Press Release—the Virtual Event

It's just a sheet of paper. Well, it's not even paper any more is it? Just a collection of symbols on a screen, really. But it's only marginally less crazy than, say, doing a wedding. I'm not kidding!

There's the planning, who reviews it, who writes it, rewrites it, needs to review it again, rewrites it, needs to review it again, rewrites it, needs to review it again, (you get the picture), hey, I've got a great idea, let's put in.... (insert champagne pyramid and/or live links), who is it going to? Oh did you update the mailing lists? Could you do that for me sweetie? Let's see what it looks like if we... Oh, not so good, let's go back to...You know, I think I liked it the first time...no not that first time, the other first time. Yes, that one, but with the bit at the end from the eighth draft. Loved that bit. You know, maybe it should go through proofreading again. Legal already checked it & will have to check it again? You're kidding. Now we've changed it so much everybone that approved it before have to approve it again? Really? And everyone's on vacation right now? Oh, they just changed the order of everything? The logos have been modified? You'll be sending me the new ones shortly. Right away? Please? Everything is being checked to make sure it works when we go live. There's a problem? None of the buttons work? Someone's looking into it? They'll let me know what's happening? No one knows anything so you're just going to make it up? That sounds good. OK. Let's go! Push the button to launch. Oh, it doesn't seem to be working. There is goes! Yes, it launched for sure because I just got an irate email from a vendor complaining we mispelled their name in our release.

Thank you for a lovely party!

According to Malle, who knows these things, there is an Estonian custom that I have to share. Malle says it is a customary practice when you have attended an Estonian event and are thanking your hostess and saying your goodbyes, you also share any helpful comments you might have on shortcomings and how she might improve the event in the future (i.e. dinner was lovely, but very slow and started far too late. And next time, stir the soup before serving it). Pretty special, eh? Wikipedia is missing these bits of color. Malle will need to add them in.

So as you create your event—virtual or otherwise—watch out for those helpful Estonians. They are looking for continuous improvement!

We're delighted to have the eBook site up & running on eHarlequin, to have the adorable Minis available for sale and to be able to offer the Mini Round Robins for a FREE download. I think we have discovered five authors for Harlequin (and counting!) with the Writing Round Robin program—one of them, Mia Zachary—is launching the Mini Round Robin line.

Putting a press release together is as crazy as throwing a major event, but there's no food! Still, it is fun to see all the 'guests' arriving & chatting about your event.

Y'all come on over!