Friday, January 18, 2013  Ten Thousand Shades of Romance  I'm
baking chocolate-peanut butter chip cookies right now and
contemplating my next freelance career move. Do I pursue an
invitation to write a "sure-to-be-Hollywood-blockbuster,"
including an all-expenses paid trip to the Caribbean to meet
with the client? Do I trust in those repeat clients who have
proven themselves awesome beyond belief and thoroughly non-
delusional? Or do I say "Pshaw! Who writes those Benjamin Moore
paint color names? I want a gig like that!"  Don't laugh. I've
always wanted to be the one who gets paid to come up with names
for paint colors or nail polish shades. Someone does it, right?
Why can't it be me?  They're not marketing to the right
audience. When was the last time you witnessed a man standing at
the paint sample cards for an hour? For longer than it took to
belch up his last chili cheese dog? The same people picking out
these shades are the same ones buying romance and beyond, which
is my polite term for Fifty Shades. Wh