Silver Is Golden This Month!

9 Sep

Hey Everyone,

Just a quick note to invite you to check out Pieces this month. The topic is silver, and we writers are posting some interesting content–My first piece looks at advice from a 1933 Girl Scout Manual.

I’m slightly embarrassed by my lack of posting here. That’s partially due to work, and partially due to taking it a little easier in August. Now that we’re into September, I’m inspired by the back to schoolness of the season. It’s time to get cracking again. I’ve got a couple of writing topics that I want to explore on this blog, and I’m back posting weekdays at Your Pal, Jill. I am busy working on pitches and essays, but I do have some capacity if you need a quick article written.

Now it’s time to hit the books and make this month shine!

What’s Your Business Website Telling People?

10 Aug

Last night, some friends and I thought we were going to help a good cause.  We ended up just having dinner instead.

On July 20, one of these friends had sent us a link on Facebook:  Did we want to go to Redbones‘ annual Pig Pickin’, a benefit for the Somerville Homeless Coalition?  BBQ sounded good to us, so we made plans based off of the link she sent.  Pig Pickin’, August 9, $20/person.  Fantastic!

Except that we had the wrong date because we’d been looking at the wrong press release.  When my friend Googled the event, the first result that came up at the time was a press release from 2004.  She didn’t notice the release date in the upper left hand corner–none of us did–and the body of the release didn’t include the year.

I didn’t notice this until I dialed up the restaurant’s site to get directions.  The events page had pictures from the Pig Pickin’, and after some quick digging, I discovered that we’d missed the event by a week.  That’s when I saw the 2004 on the press release.

We missed the event and the opportunity to help a non-profit because of misinformation.  Keeping a website current can be one of the toughest marketing problems a company has to deal with.  This is especially difficult for small businesses and organizations that are strapped for time and money.  A website is a must-have for a business, but it takes a surprising amount of time to post new information and make sure the old information is gone.  However, if you don’t invest that time (or money, if you choose to farm out the work), you risk losing business–or like in this case, a non-profit lost out on some donations.

I have a client who uses my services to help keep its website current.  Some months are more demanding than others, but it’s all work that the client just doesn’t have time to do in-house.  My client’s website is now more current, which helps it maintain a steady stream of valid information for its target audience.

Should you need help with the information on your business’ website, please contact me at jilljaracz AT yahoo DOT com.  I can evaluate your needs and set up a workable and affordable plan to help maintain your online message.

Laundry Haiku

23 Jul

ball of fitted sheet

wet clothes trapped inside of you

run dryer again

Linked!

14 Jul

Even though my name is out there on the Internet, I’m still amazed when my name comes up in my Google Alert on “Jaracz” when the link isn’t something I’ve written.  I’m used to seeing my brother, someone who posts pictures of their child, the woman engaged to Drew Carey, and the leader of the Jehovah’s Witness organization who recently passed away.

However, I recently popped up on Google as part of an article on Wall Street Pit.  Writer Larry M. Elkin referred to an article I wrote about Alcoa and the company’s tradition of being the first to report quarterly earnings. I wrote this article for Pieces, an online zine that explores everyday materials (this month:  aramids!  Check it out!).  One reason I love writing for Pieces is that it stretches my imagination.  The writers have to brainstorm ideas about a random substance, and I love the challenge of coming up with interesting articles that can twist on the theme.

When my editor assigned aluminum, I instantly thought about Alcoa and their quarterly earnings tradition.  I used to work in a research library at a consulting firm, and quarterly earnings were a big deal to my clients, the consultants.  One time I had a long list of companies, whose earnings I had to distribute AS SOON as they came out.  Not every company was kind enough to list a specific time when they’d release their info.  Often you got a vague “before market opens” or “after market closes.”

“Before market opens” can be pretty early, and there were quite a few early mornings for me that earnings season.  Get out of bed around 5 AM, monitor the earnings, catch a cat nap, monitor them again, repeat cycle as necessary, distribute earnings, shower, and go to work.  I always knew when my earnings monitoring would be important, and that was when Alcoa made their earnings announcement. I’d always wanted to know why Alcoa released everything so early (compared to other companies–when you’re waiting for companies to release their earnings, and it takes over a month for them to do so, you start getting impatient). It was nice to have the chance to get to the bottom of that question.

My Stuff

11 Jul

I’ve been catching up on reading my stack of Vanity Fair magazines.  Whenever I blitz through a large amount of one title–be it a book series, a TV show, or a magazine–I start thinking in the style of that title.  A “Mad Men” marathon makes me want to have a cocktail and act like a proper lady of the 60s. A few Jen Lancaster essays bring out the funny in me.  Several issues of Vanity Fair have me thinking about “My Stuff.”

The “My Stuff” column/feature in the front section of Vanity Fair features some creative–usually one behind the scenes, a stylist, designer, etc., and it lists out the brands they own in different categories.  To what end, I’m not exactly sure–you see the things that inspire these people?  If you buy these brands, you too can be a creative?  The rich and successful also buy some mass market brands, which means you’re just like them?  You, Jill, should run to Kiehl’s and buy some product?  You know you want to!

At any rate, after I read a few of these, I usually think about My Stuff and how it compares to the person’s featured.  I thought it might be fun to list it out for you.  Vanity Fair–feel free to drop me a line whenever you want to show the inspirational stuff of a “successful” (depending on your definition of the word) writer.

My Stuff:  Jill Jaracz

A recent transplant to the Boston area, Jill Jaracz is one of the many working writers you’ve never heard of.  Her successful career as a full-time writer began in 2008 when her husband encouraged her to quit her research job and follow her passion.  She’s making a respectable go of it and now enjoys writing about consumer goods and travel, among other topics.  Herewith, her favorite things…

GROOMING PRODUCTS

SHAMPOO:  Goldwell Dual Senses

MOISTURIZER:  Curel

TOOTHPASTE:  Sensodyne Pronamel

SOAP:  Zest/hotel shower gel

HAIR PRODUCTS:  Redken spray mousse, White Rain hair spray.

HOME

WHERE DO YOU LIVE:  Boston area

FAVORITE ARTIST:  Georges Seurat

SHEETS:  Marshall Field’s Field Gear (R.I.P., Field’s!)

LUGGAGE:  This awesome orange rolling suitcase I got at a Japanese discount store, L.L. Bean, American Tourister

STATIONERY:  Papyrus, some Domo-kun self-mailers

STEMWARE:  Crate & Barrel

CHINA:  Lenox Federal Cobalt

FAVORITE GADGET:  iPod

CAR:  2010 Ford Focus

FAVORITE COCKTAIL:  Rum Sidecar, Fitzgerald, Gin Rickey

FAVORITE SNACK:  Salty:  Tortilla chips (preferably El Milagro), potato chips (Jay’s ruffled).  Sweet:  Chocolate cake with buttercream icing, chocolate chip cookies.

CLOTHES

JEANS:  Eddie Bauer

LINGERIE:  Hanes, Victoria’s Secret, Target’s brand

SNEAKERS:  Brooks Adrenaline

DRESS SHOES:  Oh, I need a pair

T-SHIRT:  American Apparel, 5K race t-shirts

DAY DRESS:  Um……

EVENING DRESS:   Usually pants

DAY BAG:  Some cheap black thing

EVENING BAG:  Kate Spade that I won in a contest.

FAVORITE DESIGNER:  Calvin Klein

JEWELRY YOU NEVER TAKE OFF:  Wedding rings and watch

SUNGLASSES:  Walgreen’s

INSPIRATIONS

FAVORITE DISCOVERY:  Nacional 27′s cocktails in Chicago; a fitness trail in Tokyo

WHO INSPIRES YOU:  Funny people, and a great roller derby officiating team

NECESSARY EXTRAVAGANCE:  Travel and good cocktails

FAVORITE MOVIE:  Tootsie

FAVORITE HOTEL:  Mitsui Garden Hotel, Ginza in Tokyo

FAVORITE CHARITY:  Heifer Project

FAVORITE PLACE IN THE WORLD:  Wherever the Boy and I go

FAVORITE PEN:  I have a nice Waterman, but I’m also quite partial to Pilot ball points, and some freebie ball points I’ve picked up along the way.

Where Does the Time Go?

5 Jun

It’s Friday, about 8PM Eastern time.  I’ve just finished working for the week.  It doesn’t seem right–some people who work in offices have summer hours, and boy, would I love to get on that schedule (with the Friday afternoon portion devoted to reading and being a little creative so that I can work on personal projects).

However, sometimes deadlines get in the way. I’ve been working on the newest edition of the E. 10th Street Civic Association’s e-newsletter, and hopefully it’ll drop next week.  The corridor that the association helps to develop is undergoing a bit of change–some renovation’s been going on at a few businesses, and construction will soon start to redevelop the streetscape.  It’s an exciting time for this area of Indianapolis, and hopefully these changes will help revitalize it.

When it’s time for me to work on the newsletter, I think I spent more time tweaking rather than actually doing the information gathering and writing.  The MailChimp software we use is pretty cool and puts out a nice product, but making it look good takes a lot of effort.  I always appreciate the work of graphic designers around this time and how it’s not so easy to “just whip something up.”  Making it look good and doing it right are really important, so I will tweak until it looks good.

I’ll soon be appreciating the work of web designers a little more too.  I also update the Civic Association’s website, and that also involves a lot of tinkering, a lot of making sure you get the code right.  One unclosed bracket, and suddenly something doesn’t look good. I’ll be making some updates to the site over the next few days, and I hope they turn out well.

I’ve been meaning to blog here a little more than I have–I want to play around a little bit with some writing, but time’s not been on my side.  Hopefully that’ll change soon.

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Putting the Pieces Together

21 May

One gig I’ve had for a little over a year is for an online magazine called Pieces. Each month, Pieces looks at a different everyday material and features articles about that material.  I love writing for this publication because it makes me stretch my brain to come up with creative ideas.  For “Cotton” I wrote about the Cotton Bowl, for “Magnets” I wrote about the Magna Doodle toy, that kind of thing.

Pieces had been dormant for a couple of months, but editor Jasmine Green has redesigned the site and the publishing schedule.  Now it’s going to be updated almost every day of the week, with a different category featured every day.  I’ll be taking care of the travel segment, so I’m looking forward to researching and exploring different places around the world!

Welcome to my New Site

17 May

My writing career has gotten to the stage where I feel like I should have my own name domain.  Here I’ll talk about what I’m doing professionally, and I’ll also probably write about life and other topics that don’t fit in with the letter-writing theme of my other blog, “Your Pal, Jill.”

Thanks for stopping by, and if you’d like to hire me, please drop me a line!

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