I like the challenge of finding just the right word to match the rhyme and meter. It s like a puzzle. What makes the challenge even greater is that the poetry has to sound conversational and modern. Greeting card writers choose their prose to fit the sender, whose style of speech is often different from their own. There are some words that men typically don t use in conversation, like treasure, joy, or precious.
All writers learn the speaking styles of different types of people in different situations.
As she writes, Nicole identifies the feelings the sender will want to express. Nicole usually spends between a day and a week working on each card, but she develops some card concepts over months. And in a pinch, she can finish a card in an hour. Even after working to find the perfect words, however, card writers might never see their original text in print. They submit their work to editors who make or recommend changes.