It's also one that bolsters my respect for my Herald brothers and sisters, experts at sales, who use their skills to sell ads to pay my salary. As a former reporter and now an editorial writer, I've lost a few advertisers for the newspaper, not to mention subscribers, angry at what I've put in the paper. It doesn't help that prime duck-selling season falls during election season, which for editorial writers, up to their ears in candidates and political letters, is akin to tax season for an accountant or December for Santa Claus. So, I've developed some strategies to help sell the 50 tickets my club has assigned to me. First, I ask my family.
Mom is a pushover, of course, and usually good for five tickets.
So far, she hasn't found out I also hit her household up through Dad with varying success every year. My sisters and brother also have contributed the four years I've asked them. One of my longtime duck customers is Assistant City Editor Chris Sivula. I've been a big fan of his sweet daughter Lauren since she was born and, consequently, a sucker for her Christmas wrapping paper pitch to benefit her school. These days, she sells car wash tickets to benefit her gymnastics program.