(Very mild) crisis of identity
I'm always finding that I'm looking up, not quite sure what to do once I get up there. Image by Frank Kehren via Flickr
I occasionally get an e-mail from WordPress that someone has followed by blog or liked it or commented. I click through just to see who it is or what they said, and when I get here, I realize I’m visiting a vast wasteland created by none other than yours truly.
Is it strange that I can write a post and then not return for six months? To some people, it’s ridiculous, I’m sure. (As it should be.) But I’m sure others get the urge to write occasionally and then don’t get it again for quite a while.
If I could just decide what my “thing” is. Certainly, most people don’t have the same “thing” for their whole lives. We rise and fall, stretch and shrink, wax and wane. I’m sitting here in a new but familiar city, trying to determine what makes up “me” right now and what my voice should be. I’m not distressed over this crisis of identity (as I have been at other points in my life), but I am curious: When does it become clear what it is you’re going to do with your life?
The only constant is change
Remember these? They used to store everything, and now you can barely find readers for them!
We’ve heard on numerous occasions that the only constant is change. As a younger person, I didn’t believe that. That is to say, I didn’t truly understand it and therefore I didn’t believe it. Now, I look back and see that millions of little changes add up to the big changes that dot my personal timeline. The move to Florida from my home in central Alabama was not one large change but multiple little ones — moving my account to a different bank, painting walls in a house so it could go on the market, saying goodbye to family members, learning some of Central Florida’s driving nuances.
I’ve seen the same development in my work, too. It’s funny that we call the final approval for the magazine “blue lines,” when we haven’t seen proofs that resemble blue lines since 2000. Or that e-mails can come in faster than we can check them because it’s such a standard form of communication; when I first started at B.A.S.S. in 1999, we only had department e-mail accounts that we checked twice a day to get merely six or seven messages. Or that “Facebook” has become as much of a business term as a personal term. Zip drives have come and gone, as have floppy disks and CDs. Thank goodness we didn’t have to manage all these changes at once!
As scary and strange as change can be, I’m proud to say I’ve learned from it. What used to seem insurmountable now seems temporary, and sometimes it actually feels like progress as it is happening. Maybe this is that “wisdom” that older people always talk about — gaining perspective, seeing the bigger picture, accepting life as it comes. And that shift of mindset is a change I welcome!
–Tyler W. Reed
New challenges, new outlook
Social media has wrapped me up in its arms and slung me around, confused me a little, mesmerized me a lot. I love the idea of a two-way conversation, where it used to be “you eat what I serve” from publishing companies, manufacturers, service providers and retailers. Now it’s open — a real conversation — where a customer can say “I like this” or “Could you add this feature?” or “Here’s an idea.” And a company that has embraced social media will respond.
I’ve recently gotten to experiment with social media at work on a grander scale than I could before. What I’ve learned is that people tell you what they want from you — and they tell you even quicker what they don’t want. I caught a little slack from the Twitterverse because I wasn’t tweeting enough during the Bassmaster Classic weigh-ins. My tweeps told me what they wanted, and by the final day, I had a system that worked and garnered tons of praise from my company’s followers. That was a good feeling!
Like most people, I’ve just been handed a box with “social media” in it and yet no instructions on how to put it together. But the figuring out of it has been a blast! I’ve enjoyed every moment of the posting process. It’s journalism turned on its side — watered down in some ways, amped up in others, and addicted to speed.
This change in my day-to-day work life, supplemented by my small efforts on my blog, has given me inspiration, excitement, a new mission. I’m looking forward to what this new frontier brings — and to seeing the impact it has on corporate America.
–Tyler W. Reed
Dining room table
Magazines spread all over the table; post-its marking pages that were cool or remarkable for some reason; a 2-year-old Folio notebook with copious notes I took at the conference; a cup of coffee; my husband’s camera. These are the things that populate my dining room table now that I’ve taken on The Sidebar Review.
It’s a fun obsession. It takes tons of hours, but I feel educated, liberated, entertained, rejuvenated with every new review I do (and also with every magazine that appears in the mailbox!). I get to critique them — for my own learning more so than for anyone else’s — then I get to contact their editorial departments and tell them that I critiqued them! I’ve had short but exciting interactions with the editors of The Week, Florida Trend, Time Out Chicago and Baltimore Magazine. I wouldn’t have imagined two months ago that I could create something from nothing and get this amazing kind of reaction.
Is it worth this upheaval to have a little blog? I think so. I’m already more efficient, innovative and enthusiastic at work. And I’m much more critical of my own decisions at work, too, challenging myself to do better in case some other person is out there critiquing me! The biggest drawback is having to get out the TV trays at dinnertime!
–Tyler W. Reed
Discovery of a new world
My two cats discovered the shower this morning. I was holding the door open to decide whether I wanted to clean it or not, and both critters rushed into this small, mysterious room to discover its innards. Sniffing, pawing, leaping, reaching — the two little guys explored every inch of the dry cell. Once they discovered there was nothing to it, they bailed.
I find those moments of exploration fascinating. As I watched the kitties, careful not to disrupt their discovery, I thought of what makes me curious. Ideas rather than objects, really. The thought process of writing, the act of blogging, the use of tools for sharing your work, the brilliance of some to use social media effectively, and the ability we all have to create true networks online. These ideas enthrall me as I begin to make my way into the blogosphere, put myself out there to judge and be judged, and open my world up to include not just the people I meet in life but also virtually.
So, with one cat in my lap and the other in the window, I commence today’s journey into the unknown. I just hope no one turns the nozzle on!
–Tyler W. Reed
Excitement in learning … nerdy, right?
My blog finally really took off today — my blog stats show that people actually visited, and I saw my blog retweeted! This is true excitement for me, since I’ve been trying to find my place online for nearly two years. Not until TheSidebarReview.com came along, though, did I have the feeling that the blogging was really right or really working.
My excitement comes as much from having other people actually read what I write as it does the stuff I learned while writing it. My mission on that site is to celebrate and critique magazines, so I spent two hours going through an unfamiliar magazine and documenting what I liked and didn’t like about it. And then the part that really puts me out on a limb is I require myself to e-mail the magazine I reviewed and tell the editor I did it. That way, he or she can praise or squall about what I wrote. Which makes me have to be fair and educated, so I have to really think about everything I say and be able to back up anything I say. It requires me to use proper terminology and consider what the editor or designer was trying to get across, as well as what the target audience would perceive about the content and appearance.
I just did my first review and sent it to the magazine. A mostly positive reaction! And possibly new friends. It’s thrilling to think I might have started an office conversation today and that I may have an impact someday in some way on someone’s magazine. How cool is that? I realize it’s nerdy to love this stuff, but … I guess my nerdiness just comes naturally!
Thanks for stopping by!
–Tyler W. Reed
A million interests, but only 24 hours in a day
I have a million interests — and I’m almost not even exaggerating. I love travel, cats, magazines, cooking, cake decorating, reading, writing, teaching, exploring, studying maps, artwork, museums, local flavor, exotic locations, exercise, fashion, computers — I should just stop, right? You get the picture. I’ve been trying to find the right blog, the right avenue for myself online. I thought about WineTravelKittens.com because my interests were so diverse (or unfocused may be a better word). And I’ve started many others: TheEditorsPlaybook.com, which I let expire because I never updated it; NortonAnthologyJourney.blogspot.com, which is closest to my heart but hardest to focus on and add to; and LearningNP.wordpress.com, which I am too busy doing actual nonprofit management stuff to actually sit down and study.
But I thought for sure I should own my own name, which is where you are, TylerWReed.com. Here you’ll find some samples of my work; just click on the tabs at top. Please check it out and let me know if you have any questions or commentary (tyler.w.reed@gmail.com). In the meantime, I’m working on yet another blog, TheSidebarReview.wordpress.com, where I review magazines — but don’t go there yet! It’s not quite ready. Won’t that be fun, though? Reviewing magazines and getting other people’s feedback too? I can’t help it; I’m enthusiastic!
Please enjoy your time here! I hope to hear from you.
–Tyler W. Reed
