Release the Hounds

Yesterday I wrote a press release. It’s something I have been meaning to do for a while, but then things happened, as usual, and I forgot. Most recently the hedgehog, but it’s not his fault, poor little dude was just trying to survive. I learnt about press releases during a brief stink at a local newspaper some years ago, although that was very much from the other side. When you have read your forth luminously glowing, praise-ridden account of how the drains in the shopping precinct have all been successfully replaced with only minor delays and had to convert it into some kind of news, you begin to realise that journalism is actually a proper job.

I should also admit that I did media studies at school, and that apart from the ability to occasionally ruin films by predicting the ending, I also managed to take away a rudimentary understanding of press releases and how one should go about creating them. To begin with, you need a piece of news. Now for me, the last 10 months have been one long story: a rolling news-reel of adventure, where danger and destruction are lurking round every corner, and you never know quite what the world will throw at you next. 18 Months ago I was in a dead-end job, where I had been for years, biding away the hours with computer games and self-pity. Now I’m in the driving seat all of a sudden, thundering through life with barely enough time for a proper cup of tea.

I lied about the tea, there is always time for tea. However as exciting as I viewed my life, and by exciting I mean terrifying, there was nothing that stuck out as that perfect headline. I toyed with Entrepreneur Rescues Hedgehog or Jabberwocky Still Fine, but my heart wasn’t in it. So I did what I usually do, and tried to make a bit of writing that was worth reading. It’s a process, this business thing, and learning how to master each aspect is one of the things that will hopefully lead to success in the long run. I’m quite pleased with the eventual press outcome, although in the end it is probably a little lacking in news.

Yes, it is pretentious for me to refer to myself as an entrepreneur. The same goes for if I ever call the blog funny, or our business successful. On the other hand, business is full of people who will put you down. In fact, life is full of those people. You are allowed to make your own luck a little, and I at least had the decency to downgrade it from hilarious.