Create An Unforgettable Character:YOU! By Bonnie Boots As writers, we often pride ourselves on creating unforgettable characters. Then, when it comes to our own persona, we’re too often content to blend into the background. We shuffle through life as colorless and inconspicuous as Walter Mitty, never revealing through dress or demeanor what worlds of wonder live in our imaginations. Is there anything wrong with letting yourself fall into the shadows, so long as your writing shines? Not really. Not unless you want editors to remember you when they have an article to assign, or publishers to think of you when they need a book, or columnists to call you when they need someone to quote. At times like that, you don’t want people with the power to put you into print stroking their chins and wondering “Now, who was that gal that wrote that wonderful thing I saw somewhere?” Today’s work world is incredibly demanding. Many professionals are called upon to do the jobs of two or even three people. If you want these busy folks to remember you, then you must find ways to make yourself as memorable as your writing. You must make YOU the most unforgettable character you ever created. That doesn’t mean you need to turn yourself into a caricature of a crazy writer, sporting theatrical affectations like cigarette holders or fake foreign accents. It simply means you must give people something to remember you by. The Victorians were crazy about mnemonics, or devices used as an aid for remembering. They were forever making rhymes to remember who won the Battle of York, or giving acquaintances anything from pen wipes to pillows adorned with the motto “Think of me when this you see.” By the same token, when you make it easy for a busy professional to remember you, you’re giving them a gift. You’re making their work lives a little easier, and in today’s over-demanding world that’s a very great gift indeed. Your gift, however, needn’t take the form of an embroidered pen wipe. It can be something as simple as a logo or a tag line, something that makes your communications stand out and shout “Hi! It’s me!” In my own campaign to make myself a memorable character, I’ve effectively employed logos, tag lines, cartoons and even a signature design for Christmas cards. These things are so uniquely mine that they give my communications instant identification. Just by looking at the outside of an envelope, people know “That’s Bonnie Boots!” My logo is a cartoon caricature. The original drawing was black and white. I added a red background to make it eye catching and my own name to make it mean “Me!” I use this logo everywhere I can, on envelopes and letterhead, on e-mail signatures and web sites. I even have a lapel pin and luggage tags made with my logo. You can’t imagine how often people tell me “I love your little character. The minute I see her, I know it’s you!” A few years go, when I was writing about and for the craft industry, I made a cartoon-like cloth doll of myself. I posed her in different settings, photographed her, and then used photo-editing software to turn the photos into a series of funny Christmas cards. People liked these cards so much that they hung around on office bulletin boards years after I sent them. I lost count of the number of times editors called saying “I was just wondering who we could get to write this, when I looked up and saw your card and thought of you.” I also printed cards, about the size of a fold-over business card, with my logo and the message “I thought you’d enjoy this. No reply is necessary.” When I’d see a cartoon I thought would make others chuckle, I’d fold my card over it, staple them together and put it in the mail. It made the recipient remember me with a smile, and as they passed the cartoon along, my card went with it, spreading laughter as well as my name and logo. In your writing, you lavish precious hours on the characters you create. Spend some of that creative time on your own persona. Ideas like a logo or a tag line cost nothing to generate or use, yet go a long way in making people say “Unforgettable, that’s what you are!” 
BONNIE BOOTS (www.BonnieBoots.com) is an award-winning writer and designer who says all writers should show off their talent by wearing their Write Side Out! Her wise and witty product line of gear that shows the world you're a writer is at www.writesideout.com Return to the Articles Page | 
