A Challenge Met

By way of preparing me to meet with her students and perhaps in the interest of managing expectations, Dr. Patricia MacEnulty offered me a quick assessment of their abilities.

“Some of them write pretty well,” she said. “And, really, their grammar isn’t bad. But they are struggling right now to write pitch letters to editors.”

Pat, who holds a doctorate in creative writing from Florida State University, is a novelist whose favorite genre is historical fiction. She has also written a novel, From May to December, based on her experience working with inmates at the Jefferson Correctional Institution in Monticello. I recommend it as a sensitive portrayal of people who make mistakes and endure the pain of separation from life and loves for long years.

She had invited me to address her magazine writing class at Florida A&M University. I gladly accepted. She greeted me on arrival and took steps to create a parking place for me, a gesture I greatly appreciated. Looking about, I found that the FAMU campus is a hub of individuality and self-expression. Students wear all manner of dress, from near formal wear to barely there.

I spoke to Pat’s 19 students about my experience as a journalist and editor. I talked about the alarming drying up of community newspapers and the fluidity of the magazine business in which many titles rise and fall with trends. How long can we expect that Pickleball and AR-15 RECOIL magazines will be in circulation?

But I also assured the students that I believe people always will value writing that is of value, and then I moved on to an activity I had in mind.

I introduced the students to the departments that make up Tallahassee Magazine and informed them how members of the editorial team at Rowland Publishing arrive at the stories that get published. Pat, at my request, divided the class into three groups, and I challenged them each to come up with a proposed story list conforming to the template I had described.

The students were to suggest stories not by adopting a foreign perspective, but to instead propose stories reflective of their own interests, experiences and frames of reference. It was not an easy exercise, and the students had but 30 minutes or so in which to complete it.

When spokespeople for the three groups read their lineups to the class, I was impressed and Professor Pat was astonished. The students had done a marvelous job filling out their lineups with stories related to food, fashion, the arts, restaurants, home decor and more. They painted pictures of magazines I would surely read.

In all of this, I was reminded that the best way to professionally advance an employee, thereby increasing his value to a business, is to challenge him, give him an opportunity to succeed and let him know that you expect that he will succeed. One success tends to lead to another while boosting confidence.

The strategy doesn’t always work. Some folks marvelously succeed. Some discover limits that they cannot exceed. Others find a way to fail forward by learning from the experience and preparing themselves to do better next time. You always know whether to give them a second chance.

Thank you, Professor Pat, for the invitation. I enjoyed both the class session and huddling with several of your students after class when we talked about NBA basketball, sneakers and books worth reading. I touted Fun is Good by minor league baseball team owner Mike Veeck, who posits that people who enjoy themselves and the work they do will surely improve — I’ll buy that. They suggested the works of Robert Greene, an author who writes about power, success strategies and seduction.

Students, I left FAMU knowing that you have stories to tell and the capacity to tell them well. Send me a pitch letter one time, and I’ll put you to work.

Write on,

Steve Bornhoft, Editor, 850 Magazine
sbornhoft@rowlandpublishing.com