The only people I ever talk to in elevators are friends and babies. Certainly not strangers, especially in Japan. But I’ve been challenged to think about how I would describe this blog to an inquiring-but-not-necessarily-caring stranger, in the time it takes to ride an elevator, were such a socially-inappropriate elevator conversation to occur.
Why? Well, this project is still in its infancy and I want to focus on quality writing from day one, so I’m off to blogging boot camp. I stumbled upon a community of blogger-writers over at “Yeah Write,” and decided to join their “31 Days to Build a Better Blog” challenge. I’m kind of in the wrong time zone for this, so I’m already technically a day behind, but here goes day one, the “Elevator Pitch” in 150 words or less.
If you’re a fellow blogger reading this and it sounds like a good idea, feel free to join me for the “ride” and think about how you’d pitch your own blog along the way…
“Yeah, it’s about how my dad’s an evil heartless dictator who’s turned to the dark side and is trying to kill me.”
“Huh, sounds interesting.”
Because this is meant to be a conversation, I’m going to write it out in dialogue form, since just quoting an About-Page-like blurb would probably make me sound like a robot or an over-enthusiastic salesperson. Here’s how I imagine the conversation might go…
Step one: Give a short, punchy synopsis:
“So, you write a blog?”
“Yeah, it’s called “Breaking Moulds.” It’s a new project, an adventure of the mind, to explore my compulsive tendency to break moulds in areas like faith, gender, and video games.”
Step two: If they haven’t fallen asleep immediately, proceed with caution:
“Huh, sounds interesting…”
“Thanks. I just got tired of having superficial conversations about the weather, you know, and I really want to get to the heart of matters with strangers.”
Step three: If they’re still tracking with you, and haven’t reached their floor yet, move in for the kill.
“So, what kind of stuff do you write about?”
“Well, my latest article was called “The Gospel of Hate,” about how Christians generally have way too much hate and not nearly enough love for people, as illustrated by their response to the gay marriage debate in America. You can check it out, if you’re interested. (note: this description changes each time, obviously, depending on what your latest post was.)
“Yeah, that sounds really cool, I wish we could talk more but we’re almost at my floor. What’s the address?”
“Breaking Moulds Dot Com. Canadian spelling, so don’t forget the “u!”
“Breaking Moulds, got it. Have a good one!”
“You, too!”
Step four: Wait until they’ve left the elevator and the doors have shut before you do a happy dance. If you intentionally missed your floor along the way, so as not to cut the conversation off prematurely, re-press the appropriate floor button and continue on course.
That’s all, folks. Please do let me know what you think of my pitch: If you were the stranger in the elevator with me, would you be hooked, or would you be praying for your floor to come sooner? Any critiques, suggestions or ideas?
Also, if you want to give it a shot, post your “Elevator Pitch” in the comments below and I promise to give you some honest and hopefully helpful feedback. Cheers!
Breaking Moulds 
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after
I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m
not writing all that over again. Anyways, just wanted to say fantastic blog!
I would think both Luke and Darth Vader are giving elevator pitches.
Darth Vader: Join me against the emperor. We could be awesome using the Dark Side.
Luke: Join me on the light side. We may not have cookies, but we do have milk.
Bwahahahaha yeah that must be what they’re saying! 🙂
Love the Star Wars pic and caption 🙂
Thanks! I would say I’d love to read Luke Skywalker’s blog, but knowing him it would probably end up being really whiny. My friends and I used to play a “drinking game” (with coca cola, because we were in high school), of watching Episode IV and drinking any time he whined. We went through a lot of pop!
That’s hysterical!
first I just have to say that I love that picture of Luke & DV. crack me up.
here’s a thought: what if your pitch went from the title “breaking moulds” to your second dialogue line: “I write the blog because I got tired of superficial conversations and websites filled with chit-chat. I want to get to the heart of the matter right away, no matter what I write about–and usually I write about breaking the moulds of faith, gender, and of course, video games. Yeah. Video Games.” If you’re a person of faith and if one of the tenets of your blog is that people of faith shouldn’t like video games, you might add that in at the end in some fashion. Or not.
But it looks good thus far–yay
Cool, so start from my “step two” sentence and work my way to the blog theme from there. I like that idea because it seems like it eases in a little more naturally. Thanks!
I love that you said “my compulsive tendency to break moulds in areas like faith, gender, and video games.” And that it is compulsive. You go!!
Thanks! And happy 40th, by the way! 😉
Stopping by from YeahWrite 31dbbb.
@JLenniDorner
*Dies of laughter at the Star Wars image*
I’d be interested because I always am interested when someone says they will break a mold/mould in genders and video games.
(Hundreds of gamer girls in Halo. Barbie’s magic pony still the only #$%! thing the video game industry wants to sell to females. Marketing opportunity FAIL.)
(Moms— still the ONLY people who feed children. Sorry single dads, aunts, uncles, cousins, and even grandparents!)
(Men- still the ONLY ones who buy and drive cars.)
(Women- still the only ones who read, and certainly the only humans who have an interest in stories where humans engage in coitus. Sure is a good thing that humans are asexual… wait a minute… wait… hang on… that isn’t right! I could have sworn males had an interest in mating, and that the straight ones had a strong interest in figuring out how to get the straight females to mate with them… Hmm…. something sure is fishy!)
I’ve gone off tangent. Sorry. Anyway, I liked your pitch.
Indeed, I’m planning to get more into the gender in gaming topic as time goes on. 31dbbb is ruling my life at the moment. I think at-home-dad blogs are a cool window into a different kind of mould-breaker (one that I don’t really have the option to be for obvious reasons). I wish I could be a stay-at-home-dad, though, just so I could have the blog notthemomma.com
Thanks for the encouragement!
I found your elevator pitch really interesting. Will surely follow your blog!
Cool, thank you! I’ll be sure to check yours out as well! （＾Ｏ＾）