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The rerun RX for writer's block

The Rerun RX for Writer’s Block

By Tom Ruwitch

Yesterday, email marketing master Laura Belgray broadcast a rerun… …and I loved it. It was a story about a Grammar-Cop Attorney who criticized Laura for using the phrase “‘Looking forward to hearing back” in an email. That “…is NOT a sentence. It is a sentence fragment,” Grumpy Grammar Puss sniffed. Laura shared the story to…

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grilled cheese day

You Won’t Believe How Much This Sandwich Costs…

By Tom Ruwitch

Today is National Grilled Cheese Day (according to my handy-dandy holidays calendar)… …so I think I’ll grab a couple of Kraft singles and two slices of Wonder bread, smear some butter on the bread, slap it all together, fry it up in a pan, and enjoy a warm-gooey sammie.   Toss in a some Campbell’s Tomato Soup,…

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The Secret to Create Funny Content When You’re Un-funny

By Tom Ruwitch

How do you write entertaining, humorous content if you’re not an entertaining, humorous person?  So asked a “Serious Sadie” (name changed to protect the innocent) during yesterday’s meeting of the Mastermind Book Club.  We were discussing Joe Polish’s Hello Kitty wallet (I wrote about that yesterday. Subject line: “How the ‘Hello Kitty Effect’ can help you…

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Why Great Storytellers Are More “Batman” Than “Superman”

By Tom Ruwitch

Someone asked me recently which superhero I like best. No contest, I said. It’s Batman.  Here’s why… He didn’t drop in from planet Krypton with the power to leap tall buildings in a single bound. He wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider. He’s merely a man named Bruce Wayne… …who mourned the murder of his…

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The Onion Rings Marketing Method. Let Me Explain…

By Tom Ruwitch

A priceless story and lesson from marketing legend Dan Kennedy… When he broke in as a speaker, he loaded his speeches with as much information as time allowed. He bragged he delivered more “meat per minute” than other speakers. He said so in advertisements.  And then he learned better.  Says Dan in his book, Make ‘Em…

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This May be The Hardest Thing I’ve Done All Year…

By Tom Ruwitch

When I first came up with the idea for my soon-to-be-released Story Power Profit Pack, I thought of publishing it as a pack of playing cards — 52 pointers in all.   I shelved that idea because, as cool as the cards might have looked, they would been less useful than the format I settled on.…

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Monks Hooked on Junk Leave Villagers in Funk

By Tom Ruwitch

A Buddhist temple in Thailand has temporarily shut down after every one of its monks admitted to smoking meth. Talk about Breaking Bad-dah! The sheriff and village headman visited the temple, 150 miles north of Bangkok after villagers tipped them off.  When drug tests came back positive, the temple’s four monks confessed. The temple’s chief…

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My Black Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Monday Offer…

By Tom Ruwitch

Good morning. I’m back in my home office for the first time in two weeks… …sipping a mug of black coffee (not as tasty as the double espressos I drank in France, but good enough)… …eating a piece of leftover pie for breakfast… …and wondering what e-maily goodness to send you.  (Pause while I rest…

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She Said I Make Her Grimace – and That Felt so Good

By Tom Ruwitch

Last month, an accomplished, intelligent business woman named Brooke told me I make her grimace. And good golly, Miss Molly, that made me feel warm and fuzzy all over. Once upon a time, I might have sulked if someone put “Tom Ruwitch” and “grimace” in the same sentence – especially a female someone.  But not…

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Are you Swimming in The Shallow End of The Tactical Gene Pool?

By Tom Ruwitch

Yesterday, I heard Troy Broussard dish some dirt on marketing jackasses who resort to stupid tricks… …such as ending mass emails with “Sent from my iPhone.” Those cunning tricksters want you to think they’ve sent a personal email, composed one thumb-tap at a time, just for you. Troy said, as I often say: You don’t…

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