You Mean Business Writing's an Art?

Work has exploded all over my desk again, so this was not the blog I was planning for today. (Maybe this is the blog gods way of telling me to blog ahead of time? I didn't think so either.)

Confession time: I work for a big publishing house.

Before you get all excited, no I can't help you with that. I'm not anywhere near the book end of things at said house. I work in sales. As an admin. As far away from literature as possible.

I'm in the technology division.

In the technology division, I do such wonderful things as learn about new products and get software installed on my desktop here. I get advance notice of some things and have sometimes even get freebies from the book-side of things. (Also, I walk to work - how awesome is that?) I spend more time than I ever imagined in Excel, but I rarely get to use my creative streak.

That's been changing. Last month, I got to wear my editor hat and help out the marketing department. Today I get to use the writer hat and write a blurb about the company. I know, if it's a big company, a blurb should already exist. It does, but we needed one that ties into our specific products. The duty fell on me.

No one ever told me that writing a professional, marketing-esque piece takes a different type of hat. It took me one hour to write three paragraphs. It's the same skill set that's needed to write coherent essays - something else that I cannot do.

I know that I don't want to run reports forever and if I could angle myself as a useful writing asset for my little nook of the technology division, all the better. To do that though, I need to learn how to write with a little marketing flair and more business savvy. (This might also explain my craptastic results from querying.)

Guess who just came up with a new goal for summer solstice?