Sara Rosinsky • Shiny Red Copy
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  • about sara
  • speaking
  • blog
  • portfolio
    • social media
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    • dandy candy
    • freezer treats
    • money matters
    • online ordering
    • raise a glass
    • fundraising
    • hair we go
    • education
    • branding
    • thinq smart
    • how entertaining
    • spread the word
    • a few faves
    • sears screed
  • kudos
  • unflubbify
  • freebies
    • resources
    • word search
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  Sara Rosinsky • Shiny Red Copy

sara's Shiny red blog

Have you ever suffered from semantic satiation?

9/22/2019

8 Comments

 
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Just now, I was working on an email that includes a lesson about when to use "awhile" and when to use "a while." And after... well, a while, that "while" and "awhile" business started to look mighty weird. Almost like they weren't words at all but just a meaningless collection of letters.

If you've ever experienced such a phenomenon, then you've felt semantic satiation. Instead of paraphrasing the Wikipedia article, I will simply point you there, should you want to learn more about it.​
​If you find this sort of thing entertaining, do check out the related entry about the following, which is a truly legitimate sentence:

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
Brown bird on top of black buffalo
Photo by Lewie Embling on Unsplash
​If you didn't know the sensation of semantic satiation before, I'll bet you do now. :)
8 Comments

An afternoon with Aaron James Draplin.

9/19/2019

3 Comments

 
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Four of the postcards in the Aaron James Draplin collection by French Paper. Artists are, from left to right, Nick Hafner, Shreyas Chaudhary, Nicholas Huggins, and Levi "Tron" Ratliff.
I am a copywriter, not a designer. But back in 2016 when I started freelancing full-time, I decided that I wanted to learn how to use Adobe Illustrator. I couldn't exactly justify it, but the urge was strong enough that I started paying a hefty chunk of change for an Adobe Suite subscription.

Copywriting always comes first, but whenever I can, I take Skillshare classes* and practice using Adobe Illustrator. One of the first classes I took was taught by Aaron Draplin. He was blazingly fast, but I did my best to follow along. Everything he did was captivating and inspirational.

When I learned that he was going to be giving a workshop in Denver this week, I thought, "What the heck—why not?" I whipped out my credit card and got my spot in a class that sold out in just a few days. It was well worth the price to get in-person teaching time from the guy who's created designs for the likes of Target, Nike, Bernie Sanders, and the US Postal Service.

My dream was that he could give me some one-on-one guidance on a logo I volunteered to create for a local nonprofit. Working on this thing has proven to me that everyone should pay good designers all the money. If you've ever gotten the impression that graphic design is easy or quick, you are woefully mistaken. It is seriously challenging, and it takes time. Lots and lots of time.

Well, at yesterday's workshop, I quickly realized that there could be no personalized guidance from Mr. Draplin. There were way too many people and not enough time. But I learned a lot, and I feel more at ease about finishing up my logo. (Fortunately, I know several talented designers who are willing to help me along.)
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The night before my workshop, I attended a talk that Aaron Draplin gave as part of Denver Startup Week. I bought his book...
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... and got it signed. He may not have spelled my name correctly (almost no one does), but he did give me a multitude of exclamation points!!!
Many years ago, I heard someone say that "you regret things that you don't do more than things that you do." So, though it may not make obvious sense for a non-designer like me to take design classes from a big-time pro and try my hand designing a pro bono logo, that's the path I've decided to take. And I'm loving every step of it.

​Viva freelancing!

*I highly recommend Skillshare--
here's a code for two free months of a Premium subscription​.
3 Comments

Oh BOI, oh BOI.

9/16/2019

0 Comments

 
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Note to self: Do not waste the reader's time by beating yourself up about how long it's taken you to write this blog. No one cares but you.

OK. So.

This summer I decided to take a trip to Boise. (Which—side note—the locals pronounce with a sibilant "s": "BOY-see.")

"Why do you want to go there?" many people asked, including my husband.

Let's see: Because I've heard lots of good things about it. Because I could get a direct flight on my favorite airline, Southwest. Because I've never been there before and now that I'm living in Colorado, it's pretty darn close. Mostly, because I'm a freelancer, and so I CAN.

So I got a flight, arranged a handful of meetings with Boise folks who might need a copywriter, booked a tiny little Airbnb house, and rented a car.

To my frustration, my workload burgeoned during this trip, so I spent many, many hours at the kitchen table of my Airbnb typing out persuasive prose. But I also managed to get out and about a bit. Here are a few of the things I enjoyed. 
Scrubby scenery with dry grass and a dirt path in Boise.
Sign: Please be Advised: Coyotes in Area Protecting their Pups / Please keep your dogs leashed
Sign: Shooters: If you brought it or shot it, remove it.
Adult quail and five or six baby quail.
Didactic from Boise Botanical Gardens with an excerpt of Meriwether Lewis's writing about how Sacagawea showed him a fennel root that will "dispell the wind" caused by some other food.
Gravestone of a prisoner at Boise's prison: "In Memory of Bud Ray, Age 19 Years, Died July 21, 1898.
Cagelike cells in the old part of the Old Idaho State Penitentiary.
Large, ornate 19th-century safe, approximately the size of a doorway.
Birdhouse on the outside of a prison window.
Street art in Boise's Freak Alley: Large face of menacing wolf on a set of double doors.
Street art in Boise's Freak Alley: stylized fierce mermaid and fish.
Painted on brick wall in Boise: a vintage ad for a Stearns car.
In addition to exploring and taking these photos, I learned the following about Boise.
  • Lots of folks fleeing San Francisco's ridiculously expensive real estate situation have moved to Boise and hiked up prices.
  • Not a lot of bumper stickers in this town.
  • No shortage of Caucasians.
  • Boise has an enclave of Basque people. Next time I go, I will need to visit the Basque Museum and Cultural Center.
  • Boise has license plates that say, "Famous Potatoes."

To me, traveling is one of the greatest perks of freelancing. Next stop: Austin!

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