May 2009 Shining Short Summaries Challenge - Who's In?

[eek]

It's a good idea, Celeste, because it's a great strategy that would help all of us. We all have different strengths and experiences, and perhaps we could throw out ideas for public requests that we might not be using, which is the subject of another thread somewhere in this forum.

Another idea that maybe we could use in the future is to work on titles. I spend a lot of time on them, but sometimes the one I eventually choose still doesn't feel right. Even with Evan's help (husband, editor) it's not easy. If anyone else likes the title idea, we can shelve it for another month. And if we do that, it would be helpful if Ed and authors offered tips in the thread for creating a catchy, clear title.

Emma

[BarryDavidson]

Emma,

Not that long ago I has a customer who asked for several titles with each article so that he could choose one if the name he'd sent me just wasn't right. I don't suggest doing this for every article you submit, but if the article will appeal to several different groups, suggest more than one article. I mean, you wouldn't name an article "Democrats Suck" if you were writing for a balanced media source. You'd name it something like "Democrat Party's Core Beliefs May be too Liberal for Americans".

Think of an article name which catches your eye, and then try to think of one which would catch the eye of someone with opposing views.

[eek]

Yeah, we did that once for a private request when Evan & I couldn't decide between several "good" titles. That's a good point about the audience. For private or public requests that would work better, since you know more about the audience. But you're right, we are not limited to using generic titles just because we don't know who will want it. We could use something more narrow in hopes that the slant will appeal to someone, as long as the title reflects the true nature of the article. That's what titles are all about, after all, summarizing in a few words what you're trying to say, and making it appealing while using terms that might be search-worthy.

[Celeste Stewart]

I like focusing on titles, too. Okay: creative approaches to run-of-the-mill topics or terrific titles? Challengers, think about it and weigh in. Both sound fun! We'll do the one with the most votes in June and consider the other one for July.

[eek]

Sorry, Celeste, I didn't mean to start a contest. :) I'm happy with either one. I'm shutting down for the long weekend now and will check back here on Tuesday.
Happy Memorial Day, everyone (fellow Americans, and anyone else who would like to take a holiday on the 25th)!
emma

[HayleyWriter]

Both ideas are great. You may have to go to the universal decision maker on this one Celeste, or in other words, flip a coin, to see which one goes first. I'm glad we'll do both challenges anyway. I spent a lot of time on my titles already. When I first started almost every article was entitled: "How to xxxx", but I'm trying to be more creative now. Still, some thoughts on what makes a terrific title will certainly help. I also love the idea of finding the alternative angle on something - may give you two articles instead of one! My vote is ... universal decision maker!

Hayley

[Celeste Stewart]

Wow, new title for me. We still have a week or so, so I'll let the ideas simmer and see what everyone else thinks. Besides, we don't need an official challenge to do either :)

Happy Memorial Day! I'm hoping to step away from the computer myself this weekend.

[BarryDavidson]

My new house only has access to dialup or sattelite. Sattelite is actually slower than dialup if you hit the threshold download limit for a day. Can you believe that for the same cost at 10mbps cable with no limits, a sattelite provider will cut you off at about 425mb daily download limit. They call it the "Fair Usage Policy" which is some crap they came up with to "discourage" people from downloading movies and music.

Sorry, I'm running off at the mouth again. I'll be incognito for the weekend as well.