. Their zombies were just zombies for zombies sake. They were without a purpose. No wonder they got washed away.

Now I'm not sure if the do-over will mean that Hunter and David's zombies will get with my program. And I'm not saying that God sent a cleansing rain to wipe clean these zombie slackers. However, I do think their washing away illustrates two really important life lessons.

1. Preparation pays off.
My purposeful zombie, properly sketched on well primed vinyl, withstood what nature had to throw at it. It took me longer to get my dutiful zombie up, but I will spend less time on him in the long run because I started with a plan to create a lasting image.

So whether it's a project or presentation at work, or parade float vinyl, our best and most fruitful work depends on our preparation, our priming of our canvas.

Incidentally, had David been better focused on his preparation, he would have covered his chalk sketches for the night, because we encountered this exact same problem last year. How quickly we forget!

2. All the preparation in the world won't get you far without Purpose.
I know it's a bit of a stretch, but if Hunter and David's zombie's had known what they were made for, maybe they would have fought harder to stick around. While their creators were lacking in the preparation department, the zombies themselves were easily washed away without a purpose for being, a raison d'être.

If you ever want a great lesson in the power of both preparation and purpose paying off with big results, watch children trick or treating.

Ask a 10 year old the importance of the size of the trick or treating bag, bucket or pumpkin. Hunter won't even go out without a container big enough for 3 pounds of candy and treats. He anticipates the big haul, so he makes sure he has the right equipment to handle it.

Ask a kid the best neighborhoods to trick or treat in. They can tell you. And they will give their parents directions to make sure they're getting the most out of their trick or treating time. No wasting time on blocks where no one's home - they've got limited time and mean to make good use of it.

And on Halloween night, as you sit in your driveway welcoming the little beggars, or as you follow your own herd of them through the streets, you will have no doubt in your mind that kids can be both purposeful and passionate about work when they see the Reese's at the end of the trail.

Speaking of Reese's, what candy do you always make sure to steal, I mean requisition, out of your kids' haul each year?