Working on Saturday?!?

A few years ago I decided I was no longer going to schedule work in the evenings and on weekends. (I still have to do it occasionally, but it's no longer a regular thing.) This weekend, though, I'm finishing up a group of 25 articles for a Monday morning deadline. The very last step is uploading them; the next-to-the-last step is writing "teasers," the metadescription copy that appears with the Google search results. They're very much like teasers on TV, the short bits that are designed to get you to watch the next episode or stay tuned for the following show. I used to have a hard time writing them. But then I got interested in Deadliest Catch, and decided to catch up (so to speak) by streaming the first five seasons on Netflix and watching one episode after another. Now all I have to do is imagine Mike Rowe saying, "Next time, on Deadliest Catch…" and I swear it just comes to me.

If only I could find a way to do that with titles. I'm not great at titles, I freely admit it. Fortunately, the topic I'm working on this month is pretty serious and calls for titles that aren't too flip or glib. Otherwise, I get kind of stymied. H. Allen Smith, one of my favorite writers, wrote once about a magazine writer named Quentin Reynolds. He cranked out articles by the dozen, and hated coming up with titles. It was hard for him, and even when he did come up with one he thought was good, the magazine's editors would inevitably change it. So eventually he started calling every article, "Christmas in Many Lands with Quentin Reynolds."

Works for me.

Oh! And before I forget, if you're a Baby Boomer, or know any, in the DFW area, don't miss Jean Keener's talk this coming Tuesday, 8/17, at the Keller Library. She'll be giving advice on Social Security and how to maximize our benefits. From the flyer:

• Five factors to consider when deciding when to apply for benefits
• Why you should always check your earnings record for accuracy
• How to coordinate benefits with your spouse
• How to minimize taxes on Social Security benefits
• How to coordinate Social Security with your other sources of retirement income

Apparently SS benefits aren't just cut-and-dried, and it's probably a really good idea to know how and why. Jean is smart and very well informed, and these talks are a great opportunity to ask questions — for free — and get advice from a financial expert.

See you there. Now, back to work!