Stray twigs - Mim memory

In the middish 1980s, my life changed - thanks to stray twigs.

Walking down Alden Road one late afternoon, came across Pete Boericke chucking them from the sidewalk back up into the small woods (now Naomi & Kevin's homestead). We got to talking.  

Pete had worked for Prudential for many years, heading up the BIG Horsham office's PR & Marketing department.  He'd recently switched over to the fledgling Prudential Healthcare arm of the mammoth company.  At the time, I was working for PHCS rival, US Healthcare, serving as the first level of the Medical Excellence Review process & doing major interface between network providers & members and our executives.  As Pete knew, it was work I'd found rewarding & which had rewarded me well, with rapid advancement from an hourly to a salaried position & a dandy office with a great view.

As we talked, Pete noticed something I'd missed - "You don't seem as happ0y with your work as you were," he noted.

I remember pausing.  Yes, it felt like I'd come as far as I would there, but had not realized it yet.  He'd picked it up.  And then he gave me the opportunity of my life time.

"I'm looking for a staff writer.  Would you be interested?"

Stunned, I explained my lack of training as a writer, my certainty that he'd be better served finding another candidate.  But it turned out that my raw talent teamed with lack of formal training was EXACTLY what he was looking for - as he explained, he would be starting with a blank slate, able to forge the approaches he felt important, not the ones college professors fancied.

Which was how I became a professional writer & editor.  Assignments ranged from basic articles to full-blown executive speeches, from producing member & provider newsletters to developing talking points discrediting healthcare reform (ouch!).  

Receiving Pete's productive criticisms & his occasional praise worked wonders he could never have imagined.  All of my life, Mim had labeled my writing as maudlin & manipulative, drawing out emotional responses rather than intellectual discernment.  She tagged it my Hallmark style - worthy only for greeting cards, not serious readers.  And I believed her.  

Thanks to those stray twigs, someone looking for a solution & finding it in a friend out walking, my world opened up.  From there, I would get incredible opportunities to produce all sorts of written pieces, even scripts.  I'd meet peole who would further change my life - Judy Orvos, Janet Cashion, Rick Matthews, Lois Hoot, the PR team at ALCOA, Regan Communications.  

Yes, my writing style tends to draw out an emotional response.  Praise be & hallelujah!