Learn how every word matters online and get dollars off

February 3 – 4, 2012 Kennesaw State University

Laura McGrath and I will be leading a workshop “Words that Work Online” at SoCon12. Use 15% discount code: CSJ15 http://socon12.com/agenda. SoCon12 is a 6-year old endeavor that calls itself an “UN-conference.” One of  the tag lines is SO CONNECTED but it really stands for Social Media Conference. The Web site suggests,  SoCon12 will undoubtedly offer insightful takeaways for everyone – from small business owners and journalists to CEOs and marketing professionals.”

Part of the Center for Sustainable Journalism in the KSU College of Humanities and Social Sciences, this group discovers new ways to connect with the community.Their mission is to ensure that high quality, ethically sound journalism continues to have a vibrant place in our democracy. A noble goal backed up by events like SoCon. 

Dr. Laura McGrath and I will suggest using words thoughtfully in the digital environment can translate into subscribers, tweets, mentions, and likes. Words that Work Online will help you get your message, merchandise, and mission to the right audience. This workshop is about helping you get your words out – where ever you want them to be.

Check back for a jam-packed resource page and notes from the workshop. Visit Digital Writing Resources.

Create, Connect, Collaborate: Web Words that Work Online
Saturday, February 4, 2012
KSU Social Sciences Building
Register for SocCon12
GET A 15% Discount by using this code when you register:
CSJ15
SoCon12

 

One Powerful Way to Make Your Online Writing Jump

Fish Out of Screen

Digital writing that jumps at your audience.

 

Thousands of messages attack your potential readers every day. With every email, every search, every billboard – your target audience is assaulted. People are tired of everyone screaming at them for 30 seconds of attention. How can you rise above the noise and reach your audience? Speak softly and connect heart to heart.

My wise mentor once told me if I only wanted to reach someone’s head, then write from my head. However, if I wanted to touch a life – speak to the heart. To speak to the heart, you have to write from the heart. Tell your story. Here is my short story to begin 2012.

I have never enjoyed a two-week break from work more than I have this year. I left my office on December 16th and will return next week. I usually work myself to exhaustion on my time off with home projects, left-over work, or freelance work. I always  have another writing project for my Masters degree to finish, but this year – I just did nothing. This so against my strong work ethic that I struggled with guilt, but I needed the rest from everything work, academic, or home related. Almost time to go back to work and I feel – ready. My thoughts are clear and I see what I was missing.

Part of my need for rest is that this spring semester at KSU is going to be a busy one. I am working on my last phase of my Masters thesis (my practicum capstone). In addition to writing about what I am doing, I have to lead three workshops as part of my capstone. It is stressful and exhilating at the time. In addition to my normal workload, I do freelance work as a marketer/consultant.  I tend to go full-steam ahead into any project and that leads to a heavy workload. The thing that suffers is my own writing.

I was reading about online writing and digital rhetoric – the subject of my research, writing, and workshops this spring and it hit me. I am not even practicing what I am writing about – that is writing in the digital environment. How can I speak to this with authority unless I am working at it everyday? I had abandoned this blog. So, I decided to start 2012 doing what I spend so much time thinking and talking about – how to write better online. I want to share what I have been learning about using words that jump out of the computer screen and into my reader’s heart. One of the most powerful ways to do this is to tell a story. The most authentic story is your own. This blog is my story.

New Site – New Vision

Welcome.

I am renovating my website to reflect the work I am doing in digital writing. Please bookmark this page or better yet, send me an email and let me know what you would like to know about online writing and how to get your words out to clients. If you an an author, I can give you ideas on how to connect with your audience. Sign up for my eNews and I will not bother you only to remind you to read today’s post.

An interesting story on my Kindle Daily News stated that online writing was at very low quality. I do not claim to be “The Grammar Girl, ” I will leave that to Mignon Fogerty. I do, however, want to share what I am learning about writing well online.  Everything changes every day with rapid fluidity, but good writing is bedrock. I am working on a series of workshops tentatively called Digital Wisdom: Writing Across the Web. I plan on writing reviews and making suggestions to anyone who is interested in using absolute authentic and reliable Web writing techniques.

Any good teacher is always a student. I am always learning and trying new things. I have a great job where I can experiment with new marketing and online tools to grow the membership of Georgia Writers Association. Learn more about GWA and all of our productive Second Saturday Workshops, the Red Clay Writers Conferences and our new Publishers, Agents & Media Institute by visiting our homepage at www.georgiawriters.org. Learning and connecting are the essential elements of Georgia Writers Association.

Until I get the content loaded onto this site, please enjoy my bookshelf and my research blog: Writing on Purpose.

See you soon,

 

Lisa M. Russell