Things are crazier and crazier around here, so Judgy called for back-up. Don’t worry—our chief correspondent will return when life settles down.
I’ve been helping out by editing the winners’ bios for the backs of the cards. It’s remarkable how many people have the best dog/cat/pig/bird/chinchilla/turtle/snake/guinea pig/hamster/tarantula in the whole wide world! Okay, kidding about the tarantula. We love everyone’s stories and we know the voting public will enjoy them, too.
Our small-but-mighty team is workin’ it, scrambling night and day to git ‘er done. wrapping up (RED), starting voting on PETS, kicking off SHOEBOX and dreaming up what contests should be next. (Good thing we love what we’re doing.)
Here’s Theresa, using state-of-the-art Dixie Cup technology to randomly assign stock numbers (and locations in the display) to our semifinalists’ photos. That’s how dedicated we are to making sure everything is fair and square.
In case you’re wondering about our team’s animal friends…
Winnie, my 90-pound lap dog (Lab/Newfie mix), enjoys watching the Westminster Kennel Club show. Specifically, she has a thing for the Saluki. We have to cordon off the TV so she doesn’t lunge and hurt herself.
But enough about me.
Get ready to get funny, people. Shoebox kicks off Monday!
"Blogden Nash"
Friday, February 29, 2008
Picking Pockets, Prepping Pets, Getting Funny...
Posts
5 comments:
Nice work Blogden...
Well Done!
Just waiting now to see the finalists results and start the official kick off of the new contest.
I THINK I HAVE IT! LOL
Sidenote:our 90lb Lab thinks he's the Prince of Pups & he rules the Kingdom...don't they all...gotta love'em! Anyway, keep up the good work and I'll be impatiently waiting...done yet! :)
Well, I just submitted my funny! I'm a little perplexed because it was the right dimensions and all, but the final image (thumbnail you guys show us of how the front will look)looked blurry? So I kept changing the size of pixels, but it still looked odd. It's a drawing and not a photo, so I started with the right dimensions to begin with. Then I read the note that says it won't look exactly like it is supposed to on the upload, and I HOPE that means it was supposed to look blurry! Therefore, I went back to its original size, dimensions, etc, and then entered it. Hopefully it's right! LOL...
Although the competition is tough, I am having a lot of fun voting for the finalists every morning. But soon I'll have to hunker down and start working on my funny card. Too bad the category isn't Get Well cards. I have had the flu and bronchitis for over a week and it might be therapeutic to write a couple cards for myself. Alas...
Okay, I don't want to sound like a sore loser, and perhaps others feel the same way, but while I think MOST of the finalists were better than my submission, there were some that were not. I just wish I knew why I wasn't selected. I know you get too many submissions, but it would be great to have feedback, because as I see it now, either my selection was never reviewed or there is a huge discrepancy in the judging. I really found mine to be cute, funny and original, like most of the ones you have. However, there are some finalists that in my opinion don't match up. It's quite discouraging!
Dear Phooey and other puzzled contestants,
Boy oh boy, do I feel your pain! As a greeting card writer, I’ve been dealing with editors for over twenty years, both as a freelancer and in-house at Hallmark, and it is one seriously subjective process.
Here’s a little behind-the-scenes info:
Hallmark’s in-house humor writers may submit a hundred ideas a week and have only a handful make it through initial screening. And only a small percentage of those appear on actual product.
We all accumulate drawers full of unused ideas. Sometimes we get helpful feedback like “Ok” or “No.” Or “this isn’t really grabbing me.” Or “I don’t like the word ‘cheese.’”
The way most of us deal with the frustration is to go into the Gold Crown store and study what’s there and see which ideas shoppers are responding to. We study language and popular culture and listen to what’s on the minds of our friends and family. Then we go back to our booths determined to write more and better the next time.
Or we hit the M and M’s. Or take a walk. Sure, we pout and complain a little, but eventually we feel good about how brave we are to put our ideas out there for the whole world to see.
We’ve been there, and that’s why we have so much empathy and respect for each of our contestants. You’ve got talent. And style. And moxie to boot.
We wish we could provide individual feedback, but with thousands of submissions, it’s simply not feasible.
What we can offer is our gratitude and our encouragement to keep on creating!
Blogden (& Judgy)
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