It’s Halloween…one of my (Mary Kay’s) favorite holidays. Don’t ask me why, but I’ve always loved it (and it’s not just about the treats, honest). But now that I’m all grown up and going trick or treating would probably be frowned upon, I do have a question. Where’s our candy.

Mary Kay, the “Blog Queen,” here (again).

Our office is pretty much like any other. We come to work. If it’s a Monday (like today), we exchange a few pleasantries about how our weekends went. Then we get down to work, in our case, writing copy. Actually, in our case, writing great copy.

We work hard, we bat ideas and strategies back and forth, we produce. Sometimes–again being like other workplaces–our computers go down. This, I believe, is where we may differ.

Everyone–and I mean everyone–from dentists to dry cleaners to doggie daycares have websites or blogs or both or–at a minimum–use computers for customer information and billing. Blog-wise, 40,000 new ones pop up each day. Website-wise, there are so many, I’ve lost count.

The point is, we all depend on computers…including us here at Get It In Writing. So when the machines rebel (or is it revolt?), what’s a body to do? For many, a computer crash is a great excuse to take a reeeeaalllly looong break. You may hear phrases like “The computer went down, so I couldn’t work,” echoing throughout offices.

Here’s an idea. Think! What? Think! Remember that…when you stop typing or looking up information on the Internet long enough to…well…engage your noodle? That’s when you stop doing what you’re doing long enough to sit and quietly reflect and come up with fresh ideas about the project at hand. Sometimes, in our case, if all the computers are down or even if they’re working, we stop and engage in a group think. We exchange thoughts and ideas, and if the machines have rebelled, we write things down on paper. What? Paper! Yes, we use a pencil or pen and write ideas on a sheet of paper.

Often, when we quit depending on the machines and turn on our creativity…that’s when the really innovative ideas emerge.

So take that, Machines!!!

Get It In Writing is made up of a team of professional copywriters — moi being the eldest. Again, please note that this is being written by Mary Kay, NOT Allison, our president and chief copywriter. She — Allison — is a child of the information age, whereas I come from an era where I began editing on long galley sheets, marking changes with old, classic editorial marks using a blue pencil. And if an error was found that had been made by the printer, I had a rubber stamp that indicated “Printer’s Error” in big, bold, red letters. This was a not-so-subtle indication that we, the customer, did not intend to pay for corrections to mistakes that the printer had made.

Please note: This is being written by Mary Kay — not Allison, our “top banana,” — so the ideas put forth herein do not necessarily reflect those of the big cheese. Why do I keep using food analogies? Maybe because it’s lunch time.

Recently, a male friend asked me this seemingly-innocent question:
“So, do you work five days a week or do you work part-time?”
I answered him that this is a question that only a man would ask a woman, assuming that he was assuming that a woman with a family couldn’t work full time. I mean, would a woman ever ask a man this question?