I Am a Persuader.

When I took over the school yearbook, it was a perennial money-loser for our PTA. A stack of yearbooks would sit, sad and forlorn and unpurchased, at the end of the school year.

I ordered the same amount of yearbooks my predecessor had, but not only did we sell out, we had people clamoring for them even after the school year had ended. I wish I could tell you why.

I wish I could tell you about the clever sales strategy I had used, or the brilliant verbal tactics I employed -- but I can't. I don't know why I am successful at persuasive writing. All I know is, I put a couple of reminders in the newsletter that seemed to strike a chord with people, and they responded.

This isn't the first time something like that has happened to me. When I was fresh from college, working for a small independent public relations agency, the owner gave me an account to work on. It was a small, non-profit account with no budget, a winter lights festival in central Illinois.

I doubled the attendance to this event without the use of advertising, just story placements in the area media outlets. Included in these media outlets was a newspaper whose publisher was at odds with the festival's sponsor, but who changed his mind after talking to me and reading my press releases.

If I could point to some effort on my part, I would feel I was bragging here. But I honestly have no idea how or why the words I put together seem to work. In fact, my deliberate attempts at cleverness do not meet with the same level of success. Yet when I just honestly and plainly put two words together, they seem to inspire action.

I could make someone a lot of money some day.

Why I Would Be an Asset to Any Organization

Just because I haven't seen a paycheck with my name on it in nine years doesn't mean I've lost touch with the world. I have my very own blog with which I routinely practice basic HTML formatting like centering text and making words BIG! and inserting important links and great things like that.

I've also written the school newsletter and yearbook, and served as the parent liaison between the school and the school district's communications officer. I'm trying my best not to rest on my laurels as I try to make it back to the land of the living paid workforce.

But most importantly, I would like my tenure in my current position to be seen by others as I saw it when I made the decision to be a full-time mom: I tackled a daunting set of responsibilities and committed myself to fulfilling my duties to the fullest extent. I didn't "take time off" from any job, I threw myself completely and utterly into a different one.

That's the same thing I will do for anyone who hires me. I will throw myself into the job and give it my full attention and apply my considerable talents toward the challenges that lay ahead of me.

Plus, if anyone wants someone who can juggle many tasks under pressure, I will have him/her know that I had to de-skunk a dog at 1:30 a.m. while caring for two small children with the stomach flu while my husband was out of town.