Proof positive?

Gravestones and memorials: such a good idea to check before you chisel. 

How one wishes that a proofreader had cast an eye across the copy for these tender lines, now incised in marble. Permanent doesn't come more, er, permanent.

Crisp, clear, correct text - so simple, so sensible and yet so strangely elusive in all manner of contexts.

That menu, wedding invitation, order of service, essay, job application, dissertation...

You want them to be right. Right?

Or you could chance it - and bare the consequences.

Meanwhile... Rory is available.

Sandwich board...

I'm pondering the possibility of creating a very short, peppy 'video CV' that will tempt potential employers to take an interest...


Sadly, I cannot aspire to the sublime heights of self-promotion achieved by the peerless (and very young) David Pedersen.

Do you understand the thing about the weather? You do? Please enlighten me...

Blow, Gabriel, blow..

These are my kind of angels: swooping, soaring and blowing up a storm on those outrageously oversized trumpets.


And today has not been without angelic intervention.

One of my 'angels' took the trouble to telephone me. Massively morale-boosting.

We discussed the hint of a glimmer of potentiality of some freelance editorial work. Nothing definite at this stage.

But, hey, a lot more encouraging than silence (though I am sure there are Trappist/Quaker angels)...


The pictured angelic beings are the work of the great engraver John Hutton and may be seen in all their astonishing glory on the vast west window of Coventry Cathedral.

Keeping going

Eighty 'angels' contacted so far. Each one receives three of my RiA cards, one of them bearing a handwritten greeting.


And - hurrah! - some of my angels are responding. I've had 8 replies to date. All of them kind and encouraging.

And one contains a hint of a possibility of a maybe regarding a possibility of a small amount of remunerative work. A meeting is in the diary for next week.

Of course, one can't help noticing that more than 70 angels have yet to flap a feather in response to being contacted.

And that is a challenge to one's optimism and fragile sense of self-worth. I'm guessing that others on the redundancy journey experience similar ups and downs.

Onwards!

Aspin you shall receive

The cards are hitting the doormats - and clicking in to email in-trays. Bread is being cast upon water.

And helpful pithy responses are coming back to me. Particular thanks to plain-speaking Ian Aspin of Really Good Thinking for his Eleven Absoluetly Unbreakable Commandments for Connecting with People Online and Off.

Well worth pondering - and acting upon.

More about the remarkable Mr Aspin at Really Good Thinking.

Angelic

If you're looking for a job, it's worth chatting to an angel - in fact, to as many angels as possible...


My savvy career coach says: 'Think of all the people you've worked with over the years - and then list those with whom you've enjoyed a positive, productive relationship: the people who have an idea (to a greater or lesser extent) of what you have to offer in the workplace: in short, the people who "get" you.

'Then list them. These are your Angels. Make contact with them. Do coffee. Chat. Catch up. And let them know that you're available for new opportunities... Invite them to view your blog - and ask them pass on the "RiA" message...'

So that's what I'm doing. I've created a stack of colourful 'Rory is available' postcards - and the first batch plummets into the postbox today.

You'd like a card or two? No problem. Buzz me an email by clicking on the link top-right. It's available in both hard copy and in electronic format.

Thank you - you're an angel...

Postcard by X1 Design and Print

Report from the font line

How do you create a 10-minute video/DVD that's going to start many parents and children on the journey of a lifetime?

Here's a high-speed summary of one of my favourite projects...