Aug 15, 2011
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September 2011 will be a challenge for thousands of area families, as rising gas and food prices leave little for children’s school supplies. Several area businesses want to ensure that local public school students and kindergartners have the materials they need to do their best.
“Success in school is often linked to success as an adult, and having the right tools is vital to success,” says Knights Inn owner and Williamsburg City Councilman Doug Pons. “We want to make sure the first day of school is exciting for every local child.”
This year’s school supply drive is nicknamed “Fill the Room,” because the Knights Inn Williamsburg Busch Gardens Area (620 York Street) has emptied a guest room to fill with school supplies. Cosponsors of the drive are Basecamp Productions and Helen’s Place Photography. (more…)
Aug 7, 2011
I get this question a lot.
And I find the answer is a lot like those for “What do I need to be a video (or film) writer?”
- Great vocabulary
- Great writing skills
- Economical writing
- Ability to write to visuals
- Key word savvyness
- Compelling writing (you need to get readers off of the home page! And, the most important!
- A willingness (nay, furious need) to rewrite
Can everyone become a web writer? No. It’s just the way the world works. We can’t all be rocket scientists, either.
If you’re writing your own web copy, and you’ve never been paid to write, chances are you’re fouling things up. Writers are trained to be objective, and if you’re running a company and doing your own web writing, you’re not objective.
Something else you need to be a web writer: stamina when quoting your prices. $25 an hour is not enough, no matter where you live. $50 — phooey. Don’t you deserve to make at least as much as your plumber?
My prices begin at $100 an hour and go as high as $150, depending on complexity, research, and a few other factors.
If I could go through the rest of my life, subsidized, I would spend my time letting people know that writing is a skill much more subtle than construction, or banking, or even lawyering. People need to spend years learning it, and even then they will spend the rest of their lives working at it. That’s the challenge and appeal of writing — every task is different and fascinating.
Can’t say that about plumbing, either.
Jul 9, 2011
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You have to make people care. No big surprise.
But you can’t make people care about your organization. Organizations are made of brick and wood. (more…)
