{"id":1,"date":"2024-02-02T18:53:25","date_gmt":"2024-02-02T18:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atwright.net\/?p=1"},"modified":"2025-10-28T18:06:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T23:06:48","slug":"viral-journalsim-easy-mode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atwright.net\/?p=1","title":{"rendered":"Writing a Viral Story – Easy Mode"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So, in January 2024, as I started my journey looking for a new job, an opportunity to freelance arose. It was Restaurant Week, and my friend Kevin Haas asked me if I wanted to write a piece on a local restaurant. I suggested my favorite pizza place in town – a locally-owned nondescript neighborhood Italian restaurant named Giuseppe’s Italian Restaurant & Pizza<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, I know a little bit about pizza – my friend Max Gersh and I hosted a podcast called “The Weirdoughs”<\/a> where we’d eat pizza from a different local place each week and talk about Pizza… and life. So I’ve had my fair share of Pizza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what I didn’t expect was an outpouring of love for this little-known spot from generations of neighbors former and current. 40 years of built up goodwill over two generations led to one of the best read stories of Restaurant Week<\/a> – more than 1600 organic responses on Facebook, and more that 250 shares and comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Rockford, and for the Rock River Current, this was a huge impression, and a nice way to keep my name and writing in front of an engaged audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There wasn’t an expectation of this “going viral” on a local level, but it did because of the hard work and high standards of this great little dive of a restaurant that had never lost sight of their methods of success: Make a Good Product.<\/strong> People will be loyal if your product consistently hits the mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that’s the most important takeaway one can have when writing – seek out an exceptional subject, be consistent with your excellence, and you can keep doing what you love for a long time.<\/p>\n

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