Maine Creative Services

In my previous post I had a mild rant about waiving tolls on the Maine Turnpike. But our neighbor to the South, New Hampshire, just pulled a toll increase — without raising prices. Huh? How?

New Hampshire no longer accepts its own tokens for tolls. Now riders have to pay a buck each way, instead of the 50 cents (or so) the tokens ended up costing. Bottom line: about a 100% increase in the cost.

BTW, for those of you from away, New Hampshire’s little stretch of I-95 is only about 15 miles long. A buck to ride 15 miles of pavement!

I’ve been throwing my pocket change in a jar on my dresser since I was a kid. It’s a pretty painless way to save, but it also means you often don’t have the three cents you inevitably need when the coffee barista brings your double latte. Many convenience stores and small markets have a penny tray for your convenience, but not everyone.

Seth Godin writes about an acquaintence:

He stopped at the Cinnabon in Penn Station and his treat came to $3.03 with tax. Now, he has to hassle looking for change, or break a bill, and the store has to hassle with breaking the bill and shlepping lots of pennies to and from the bank. In the long run, they may even need to hire another clerk because productivity is hit.

Seth’s suggested solution:

“… they should teach their clerks to always round off the pennies. So if a check comes to $5.05, the clerk says, “don’t worry about the nickel.” Don’t worry about the nickel! Can you imagine? Would that make your day or what? A little free prize that makes you feel way better…”

Great idea, Seth. I think the state of Maine’s Turnpike Authority should do something similar on summer Sunday afternoons. It would conserve fuel, reduce air pollution and be great PR for the state — and for a greedy bureaucracy.

Every Sunday during the summer, thousands of cars slow to a crawl to pay their tolls when leaving Maine. Sometimes the backup is 10-15 miles long and lasts an hour or more. I’ve been saying for years the state ought to just waive the tolls and let the tourists leave without having to shell out another $1.75. Getting a little freebie like that would leave ’em smiling, and remembering the last moments of their vacation as very happy ones.

Instead, what do you think the Maine Turnpike Authority did?

Of course. They added more toll booths…

Tom McKay
Fumbling for change

A good pithy quotation by some wise man or woman is like a ripe peach: sensuous, juicy, overflowing with good stuff.

God, I love peaches — I mean, quotes. (Well, both actually.)

I’ve been collecting great quotes for years, and have a file filled with thousands of them.

I’m also going to start sharing more of my favorites with you. Here’s one of my all-time faves from George Bernard Shaw:

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.”

In this high-stress world, we all need to remember to keep things light, to take time for fun, and not to take everything (especially ourselves) so seriously. Hey, that reminds me of a similar quote:

“Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.”

What are your favorites? Post them in a comment so we can all enjoy them.

What is it about lists that are so darn appealing? People just love ’em — numbered lists, bulleted lists, grocery lists (OK, never mind that last one).

Personally, I know I was finally able to unblock myself and start writing magazine articles when I discovered the list format years ago. Somehow an article titled “Six Ways to Save for Retirement” was easier (for me anyway) than just a vague, amorphous piece about retirement saving.

Darren Rowse of ProBlogger has some theories about why lists are so loved:

1. Lists are scannable – online readers are notoriously lazy. A list helps communicate a number of points quickly and easily
2. Lists keep posts succinct – there is something about a list that keeps you from rambling
3. Lists look ‘neat’ – I don’t know about you but when I surf onto a site that is full of messily formatted text – I don’t tend to stick around long. Lists on the other hand can be quite visually pleasing
4. Lists are easy to link to
5. Lists can be comprehensive
6. Lists are persuasive – if you want to mount a case for something quickly presenting numerous arguments in a list can be quite convincing
7. Lists can add to the ease of writing – I like writing in lists because they break down my thoughts into bite sized pieces which is good not only for readers but me as a writer as I consider how to express myself (Tom adds: amen!)

Read Darren’s entire post here.

When I started using lists as the core of my articles, they had more direction, better focus, higher energy. As a bonus, I finished a lot faster, too.

Try it yourself for your blog posts — or any other kind of business writing.

Afterthought: A list isn’t an excuse to be shallow, of course. As a Maine fisherman would say, you still have to give good weight.

Most of us struggle to write well. Irish PR practitioner Piaras Kelly has posted 12 excellent tips that may help you write for your blog — or any other business writing.

You may not agree with all twelve. Maybe they don’t reflect your personal writing style. But most are solid advice no matter what you’re writing — memos, reports, articles, powerpoint presentations, etc.

A few guidelines that can be broadly applied (beyond blogs) are:

• Use catchy titles (works with powerpoint slides, too.)
• Be unique
• Credit your sources
• Think before you write/post
• Stay on topic

Thanks Darren for the link.

Do you enjoy audio books? Want to get some for free? Would you like to narrate a few, too? Here’s a great opportunity for you.

LibriVox creates and distributes free audios from books which are in the public domain — meaning no Harry Potter, sorry. In fact, most will be novels from the early 20th century and before– Joseph Conrad is on the current hitlist.

It’s an open source project, so they depend on volunteers like you to record a chapter or two at a time. Great practice for you budding podcasters out there. Sounds like a worthy project to support.

Personally, I used to enjoy audio books when I was more of a road warrior. Nowadays I work at home, so obviously I don’t have a long commute. Also, I read mostly business books now, and for me reading/ skimming the print versions is not only faster, but I retain a lot more. With print, it’s also easier to go back and re-read something, slap a post-it note on the page, or whip out the old highlighter.

I remember trying to listen to the cluetrain manifesto and a few of Seth Godin’s books on CD, but I just didn’t get as much out of the audio versions. My mind wanders. Besides, I know from my days on the radio you can “speak” only 200-250 words a minute, but I can read 800 or so when I’m in the groove.

But I digress. If you like audio books (and would like them even better for free), check out LibriVox. Their hit counter is probably going wild, since they just got links from boing boing, delicious and lifehacker.

Sure, you and I may be convinced of the value of blogs. But it’s hard to come up with a quick, convincing answer when other people ask, “Why bother blogging?”

Well, now we don’t have to — Rich Brooks has created one for us. Rich, who’s a regular contributor to Business Blog Consulting, has posted an excellent introduction to blogging on his company blog.

It very concisely answers those pesky Big Questions that bosses, clients and other purse-string holders ask. Like:

What are the benefits?
What’s required?
How do I start?

Check it out. The effort you save may be your own…