I'm Lisa Taylor, an integrated copywriter of all sorts of stuff. Except vanity license plates. I just don't get the appeal.
Please wait while my tweets load 
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
Cover letters, nails, and my rejection letter from the office of Edward Boches.
The Cover Letter Customizer, a self-promotion website I created with some awesome friends was nominated for a Webby. I’ve been reaching out to everyone I know (as well as those I don’t) in order to gain some votes for the People’s Voice portion of the Awards. I’ve had some success, but not enough. As of this posting, I’m in last place.
I prefer to think I’m still getting votes. It’s just that the other sites are getting more. And it’s been a fun ride, having people comment about the site and share it. Honestly, its intent was never to get the most shares. It was always meant to be a lead generation tool. If additional people liked it enough to share, bonus!
Anyway, being in last place happens to us all. Everyone gets rejected at some point. In Stephen King’s book, On Writing, he had a special place for his numerous rejection letters. A nail on his wall:
As for me, thirteen years ago I interviewed to be Edward Boches’s assistant at Mullen. At the time, I wanted to be a copywriter, but didn’t think ad school was a fit for many reasons. Being a creative assistant at a national “hot shop” that happened to be local seemed more appropriate. Plus, it wouldn’t require another student loan. However, it wasn’t meant to be.
Below is the polite rejection letter I received from the recently-promoted assistant, Janet Mansfield. I smudged out the address out of courtesy to my parents. Yes, that’s right. I was a college graduate who lived at home. Awesome.
Despite the indignity, I saved the letter. I knew I wasn’t going to give up and that one day it would be funny. You know what? It is. And not just because of the amusingly old-school logo.
While that assistant position wasn’t for me, another one eventually was. I pulled together a sad excuse for a book and eventually became a copywriter. Years later I freelanced at Mullen and I can say from experience that the Wenham cafeteria was awesome, particularly the scones. They made killer scones.
The Webby voting ends in two days on April 26th. I’m still going to fight my way out of last place. (Vote here, people!) If I happen to end up there, I’m just going to nail the rejection to my wall. A metaphorical wall, though. My computer is too expensive.
An exercise in promoting my online self promotion online. (Please pardon the word repetition.)
Yesterday I found out that my personal branding website, Lisa Taylor’s Cover Letter Customizer, was nominated in the Personal Blog/Website category at the 16th Annual Webby Awards.
Needless to say, as a sole proprietor, my boss is psyched. And I want to thank the creative team who helped give cover letters everywhere some time in the sun: Derrick Williams, Suzanne McKenzie and Jennifer Aborn Dolan.
Also, it turns out that when you’re a nominee, you receive an email with a link to a “toolkit” where the Webby people provide a bunch of fancy logos like the one I’ve included here as well as all sorts of tips on promoting your nomination for the People’s Voice Award.Yes, I think promoting self-promotion projects is a bit redundant, I put my, um, publicity team on it. While the Cover Letter Customizer may not have cool music, animations and funky cloud pictures that my fellow nominees have, it does have a lot of other things going for it:
- It knows your favorite word.
- You can use the “Lady” title even if you’re male. I won’t tell.
- It’s 100% guaranteed to not give you a paper cut (unless you print your letter.)
- Speaking of letters, this one doesn’t technically need postage. But if you have an affinity for stamps with cute animals, you can still print a copy. Then, put it in an envelope, slap on a kitten stamp, and mail it to yourself.
- The font flair is optional.
As often said in cover letters, thank you for your time and consideration. And if you end up voting for it, thank you in advance.
It took me thirty years to write this post.
I was diagnosed with diabetes thirty years ago. This month, I started putting all three decades of my experience to good use at Glu, an online community for those touched by type 1 diabetes.
While the community portion of the site is in closed beta at the moment, my Thirtysomething and Counting blog posts will be open to all.
The best Instagram pictures look the way memorable moments feel.
Big, beautiful and like potential album cover art.
A little love for comment function abuse. My blog’s top 6 spam comments.
I truly believe blogs should inspire dialogue, allowing others to easily share and comment on posts, whether they’re a debate about politics or 100% whole wheat vs. multi-grain bread. But the frequency of the spam comments I’ve received the past year or so has made me question the need for the comment function (especially since they are somehow bypassing my Captcha thingamabob).
While a large part of me wants to shut off the feature, I have to admit I’ve been amused by some of the messages. Therefore, I present to you my top 6. Because 5 is too few and 10 is too expected:
6. Yet this is one type of trash can’t be recycled.
5: Love the use of “erudite” along with a grotesque misspelling.
4: Of all the many flattery-themed comments, this was one of my favorites as it mentions content. On the flip side, maybe flattery is not a tactic and this spammer finds my web presence awesome.
3: Nice Biblical metaphor usage. (Note: I have yet to receive a Greek mythology simile.)
2: I enjoy the timely use of current events, perhaps more so when a sitcom star is involved.
1: Did somebody say chocolate?
Congratulations to the writers of my top 6! If I could gather you all in a room, I would tell you two things. First, I would thank you for the laugh. And, secondly, I would make sure you know that I’m all set with my pharmaceuticals. Really.
