Alert the media. I logged off my computer for two full days and focused on other things, like my family, my fitness, and — if you can believe it — baking bread. We’ve been getting a fair amount of snow in the Seattle area, which is great weather to enjoy home cooking. 
Have you baked bread with active yeast lately? Talk about getting back to basics. The simplest food on Earth. You’d think I could do it myself. My first attempt – failure. My second attempt — a second failure. Working with active yeast has a certain Goldilocks quality to it. The water you use to activate the yeast can’t be too hot or too cold. It has to be just right. Being the occasional cook that I am, I didn’t have a temperature gauge in the kitchen to accurately measure the water temperature, so what did I do? I winged it. And I failed twice. I switched gears to prepare homemade pesto and macaroni-and-cheese to achieve some measure of meal preparation success. Then, I came back later in the day and tried again. The third time was a charm. The focaccia bread I baked — and just about worried to death — earned smiles all around.
DIY Publicity Tip: What is there to learn from this? We’ll, here is one obvious lesson. We are all best at the skills we use most often. My press release writing and storytelling skills are in great shape because I use them every day. My bread baking skills are not so hot. The other lesson, of course, is one I am happy to share with my 11-year-old son. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Just like pitching a story, the first effort may not deliver the “yes” you seek. If your story is worth telling, you have to re-work your approach, refine your message, and target it to the right reporter. You may have to appeal to several reporters before you strike “ink and air.” Whether you are pitching a story or baking bread with active yeast, the satisfaction of taking on a new task and achieving a winning result is rewarding, well worth the effort, and potentially delicious. Go ahead and put your hands in the storytelling dough. Free publicity just may rise from the effort.
