Brad Marley

It's baaaaaaaaaack.

For those of you not aware of its existence, "The Weekly Grab Bag" — formerly called "The Weekly Grab Bag of Links," "The Week in Links" and "The Leek in Winks" — is a repository for the interesting stuff I read during the week.

While the topics will vary, you'll notice most of the content revolves around all forms of media (digital, print, social), productivity, public relations, technology and writing.  (But I'm not afraid to throw in something from The Onion to keep you guys honest.)

I'm not exactly sure what the reception was like in its previous incarnations, but I want to share with you what I'm reading, and this is the place to do it.

Enjoy!

• What is a 21st Century Career? (WorkAwesome) - I agree with everything here, but it alludes to the idea that we must now work outside of work. Scary.

• The Best Writing Advice. Ever. (ProBlogger) – Tips #4 and #5 are my favorite. As Guy Fieri might say: "These are money."

• High Tech, High Risk, and High Life In Silicon Valley (Modern Mechanix) – This article is from the October, 1982 issue of National Geographic. The author prophetically refers to the work done in Silicon Valley as "the oil business of the eighties."

• Rules for Writing Fiction – Part 1 & 2 (The Guardian) – I don't write fiction. But if I did, I imagine these rules would inspire me to keep going.

• Improved Productivity: A 12-Step Program (Web Worker Daily) – I've been on a productivity tips kick lately, so this post is right up my alley. It should be up yours, too.

• How to Kill Innovation: Keep Asking Questions (Harvard Business Review) - Many a good idea has gotten bogged down in the details, never to emerge from the primordial goo, so to speak. The culprit? Questions.

That's all I've got. I hope you enjoy these links.

As always, you can find most all of my links on my Delicious page.

One year ago today I started writing this blog without a firm idea of where it was headed. 

And you know what?

I still don't.

The only thing I can say, with certainty, is that I'm not famous.

But I can say some other things with certainty. 

This blog:

I'm excited this morning because I'm finally posting the first entry in what I hope becomes a regular feature on my blog: the "Five and One" series.

It's where I grill people in the communications field with five questions related to the industry, and one random question.

So, without further ado, my first guest is public relations practitioner extraordinaire and colleague, Brian Barthelmes. (On Twitter he's @bdbarth. Go follow him.)

I chose him for two reasons: 

1. He's really good at what he does and all of us in PR could stand to learn from him.

2. He sits on the other side of the cubicle wall from me in our office, so I could easily pester him to stop doing work and answer the questions.

Let's begin!

Q: Why did you decide to pursue a career in public relations?

Brian: I graduated from Michigan State University in 2000 with a degree in advertising. I was always curious about public relations, and signed up for the one and only "public relations concepts" class offered in my sophomore year. I learned two things: (1) public relations is about helping people and organizations communicate a message despite all the "clutter" around them; and (2) writing was the centerpiece of the profession. Not only did I do well in that class, but it made me want to roll up my sleeves and jump from "concepts" to "application" to really get a feel for what the field was all about. As it happened, MSU offered a specialization in public relations during my senior year, and I'm the first "enrollee" in that program. A benefit of being part of the specialization was access to a very substantive advanced writing class. From writing and perfecting a press release with a 10-minute deadline to daily AP Stylebook quizzes to an end-of-class professional portfolio project, it was that class — and the professor who taught it — that made me realize a career was for me.

Q: What is the biggest challenge facing PR practitioners in 2010?

Brian: PR professionals will continue to be challenged to leverage — and stay ahead of — the pace, manner and methods of communication in the world today. When I graduated 10 years ago, social media didn't exist, and Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn were barely visions in their creators' heads, and even the Internet was in its infancy. After having been successful in the public relations field for more than a decade, it's as though I've got to learn the practice of public relations all over again. All of us as PR professionals owe it to ourselves to roll up our sleeves, learn the social media landscape, understand its value, and be counselors to our clients looking to leverage it strategically.

Q: Why do you get out of bed in the morning?

Brian: At its basic level, PR is about helping people. The uninitiated might say we're not saving lives, but then again, maybe we are. Whether it's a recall of an unsafe product, the discovery of a harmful prescription drug or the response to the aftermath of the massive earthquake in Haiti, somewhere there are professional communicators — PR people like me — helping to tell people how to stay safe, how to help, how to get help, and how to prevent. And it's not all about communicating in a crisis. When deciding whether to pursue a career in journalism or public relations, our CEO told me and a roomful of employees that her choice was between reporting or making the news. Like her, I chose the latter, and I haven't looked back.

Q: What's one piece of advice you would give somebody who is exploring a career in PR?

Brian: Invest every minute of your time striving to be a professional who doesn't just write well, but writes well for public relations. What's the difference? The former is about adhering to the rules of grammar and usage, forming proper sentences, writing cohesively and generally following the rules. The latter is about all of that — plus writing strategically to reinforce a particular message. And when it comes to the written word, more words don't mean half as much as using the right ones strategically.

Q: What is one skill that is imperative for somebody who wants to succeed in PR?

Brian: Commit to continuing your public relations education after graduation. To keep up with the pace, manner and methods of communication, continuing education is essential. The good news is that educational resources are everywhere. Look up your local chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and take advantage of monthly luncheon events that offer the chance to network with professionals and learn from them as well. Sign up for a PRSA committee and work to line up topics that you want to learn more about. For example, I attended a "Social Media in Healthcare" panel discussion through the Detroit Chapter of PRSA last week, led my director-level social media professionals working in hospitals, physician practices and the media. It's this firsthand perspective about the challenges and opportunities associated with social media in healthcare that I'm now able to take back to my clients, which empowers me as a PR professional and a counselor to my clients.

Q: Finally, today's random question comes from Glassdoor.com's Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions Of 2009: What was your best MacGyver moment?

Brian: I once used a LARGE amount of duct tape to keep the bumper of my first car from dragging on the ground. Make no mistake, duct tape is probably the single best (and stickiest) product ever invented. Maybe the duct tape people need PR.

###

It seems every single blog I read over the holiday contained some form of new year's resolution.  Since I like to pick up fads at the tail end of their popularity, I thought now is the best time to share my resolutions.

Six of them, to be precise.

1. Be myself.

They say the hardest part about blogging is finding your voice. I've been at this for almost eleven months and there are still times when I click to publish and it looks like somebody else wrote the post. I plan to nip that in the bud in twenty ten.

2. Start watching Mad Men.

Okay. There has to be a reason why everybody I know on Facebook watches this show. Like I said above, I like grabbing onto fads as they flame out, so getting up to speed before season 4 starts should be par for the course. [Editor's note: He started watching last night.]

3. Learn how to play the guitar.

Because everybody needs one resolution they will give up halfway through the year, if not sooner.

4. Invent the first brain-to-PC thought processing software.

My best blog ideas always hit when I'm in the shower or driving to work, never when I'm sitting in front of my computer. The only way to fix this problem is if I implant something in my brain that allows me to send a blog entry back to my computer via my brain waves. Sounds simple.

5. Create "The List" with my wife.

It's a proven fact that every couple has a secret list of celebrities — usually five– that they would leave their spouse for, written jointly with the understanding that if a celeb on that list propositions your spouse, they are free to run away with no strings attached. My wife and I don't have one but it's high time we do. After all, 2010 could be the year I bump into Jenna Fischer at Trader Joe's.

6. Post at least 2x a week.

The blogging rules dictate you have to blog at least three times per week to stay relevant, but I think that's reserved for people who want to become professional bloggers (whatever that means.) I'm not here to make a living. Unless, of course, you're an agent who likes what you've read so far and you think "The Life of Brad Marley: The True Story Of a Newbie Blogger" has "blockbuster" written all over it. In that case, send me an e-mail. If not, know that I will strive to provide something twice weekly, even if I let my daughter pound the keyboard for 20 minutes.

What are your resolutions that will inevitably be broken?

Photo courtesy of Jason Tang.

In March of 2002, my then-girlfriend — who was away at school while I was toiling away at my first entry-level job – used to send me links to songs by an unfamiliar British musician named David Gray during nightly marathon instant messenger sessions.

As a rule, I didn't own any albums by emotive singer-songwriters. But as we wore out the keys on our keyboards, I was inextricably drawn to the words this singer from Liverpool put to music, and I found myself nodding in understanding at the tinny music emanating from my crappy computer speakers. 

While my girlfriend and I talked about anything and everything under the sun (or, in this case, the moon) Gray's music found a frequent spot in my playlist and eventually became the soundtrack for our relationship.

We broke up three months later.

But like that glorious, heady high smokers get when they take that first drag in the morning, I had no plans to give up the feeling I got when I listened to his music, so I fed the addiction instead of dealing with nasty withdrawals.

Today, he is still one of the handful of musicians whose new albums I buy without hesitation. And, like his music, I like to think I have matured in the last seven years. Now I have a deeper admiration for his ability to say what he wants to say without purposely convoluting the meaning to sound smarter.

While listening to his new album a few nights ago, I realized his music exemplifies everything a writer should be. And since I struggle with my writing, I thought this could be beneficial to anyone who uses words to make a living or bare their soul.

1. Be passionate. Your audience can tell when you phone it in. If you're not writing about something that stirs your very soul, it's going to come out in your words. Unless you are paid well to write refrigerator manuals, find a topic that brings out your best and write like there's no tomorrow. Your audience will come back for more.

2. Don't be afraid. Take a chance. Take an idea that is so far out of left field you're sitting in the bleachers, and devote some time to it. You might be surprised with the outcome, and find a new perspective in the process.

3. Be emotional. My favorite aspect of David Gray's music is the amount of sheer emotion he puts out. You can tell the subject matter of his songs is personal, and it comes out when he's on stage screaming and sweating and putting his all into his performance. If you can draw the reader in to your experience, you've captured one mind.

4. Be personal. I would be shocked if there isn't something in David Gray's past that informs 90 percent of his tunes. Whether it be a lost love or a long goodbye, he's drawing on it when he sings. Your upbringing and life experiences will try to sneak into your writing. Let it. That's what makes us who we are, so why should your writing lack your personality?

5. Give it your all. I know you can say this relates to all four ideas, but it does stand alone. When you're writing something — whether it's a bylined article, blog post, or personal journal entry — don't hold anything back. Writing allows us to express ourselves; our very livelihood hinges on the written word. Why would you waste it?