It's all about the pizza

Career Coaches Colleen Fitzpatrick (left) and Mary Ann Hogan, known around the Freedom Forum as "Thelma and Louise," noodle over their pizza story.

I had an ah-ha experience re writing and storytelling when Colleen and I did our SoundSlides story How to Make a Pizza:
Making a good story is like making a good pizza.
According to our pizza guy, you have to start with the best fresh ingredients (sort of like starting with a notebook or recorder full of the best fresh information.)
Then you slap the dough into shape to make a shell (sort of like finding a good story shell.)
Then you put just the right amount of topping, evenly distributed -- too little and you get a stupid pizza, too much, and you get a gooey one. (Sounds to me like choosing the right details in the right sequence without over or under doing it to avoid stupidity and goo.)
Then you stick the pizza in the oven to bake for just the right amount of time (kind of like letting your story sink in for a bit before sending it off, to make sure it’s done just right.)
So the next time you go to create a story, think:
It’s all about the pizza.


-- Mary Ann Hogan, Chips Quinn Career Coach