{"id":3309,"date":"2008-07-01T14:20:25","date_gmt":"2008-07-01T21:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=3309"},"modified":"2008-07-01T21:58:12","modified_gmt":"2008-07-02T04:58:12","slug":"making-the-pack-how-to-break-your-way-into-bloodhoundblog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3309\/making-the-pack-how-to-break-your-way-into-bloodhoundblog\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the pack: How to break your way into BloodhoundBlog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lately, I’m getting two or three requests a day to write with us. They come from sweet, smart, earnest people, and, while I look at everything they send to me, I usually don’t have time to write back and decline their requests. That’s the one part of this job I really hate, because I’ve always hated being on the receiving end of that kind of transaction. On the other hand, I know from experience that the attention of readers is not something I give, nor something you get, but, rather, something that the writer seizes<\/em>, takes by the irrepressible force of sheer talent. I’m in the unique position of being able to share this rostrum we have built with other people. But I can’t make anyone listen — not to you, not to me, not to anyone.<\/p>\n

I had email yesterday from John Rowles, and, on the strength of that one email, without looking at anything else he had written, I invited him to join us. John’s letter was simply riveting. I read every work, all the way to the end, but I knew by the fifth paragraph that he would be writing with us. I can think of a dozen things I might think about, if I am deliberating about a potential contributor, and I will sometimes appeal to Brian or Teri or Cathleen for advice. But when a writer knocks my socks off — knocks them all the way across the room — there is nothing to think about.<\/p>\n

I owe formal introductions for John, and for all the wonderful writers we added last week. For now, here is John’s email in its entirety:<\/p>\n

Hi Greg:<\/p>\n

1995-6: I was 26 and four years out from earning my BA in journalism when Web 1.0 happened. I spent those four years tending bar and working in ski shops while I started to build a portfolio of feature-length articles. My girlfriend  managed an apartment complex, and I met Bill while hanging out in her office. Bill had a computer setup straight out of the movie War Games, complete with a voice modulator (“Hello, Bill. Would you Read more<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lately, I’m getting two or three requests a day to write with us. They come from sweet, smart, earnest people, and, while I look at everything they send to me, I usually don’t have time to write back and decline their requests. That’s the one part of this job I really hate, because I’ve always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,29,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-blogging","7":"category-group-therapy","8":"category-marketing","9":"category-real-estate","11":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11883,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/11883\/welcoming-a-new-contributor-to-bloodhoundblog-alex-cortez\/","url_meta":{"origin":3309,"position":0},"title":"Welcoming a new contributor to BloodhoundBlog: Alex Cortez","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"We're adding a new contributor today, regular commenter and long-time friend of BloodhoundBlog, Alex Cortez. Alex writes all around the RE.et, so you may know him from otherwhere. I'm mainly ignoring requests from people who say they want to write here, but Alex went beyond persistence in his campaign. More\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1981,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1981\/the-voices-of-bitter-experience-activerains-petition-against-move-inc-is-a-heart-breaking-sob-story-with-no-legal-merit\/","url_meta":{"origin":3309,"position":1},"title":"The voices of bitter experience: ActiveRain’s petition against Move, Inc., is a heart-breaking sob story with no legal merit","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I've read ActiveRain's lawsuit against Move, Inc., twice now. I had thought that I might parse the document, to show its fundamental weaknesses, but this isn't necessary. It's so weak that we can knock the whole thing down in a few paragraphs. The gist of the document is an extended\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1437,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1437\/60-minutes-redux-what-it-means-to-be-nordstrom\/","url_meta":{"origin":3309,"position":2},"title":"60 Minutes Redux – What it means to be Nordstrom","author":"Morgan Brown","date":"May 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"After the fur is done flying over the 60 Minutes piece what are we left with? What has really changed? Has Redfin \"revolutionized\" real estate? Well if offering rebates on commission is considered revolutionary count me among the witnesses. With 6, soon to be 8 markets, I think there is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4101,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4101\/why-are-we-wasting-our-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":3309,"position":3},"title":"Why Are We Wasting Our Time?","author":"Glenn Kelman","date":"August 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past few days, Redfin got into it with a bunch of other real estate websites. What else is new? In an argument about who has the most homes for sale, which began on TechCrunch and continued on Redfin's blog, one participant argued that what consumers really care about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Redfin\\'s Search Options","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/redfinfilteringoptions.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1488,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1488\/trulian-overdue-improvement-zillowcom-makes-home-qa-searchable-by-location\/","url_meta":{"origin":3309,"position":4},"title":"Trulian overdue improvement: Zillow.com makes Home Q&A searchable by location","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"From the Zillow Blog:One request we received over and over again (including impassioned pleas from our own president, Lloyd Frink) was to let people see a list of Home Q&A in their city or ZIP code. Agents and other real estate professionals want to see what questions are being asked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":959,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/959\/mortgage-origination-is-a-contact-sport\/","url_meta":{"origin":3309,"position":5},"title":"Mortgage Origination Is A Contact Sport","author":"Brian Brady","date":"January 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Mortgage origination is a contact sport. It's retailing. It's selling. Too many of us can get caught up in the irrelevant tasks that top producing originators simply refuse to do. Why do we fall into the task trap rather than be focused on dollar productive activities? We do it because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}