Diary of a Mad Editor

So, I’ve been writing some articles lately (actually I’ve been writing a lot of articles). I’m not really much for writing straight nonfiction. It’s not that I can’t write it — it’s that, unless I’m writing about a topic I’m passionate about, I tend to get bored. But lately, necessity has forced me to churn-out some short articles on various subjects. I’ve been finding past research I’ve done on other writing projects helpful as it can be repurposed for article writing. Like all the information I gathered during my cancer battle, I am now using for articles and posts for my cancer blog. And just the other day, I decided to write a short article on floral design (I had some pages of research I save from a short story I wrote years ago about a floral designer):

THE ART OF FLORAL DESIGN

For as long as anyone can remember, flowers have been used to commemorate life’s watershed events — births, graduations, budding romance, weddings and funerals. Flowers can brighten up a room or make a young woman blush. Flowers can symbolize endings, new beginnings and those rites of passage in between. But unless you have a flower garden in your own back yard, you probably buy your flowers from a florist like I do.

Some florists are self-taught and come by their skills naturally or study privately under an experienced floral designer. Others receive more formal training in a college or design school. The advantage of formal study is that you receive specialized training in floriculture, floral design and ornamental horticulture as well as coursework in business and marketing. A florist must have a keen eye for detail, a feel for color, texture and smell. A gifted florist knows how to pick the healthiest flowers and is skilled at handling and cutting them so they aren’t damaged during the process of creating the arrangement.

A florist’s job is not easy. Floral design is not a job for everyone. It’s the florist’s job to create the perfect flower arrangement — one that adds beauty and meaning to a special occasion. He has to be creative on-demand, working under pressure. Florists typically work long hours on their feet and, unless they own their own flower shop, they work for modest salaries. It’s not a career one gets into lightly or to get rich. One must be passionate, creative and love making beautiful things that make other people happy.

That’s not exactly a great article, but it’s typical of the kind of thing you read online. It’s a short article with generic information about the topic but a suitable number of keywords to feed the search engines. If it were written for a print magazine, it probably wouldn’t pass go and certainly wouldn’t collect $200. But since it’s primary purpose is to drive search engine traffic, it’s fine. It’ll probably pop-up on some website or other in the near future.