Friday Files: Editor dog dog tired of editing
Networking for Newbies: What Would Dolly Do?
Fresh back from a conference I went in knowing no one (except from the Internet). It was informative and full of nice people. (Read: Overstimulating and a crowd.) In Vegas. (Read: Overstimulating and crowded. But with glitter!)
I had to muster all the networking nerve I could. I’m still a networking newbie. Having spent a chunk of my business’s change on the trip, I needed to make it count. “What a way to make a livin’!”
At best, I am the reincarnate lovechild Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson never had: I’m a straight-shooter who serves her tunes with a wink. I also can rock a pair of cowboy boots like nobody’s business. When I talk business, I kick those boots right up on the boardroom table.
Unfortunately, my spirit animal seems to escape its cage every time I enter a roomful of strangers.
I used to tell myself networking is disingenuous, or as I say IRL, “gross.” It sometimes is, but that doesn’t keep me from committing any other necessary evils. I swim in public pools and touch the stairwell rails all the time.
So I had to ask myself: What would Dolly do (WWDD)? (Yes, you see what I did there.)
A Dolly aficionado — her autobiography is about my favorite nonfiction book — and sweaty-handed networking newbie, I felt prepared to answer this self-imposed hypothetical. I’m not saying it will be all “Islands in the Stream” from here on out, but it will be a heck of a lot easier.
1) Dolly asks questions and is interested in the world around her. She learns from everyone.
In an abandoned cabin in the woods near her childhood home, she came up with an interesting theory that connects religious belief, sex, and music into her own theoDollogy. As a teenager, she modeled her wardrobe after the town hooker. (No, I’m not exaggerating. Stop reading this blog post now and go read her book.)
This segues nicely into the best socializing advice my dad ever gave me. To paraphrase: Just make the person you’re talking to feel like they’re the most interesting one in the room. That means ask questions about their work, actually listen to the answers, and be observant.
It doesn’t mean a lot of false flattery and groveling.
2) Dolly doesn’t agree with everything you say, but she’s respectful and gracious.
When Dolly wanted to kick Porter Wagoner to the curb, she wrote him one of the greatest pop songs of all time: “I Will Always Love You.”
In panel discussions, it’s okay not to agree with what others opine. Even those more experienced or seemingly more confident. But, take it from someone who can come off as abrasive when she’s earnest, be respectful and gracious. Find a way to disagree without going head on. “In my limited experience with country music-writing, Ms. Parton. . .”
Chances are if you’re still nervous about networking, you’re not negotiating the rights to a multi-million dollar song. Don’t be afraid to share what you think.
If you’re someone like me, also work on being quiet. (Having a conversation with a stranger? Terrifying. Debating with or asking questions of said stranger in public forum? Somehow totally fine.)
3) Dolly does it up!
While we can’t all afford to look like my patron-saint, you better bet she doesn’t leave the house looking like she’s been up crying all night over some Jolene-ish character. She gets her mom to hunt through the scrap pile to sew her a fabulous coat of many colors.
At conferences, it can be tempting to take the day “off” from work as a chance to sport a T-shirt emblazoned with a sports team or a joke you think is funny.
Dolly would never!
No need to overdo it. But set polo and khakis as the low bar. Slacks are safe for men and women at just about every conference.
Note: Dressing decently doesn’t make you any less smart.
A Dolly Mantra: “Don’t let these false eyelashes lead you to believe I’m as shallow as I look ’cause I run true and deep.”
And remember, the higher the hair, the closer to God. Just kidding. Sort of.
4) Who has the best Dolly Parton jokes? Dolly Parton does, of course.
She’s not afraid to crack a joke at her own expense. After all, business is a money-making joke.
There are bound to be a few mis-steps. I know I make a few each conference I attend, usually in the Hilarious Jokes No One Gets Dept. This time: Cher references. (What can I say? I love a diva and some dang rhinestones.)
This department is in the same hallway as the Yes, There Really Are Dumb Questions Dept. and the Tripped and Fell Entering Session Late Dept.
A little humor can step in to save the day. One of my favorite Dollyisms: “I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb — and I’m not blonde either.” Me neither.
5) Finally, you best bet Dolly does not fear introducing herself. Not enough to keep her from doing it, anyhoo.
If the world recognizes you by your first name, you have lucked out. No more reciting with zeal her elevator pitch, no more awkward shuffling through her purse for a business card, no more “Was that Holly?”
This is where Dolly and I part ways. She’s an arena goddess and I work in a home-office.
At the beginning of each day at a conference, I make a bargain with myself: You can’t head home until you’ve talked to x new people and gotten/handed out x business cards. This makes the day more of a game and gives me an actionable task (I love homework as much as Dolly loves glitz).
The best tip I heard was to sit next to someone I didn’t know during every session. This led to a couple new job leads and several great conversations.
If nothing else, Dolly is a shrewd business woman — the person who turned a middle-of-nowhere mountain town into Dollywood and Gatlinburg into basically the Vegas east of the Mississippi. She would not waste the money on attending a conference without trying her darnedest to make it work.
Writers and editors, maybe even more so than musicians, rely on connections to be able to do work and get paid.
In Dolly’s words: “You better get to knowin’, showin’ a little bit more concern about where you’re goin’.”
After all, personal branding is just some gross corporate code word, for, as Dolly says, being you on purpose.
You can buy Dolly Parton’s My Life and Other Unfinished Business for one penny here. Do it.
The beautiful link between Pluto and the dictionary
Kidding/ not kidding, Steve Kleinedler, executive editor of the American Heritage Dictionary, talked about how new language is formed. And it ain’t all selfies. At the American Copy Editors Society conference in Vegas, he said a lot of it is due to new(!) science and shifting political landscapes. Bottom line on what words get added to the dictionary:
The demotion of Pluto alone added six or seven. Between Yugoslavia and Pluto. . .
And, if you’re still hurting over Pluto not being a planet (which is basically all Neil deGrasse Tyson’s fault–okay, not really), watch this video, where Tyson assures Pluto it is important, too.
Cate Blanchett’s got news for healthcare: Women aren’t a “niche.”
If you are reading this, you are probably a woman. Not because it’s women’s history month in the States. Not because International Women’s Day falls this week. Not because only women are interested in women’s writing but because there are more women than men in this world. LinkedIn’s “Pulse” picked up the story for its healthcare section (because probably about half of its readers–or more–are ladies). The medical industries need to consider and invest in this fact.
I had the pleasure of speaking with a life sciences investor and healthcare thought leader Anula Jayasuriya who made this interesting connection: Replace the movie-related words of Cate Blanchett’s fantastic girl-power Oscar acceptance speech with healthcare words.
Women-centered movies aren’t a niche. Neither is women-centered healthcare. Favorite quote:
“People call women’s health a niche, and it’s hard for me to parse that–because how can 51 percent of the population be a niche?” Jayasuriya said.
Click on over to watch Blanchett’s speech and read about the trends driving dollars and doctors to create women’s health solutions.
For Valentine’s Day, a Transatlantic love story
Need a Valentine’s Day pick-me-up? How about a real love story amidst all the saccharine candy hearts?
Read this story about two World War II veterans who found each other and fell in love during the war.
Though many celebrate this holiday as “Singles Awareness Day,” I’m happy to think of William and Joyce Hastings–who recently celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.
Their friends contacted the American Legion to surprise them with a story. It was fun to write and research in cognito, and their friends were a hoot. Here’s to 70 more years of happiness and companionship.
Berryman on how to know if your writing’s any good
Today my friend Allison sent me a fantastic poem by W.S. Merwin called “Berryman.” John Berryman is one of my favorite poets, so I took maybe special delight in reading a young writer deal with Berryman, who was “much older. . . in his thirties.”
But it’s the ending of this poem, in which the speaker, presumably Merwin, asks Berryman how to judge the quality of his own work, that moves me most. Replace writing with any verb you have a kinship with.
I had hardly begun to read
I asked how can you ever be sure
that what you write is really
any good at all and he said you can’tyou can’t you can never be sure
you die without knowing
whether anything you wrote was any good
if you have to be sure don’t write
To read the full poem, click here.
To read a poem by my friend Allison, click here.
The Golden Globes may dis Mad Men, but this editor lifts a glass in its honor
A glass of coffee, of course. It’s before noon on a Monday.
Just got word from a writer-scholar-friend she is getting her chapter on Mad Men published. It will appear in the collection Representing Women’s Intellect in Film and TV (forthcoming this year).
I was lucky enough to work with her on developmental and copy editing this brainy and fun chapter. If you love good television and smart takes, be sure to look out for rising star Stefania Marghitu and her work.
Medtech opinion piece featured on LinkedIn Today
Medtech opinion piece featured on LinkedIn Today
Medtech uses the word innovation a lot. According to PwC, so much that the word’s lost its charge. In this fun Jetson-inspired, end-of-year piece for MedCity News, I was able to think about what would really stand out in our minds ten years from now. I included what will still be awe-inspiring and what we may recoil from as awesomely bad, as well as some discussion on major policy shifts for the industry.
Be sure to click the link above, bookmark it and call me in a decade to shame me or offer me pats on the back.
This story was picked up by LinkedIn Today for its Healthcare section.
My beef with all those “Best of 2013” lists of books, music and movies
It’s that time of year again: Time for us all to reflect and quickly post to the Internet our favorite books, writers, Tweeps and tweets of 2013. But before we do that, I’d like to offer up these thoughts on what list-making, trash-talking and reading have to do with one another. In “How Lists Feed My Inner Trash-Talker, But Not My Inner-Nerd,” I make peace with being both a Kentuckian, and therefore a big-talking trash-talker, and a little shy nerd who likes to read.
Highlights from Sycamore Review:
“Which brings me to lists. And how everyone says they hate lists but secretly loves lists or at least clicks on them. As writers yourselves, I’m sure you know what I mean. They help us know what to like, who to envy, and what’s “good.” Because how would we know otherwise? They give us some good starting grounds for fisticuffs (especially if you’re a college basketball fan this year). And of course, because, as the mysterious they has told us for many moons, a kabillion books are published each and every year and no one reads books anymore.
“So maybe, for lit blogs, the reasoning is to shepherd people toward the “good” books in an effort to make them love literature like when they were babies and their mothers served them warmed milk and beautiful Golden Books each night as they drifted to sleep under their Pottery Barn down comforters.”
“When I read a list, I’m not shoving my nose into a book. And that would make the list-makers of the world quite sad, I think. Because while the intention of a list seems to be pure, and often a celebration of Things to Love, it really just lights up the parts of my brain that are argumentative and like to play beer pong. Yes, lists are fun in the way beer pong is fun: yes, but you always go one too many rounds, say something silly, and live to regret it. This kind of fun is not at all fun in the way that actual reading is fun and singular and has nothing to do with a party. What is fun (for me) about reading is that it charges the parts of my brain that are shy and warm and say please and drink Ovaltine before lugging a precious hardback up the hill home from the library. I imagine sometimes this fun involves crying into one’s Ovaltine and trash talking Raskolnikov.”
“Lists like these generally make us explain the purpose or urgency of art—like good art has some utilitarian function. And if so, that function applies directly to people trolling BuzzFeed: Top Ten Books to Read in the Recession! Top Twelve Lit Magazines with Kittehz! POETRY MAGAZINE CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGER?”
Want more? Click here to read the rest. (Spoiler alert: It features Madonna, Mitch McConnell, the Louisville Cardinals, and other such trash-talkers.)
An opinion piece: How Obamacare can survive 2014
Whether you celebrate the healthcare reform law or Obamacare news really grinds your gears, one thing’s for certain: The Affordable Care Act has a lot of hoops to jump through in 2014. From Medicaid expansion to Young Invincibles to politics, read about the six things I think must happen for Obamacare to survive 2014 in one piece and potentially thrive in the future.
In my time as a reporter at MedCity News and now as a freelance contributor, I usually research and write about the medical device industry and trends. This opinion and analysis piece which looks at politics and the wider healthcare industry, rather than medtech and its issues, was a step out for me.
Getting out of the comfort zone pushes writing and thinking. I needed that.
Hope this piece provokes you to think as well.
