The Hammock Blog

Here at Hammock, we're all pretty serious about our morning coffee (or tea, if you're Megan M.)--and most of us have chosen our coffee mugs with care. Here's a fun look at the cups we reach for each morning when we stumble sleepy-eyed into our headquarters on West End Avenue in Nashville.

The Hammock offices are often buzzing with the sound of interviews. Voices asking questions across tables and phone lines, getting the information we need to write awesome stories for our client publications.

But recently we decided to turn the tables and interview each other. We don't expect these interviews to make it into any award-winning publications, but we did learn a lot about each other and about ourselves as a team. For instance:

At Hammock, we have a talented staff of writers and editors who contribute to the magazines, Web sites and other media we produce for associations, but we also rely on a network of amazing freelance writers and photographers to help us tell our clients' stories. What does it take for a freelancer to catch our eye? We asked Hammock editors to share their thoughts on the topic. Check out the Q & A below for tips on writing winning queries, impressing editors and building ongoing relationships with publications.

Hammock created and hosts
this pre-conference community for the
Society of National Association Publications.

To generate interest in the event and provide a place online for attendees to set up user profiles, discuss the agenda, interact with speakers and network, Hammock has created a pre-event online conference community for SNAP. The site, which launched this month, is managed and hosted by members of Hammock's social media team.

This week, Hammock's design team let me pick their brains about the covers of our favorite magazines. After taking a look at 10 titles, each designer picked their favorite and explained why. The verdict?

For Lynne Boyer, the great photography and simple design of Garden and Gun is a winner. Kerri Davis was drawn to the big graphics and creative cover blurb placement of Texas Monthly, and Ben Stewart was drawn to ESPN's unique photo of basketball star Kobe Bryant kicking a soccer ball.

Check out the video and they'll tell you more—and reveal which big-name magazine cover they didn’t care for.

With so many outdoor buffs at Hammock, it's easy to catch spring fever around here. Now that the sun is shining and the weather is warm, we're all fighting the temptation to spend every waking minute outside (I write as I gaze wistfully out my office window). As soon as it's quitting time, many of us head straight for the trails, lake, garden, etc.; in fact, some of us are even taking up new outdoor hobbies. So, what can you find us doing?

Last fall, when the economic downturn became a daily news topic, it didn't take long to get a little sick of all of the doom-and-gloom reports. On one hand, it is what it is. The economy stinks. But on the other hand, come on already!

That's why we decided to take matters into our own hands, and shine a different light on the economic downturn with the April/May MyBusiness cover story, "A Helping Hand: How small business is stepping up to end the recession."