February « 2009 « Leslie Lang, Hawaii Writer

Archive for February, 2009

The Magic of Letters: I Believe It, Too

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged NPR, personal histories, Reading, Stories, Writing on February 20, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Wow. I am a huge believer in reading and writing and the power of it all — but have a look or listen to this woman from Nepal, who was a child bride and didn’t learn to read until she was 21.
The story she tells — her story — is enormous and beautiful. Now that [...]

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Honolulu On The Cheap

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Blogging, Freelance Writer, Freelance Writing, Freelancing, Hawaii, Self-Employed, Work on February 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Here goes: A “soft launch” of my new project!
I’ll bring out the balloons and party streamers later soon, but for now, I’ll just tell you:
I’ve launched a new website. It’s called Honolulu On The Cheap, and it’s all about cheap, discounted and free things to do in Honolulu and on O‘ahu in general. It will be [...]

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“This I Believe” on the Importance of Preserving Family Stories

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Family, personal histories, Writers, Writing on February 14, 2009 | 1 Comment »

I mentioned that I’ve become a member of the Association of Personal Historians, and I just listened to an interesting “This I Believe” audio story by Stefani Twyford, one of its members, on Houston Public Radio. She talks about family stories and working as a personal historian. From her essay:
Each time I coax a story out of [...]

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My Words Are Gonna Linger – Personal Histories

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged personal histories, Writing on February 12, 2009 | 4 Comments »

It’s one of my new writing interests, and something I’ve almost always been fascinated by (my uncle once told me I was born a genealogist) — I’m planning to start writing personal and family histories for people, in order to help preserve some of the great stories people carry around with them.
Recently I joined the [...]

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Hamakua Springs Blogging Tidbits

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Blogging, Freelancing, Hamakua Springs, Writing on February 6, 2009 | 3 Comments »

One of my favorite jobs is managing the blog Ha Ha Ha! over at Hamakua Springs Country Farms, and this week I got to write a couple posts that I especially enjoying delving into.
The first was about Brudda Skibs, who recently participated in a sustainability festival Hamakua Springs owner Richard Ha helped coordinate. What an incredible [...]

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Writer/Editorial Consultant

These days it’s especially important that your business stands out. That it gets noticed. How do you make that happen?
We work together and make sure your potential clients know your story.
When there are two comparable brands of the same product available, which one do people buy? They buy from the company whose name they remember. The company they know something about.
• The one whose products win awards.
• The one whose president builds Habitat for Humanity homes on weekends.
• The one whose product came about because Grandma won a ribbon at the County Fair when she was a girl.
Let’s tell your story – in whatever way makes sense for your particular business. I can help you figure that out.
As a writer and editorial consultant, I help with your written communications.
I work with some clients occasionally, as needed for a specific project, and others on an ongoing basis.
My clients set the pace: Some know exactly what they want. With others, we brainstorm together to find the right mix of keeping their company name out there, showing their products in the best light and catching people’s attention.
Perhaps you haven’t been sending out press releases to announce new happenings with your products, your industry and your employees, and consequently your company name isn’t in the forefront of people’s minds as it could be.
I can help you clarify your message, figure out what needs to be written, as well as when and how, and get it done.
Maybe you want to resurrect or start up a newsletter in order to be in better touch with your clients. I can help with that. Do you need:
• Fresher website copy?
• A letter to go out to your customers/clients?
• A media kit?
• An employee manual?
• A blog?
May I ghostwrite a newspaper or trade magazine article for you and make sure it gets into the right editor’s hands?
• Need help crafting a speech?
• What about a brochure or some other written material?
Because I’ve been doing this for some years now, I have lots of ideas and a good sense of what works and how to do it.
In addition, one of my strengths is taking information and asking the right questions until the details and especially the significance – the importance – are clear to everybody else, too.
It means you may have to answer a lot of questions at first, but I am good at pinpointing the questions that need to be asked and won’t waste your time.
And as I get to know your company better over time, our work together will become even more powerful.
One of my long-time clients hired me as a result of Honolulu magazine assigning me to write about his business. After that article appeared, he called me and said that in all the articles that had been written about his business over the years, no one had ever gotten his story just right like I did.
Yet all I did was listen. I didn’t assume which were the important aspects of his story; I listened to what he told me was important, and I shaped the article around that.
I don’t write about his business for magazines anymore; now I write about his business for him. We’ve been working together now for years.
If you could use help with your business’s written materials – and telling your stories clearly and effectively – I’d be happy to discuss how we might work together.
Please call me at 808 964-1494, or email me at leslie AT leslielang.com.
Member of FBI (From Big Island) Blogs
Hawaii Freelance Writer

A long-time freelance writer, one of my specialties is writing about Hawaii and its people, places, business, culture and more.
My articles have been about everything from the tiny, endangered wekiu bug atop Mauna Kea to multi-million-dollar custom, luxury homes; from growing kalo and pounding poi to digitizing 19th-century Hawaiian language newspapers.
My Hawaii-related articles have appeared in many newspapers, magazines, books and on blogs. My personal essays about Hawaii have aired on NPR’s All Things Considered and elsewhere.
Coming myself from a part-Hawaiian family on the Big Island, I am tapped in to the people, places and things of these Hawaiian Islands. And even beyond that, I’ve studied Hawaiian cultural anthropology formally, earning a master’s degree from the University of Hawaii in that subject area, which nicely complements my journalism degree.
It’s tremendously satisfying to me that two of my strongest interests, Hawaii and writing, have come together so well.
I am currently accepting assignments for writing on Hawaii and other topics. You can reach me at 808 964-1494 or leslie AT leslielang.com.
Photography

The photo at top is of the volcano Halemaumau on the Big Island of Hawaii, copyright 2008 Macario.

Need photos for your article or project? Macario is an amazing photographer of all things Hawaii. www.macariohawaii.com
macario@macariohawaii.com
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Leslie Lang, Hawaii Writer

Living The Good (Writer’s) Life in Hawaii

Archive for February, 2009

The Magic of Letters: I Believe It, Too

Honolulu On The Cheap

“This I Believe” on the Importance of Preserving Family Stories

My Words Are Gonna Linger – Personal Histories

Hamakua Springs Blogging Tidbits

Writer/Editorial Consultant

Member of FBI (From Big Island) Blogs

Hawaii Freelance Writer

Photography

Recent Blog Posts

Subjects I’ve Blogged About

Archives

What’s She Up To Now?