Rants, Opinions, and Overall Observations

A New Adventure: Tee Morris on YouTube

Hey, everyone. How’s it going?

I know, I know — I was doing really well in blogging for a change . . . up to February 20. 2020. So, what happened?

The week after my last blogpost, I was downsized at my place of work.
The week after being downsized, I went off to the Smoky Writers Retreat: The Beach Edition.
The week after the retreat, COVID-19 officially shut down the U.S.
Two months after this, Discord for Dummies hit the shelves.
Two months after this, the second edition of Social Media for Writers hit the shelves.
Two months after this, I ran my first half marathon in four years.
Two months after this, the fourth edition of Podcasting for Dummies hit the shelves.

4 Signs an Interview Has Gone South

I know, I know…I went through the month of November without a blog post; but Iâ€™m back with a super-sized entry rivaling the amount of food you may have enjoyed this past Thanksgiving. So, buckle up. This oneâ€™s a wild ride, to be sure.

Part of the reason Iâ€™ve been quiet here is on account of my current job hunt. Job hunting is never pleasant. Thereâ€™s a lot of stress involved in making sure the resume is up to par, the cover letter captures both briefly and succinctly who you are, and when the interview happens, you present the best representation of yourself. Itâ€™s a bit like dating, only thereâ€™s a steady paycheck, medical benefits, and a 401K plan involved.

And if the latter is involved when youâ€™re dating, youâ€™re seriously working too hard at this dating thing.

But I digressâ€¦

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The Importance of Asking Questions (or Yes, ANOTHER Blogpost about Research)

So this week I head off to the 2019 James River Writer’s Conference in my hometown of Richmond, Virginia. (I’ll post my finalized schedule before Friday, promise…) It got me thinking about how there is going to be a lot of writerly advice given at this event, which is fantastic if you are looking to launch a career in storytelling, reboot your authorial pursuits, or take yourself in an entirely new direction with your word-herding.

Thing is, even when you are hearing from the experts, it’s never a bad idea to ask questions.

You see, an author lamenting over her unexpected twists and turns in the publishing industry really hit me in the feelz. I mean it â€” I felt for this author who was coming clean in this hardcore Medium Mea Culpa as success, much like Shakespeare described it in Twelfth Night, had been thrust upon this author.

But then, she said thisâ€¦

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Embracing the Dummie in Me

â€œWhy would we need you? There are no dummies here.â€

The year is 2006 and I had just wrapped for the day presenting at a conference, recording interviews for a client, and giving a seminar on the potential of podcasting. One of the things I had talked about at length was the podcasting community â€” really cool people who loved talking shop, meeting other podcasters, and making connections.

Then I met the charming fellow quoted at the beginning of this blogpost.

What had caught my eye was a sandwich board pointing to a podcasting class being taught at a different event in the conference center. I was always excited to connect with others and see what their approach to podcasting was, so I swung by the classroom to make a quick introduction.

My introduction did not go well. At all.

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The Art of Reading a Room

â€œWhat advice would you have for someone who wants to write professionally?â€ is a pretty tall order. Itâ€™s a question that, while I love answering it, remains one of the toughest to answer because you are being asked for that â€œOne Ringâ€ kind of answer. Whatâ€™s the one takeaway you want people to have after meeting you? Well, apart from buying my latest book, thereâ€™s no one thing that makes an aspiring author a success. A lot goes into building a professional writing career.

But one thing Iâ€™ve rarely, if ever, hear an author offer for advice is this: Learn how to read a room.

If you want to see a really good dramatization of this, watch the Amazon Prime movie, Late Night. Itâ€™s a terrific watch for many reasons (like you need any reasons beyond Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson) but one scene in particular is a masterclass in how to read a room. At a stand-up comedy cancer benefit, late night talk show legend Katherine Newberry (Emma Thompson) takes the stage in an impromptu stand up set, and she is bombing. You watch Newberry look the length of the audience; and the camera switches angles, looking at the world from her perspective. She takes a moment and changes her â€œopinions on this wacky worldâ€ approach to self-deprecating comedy, a change that not only helps her recover gracefully but also makes a connection between her and the audience.

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If Social Media Is So Easy, Why Is It So Hard?

Iâ€™m a little worried if Iâ€™m a canary and the people I work for are running a coal mine.

Let me explainâ€¦

Recently, I accepted an opportunity where the clientâ€™s entirety of a social media strategy was Twitter and a blog, both posting updates when time allowed. (In other words, infrequently.) I was asked to not only work with the tools given, but build on them and make something better, provided the resources were free. While I was thereâ€¦

Twitter went from occasional updates to three tweets a day, on average. The content included news stories, promotions over upcoming events, and special tweets featuring the client front and center.
A new LinkedIn page launched, reaching a completely new audience from Twitter, also posting two-to-four updates throughout the day.
On the dates of special events, both platforms would host images, quotes, and, if possible, video.
Video, a medium completely new to this client, had reached enough demand for a Vimeo channel to launch.
The clientâ€™s blog went from â€œa post when time allowedâ€ to a managed editorial calendar, offering original weekly content.

After a lot of positive feedback and encouragement during my stay, I was told by my superiors they wanted a fresh start and new perspective on their digital strategy. Yep, I had been replaced. I respected their decision, left behind a detailed Communications plan (which included a look ahead to what I was planning), and hoped their new social media manager would take their digital presence to higher levels.

Within a monthâ€¦

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