Get it write

As I progress in my education and subsequent jobs and activities, I’ve found that I only get busier. While I have become more adept to managing my time, I’ve realized that one area where I’m lacking is paying close attention to detail.

In our fast-paced world today, it seems that we are more often apt to lean toward quantity over quality. To-do lists get longer and longer by the minute and with texting and social media it is nearly impossible to escape from work, school or any other commitment we have. We are now reachable 24 hours a day, and while this may have its advantages, it tempts us to work around the clock.

After failing to catch some basic editing errors in some of my recent work, I got a major wake-up call: I need to slow down.

It is not uncommon for me to have to pump out a story for the Web or a press release in a relatively small amount of time, but sometimes the pressure of deadlines makes us forget to take the time to really get back to the basics, that is the target audience, key messages and readability.

Having said all this, I’ve come up with some tips for writing well—ones that I will work on following consistently and hopefully they will help you out as well!

1. Slow down. Don’t write in a rush—it will only end poorly.
   
   
2. Step away from the computer. Leave your work, literally walk away from the computer and take a break before you do a final edit.
   
   
3. Get a little help from your friends. Ask someone else to read over your work. You may know what you mean, but does it make sense to the general public?
   
   
4. Use your AP Stylebook. There are stylistic things such as states and addresses that I cannot seem to remember offhand, so it is important to keep your stylebook by your side at all times.

I'd love to hear some of your best practices for writing!

Time flies

As the time for me to schedule quickly approaches, I cannot believe how fast my time in college is going by. It is impossible for me to comprehend that, in a little over a year I will be graduating and going out into the “real world.” This is probably the scariest and most exciting time of my life.

I’m beginning to realize how little time I have left at Ohio University, and it’s bittersweet. Part of me wants to graduate and start working and doing what I love, but I’ve found a whole other family here that I’m simply not going to be ready to leave next year.

I feel like I’ve finally found my footing in college, finally figured out the balance between classes, work, extracurricular and fun, and now that I’ve figured it all out it seems that my life is in fast forward.

So, after coming to that realization, I’ve made a conscious effort to experience new things while I’m here. For my online journalism class I am working on a blog about the arts at Ohio University, and that has pushed me to talk with people I wouldn’t normally and to attend events and performances that I might not otherwise make time for. I’ve started playing the piano again (I hadn’t really learned a new song for years before now), and have taken up running, which I previously despised.

If anyone has ideas of things I need to accomplish before leaving college, I’d be more than happy to hear them!

Social media: the beginning of a new era?

I just finished reading “Facebook Era” by Clara Shih. While I would consider myself relatively knowledgeable when it comes to social media, this book opened my eyes to a lot of things I hadn’t even heard of before.

One thing I never really thought about with the advent of social media is the universality of the trend. Shih’s book is great about giving a history of social media and explaining the uses and audience for the most popular networking sites and applications.

Something else that really stuck out to me was her explanation that, while social media is criticized for taking away personal connection, it actually allows us to communicate more. Shih discusses “fringe” relationships and explains that social networking sites let us keep in touch much easier than ever before. We can connect with people we’ve only met once or twice, or maybe even never at all, with very little effort.

The most valuable lesson I took away from the book was that social media in all forms is not for everyone or every business. Shih gives awesome advice on how to figure out a social media model that works best for your company or simply the brand Y-O-U.