On Words and Business

So…I don’t suffer too much from what a lot of people call writer’s block–staring at a blank screen or piece of paper, with no idea what to write on it.

The way my process works means that I start with the organization–writing an outline, culling from my notes to create a very rough draft, that kind of thing. So by the time I’m smithing any words, there’s already something on the page, already some sort of structure imposed. It may not be great and it may all change, a little or lot, before the final draft. But I’ve got something written and that’s all I need to get started.

If I get a block of any kind, it comes at the organization stage. A certain large project is currently stalled for a very odd reason: All the files are misnamed (there was a slight change in the project that necessitates renaming). Seriously. I could deal with it later–write all the content now and rename the files at the end, since the outline, content, and the like hasn’t changed. But I don’t. And I just finally figured out that that’s the main reason I’ve been stalling.

Good fact to know for future. That’s my writers block, I guess. Now…I’m off to rename the files. That cannot be, after all, a very difficult challenge.

This swine flu outbreak is an emerging story and all over the news. And certainly the total effect can’t be known yet. But let’s face it…we’re all much more at risk for the regular variety of flu. Yet rarely does anyone other than public health professionals get up in arms about it.

We humans are pretty bad at assessing true risk, since the more familiar we are with something (like the regular old flu) the less threatening it seems. And the more unusual the event (swine or avian for example), the riskier and scarier it seems, even if it isn’t truly more dangerous.

So as a news story (versus a personal or virological one) this is an interesting case. How can the media describe it and assign it the right amount of urgency, without tripping our fear response?

Any thoughts?

50 years old today!

Read about it on NPR…

Heard on the radio this morning, regarding the victims of the earthquake in Italy…

“…chocolate eggs were distributed to the children supplied by the Pope.”

It was an apparently well-kept secret that the Pope keeps a supply of children to share with victims of disasters.

Here’s a lesson in providing the right amount and type of information…

This morning I called the weather, for the obvious reason–to get the temperature and general weather conditions. I got the latter, plus yesterday’s temperature and how it related to the average temperature on April 1, the marine forecast, and tomorrow’s predicted weather. The one thing they never said was the temperature. To be fair, they usually do. But not this morning. It really is a key piece of information to be imparted and should be the first thing they say. Don’t you think that’s a major reason people call this number?

Since I didn’t get what I needed (I called a second time, in case I’d spaced out for the moment they gave the temp), I called the phone number for time (hours and minutes, not the magazine). No matter what, they always give you exactly what it was you thought you’d get when you called. No comparisons to what the time is supposed to be, how it compares to the average time, or how time is effected by your altitude and the pull of gravity. Just the facts. Plus…they give you the temperature. It’s a little extra add on that today especially I appreciate.