What’s the easiest way to get a response from your readers? Ask for it. Seriously. You’d be surprised how many emails, presentations, and other documents don’t. Yet, it’s one of the quickest, simplest ways to improve the effectiveness of every document you write. In this post, I’ll show you some specific examples. They’re all based on a simple, yet powerful concept borrowed from the world of advertising. Read More
The easiest way to get a response in business communications.
Posted in Communication Tips, General Writing, Presentations 4 Comments
The best writing mistakes and how to make them.
Make mistakes. Make a lot of them. And make them often. It’s the only way to get your thoughts on paper, and you’ll enjoy the writing process more. I actually damaged some muscles in my hands several years ago, because I was so excited about something I was writing that I spent too many hours pounding the keyboard too hard. Fortunately, my hands recovered after an extended writing break (as in months, not days), but I’m still convinced that the best way to write is with enthusiastic, mistake-laden abandon. Here’s why. Read More
Posted in Communication Tips, General Writing 9 Comments
Three grammar rules that are okay to break.
Grammar is great. You should learn the basics of good grammar and stick to them. It’s not that hard. Just remember that grammar is supposed to add clarity to your communication. Not confusion. So if it comes to a choice between clear communication and “correct” communication, always choose clarity – even if you have to break a grammar rule now and then. Here are three rules that are very breakable. I’ll explain why. Read More
Posted in Grammar & Spelling, Uncategorized 13 Comments
What your English teacher never should have taught you.
It’s a dark art. Most of us learned it first as schoolchildren and then perfected it later as college freshmen. We did it because the teacher asked for a three-page paper, but we only had two pages worth of meaningful thoughts. So we blathered on about nothing, repeating ourselves…rambling…struggling to reach the bottom of page three. Along the way, we learned how to write extra words just to fill space. It got us through school. But it’s killing our business communications. And it raises a very important question…. Read More
Posted in General Writing, Presentations 11 Comments
What I learned from a film critic about good and bad writing.
A number of years ago, I created some TV spots for a major metro newspaper. The idea was to showcase some of the paper’s better-known writers and offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their world. Instead of scripting the ads ahead of time, I would stand behind the cameraman and interview each journalist. Then we would cut the footage together and, effectively, write the TV commercials after they had already been shot. Since I like to know what makes other writers tick, the project was a blast. But the most interesting moment of all came with a comment from the paper’s film critic. Read More
Posted in General Writing 5 Comments
How to write like Julia Child.
Suddenly, America is taking a fresh look at one of its great communicators, Julia Child. And love is in the air. Her magnum opus, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, has rocketed to dizzying new heights atop other New York Times bestsellers. Health-crazed, 21st century Americans are now secretly slipping into rich crème sauces and pounds of butter. Julia is again changing the way a generation thinks about food. She is getting away with it because she was such a wonderful communicator. Julia Child knew how to write, and my dear daughter-in-law thinks she knows why. Read More
The Affect Effect and how to get it right.
I completely empathize with anyone who struggles over the uses of affect and effect – words that sound the same, but aren’t. I gained my empathy for the spelling confused by traveling to England for a couple of weeks. The weeks turned into months and the months eventually added up to nine years. This was long enough for me to marry a lovely English rose, begin my professional life as writer, and become nearly fluent in a second language (British English). But the experience completely wrecked my spelling. Read More
Posted in Grammar & Spelling 3 Comments
What kind of writing ends up in my bucket of scraps?
In my previous post (Helpful advice on saving your scraps.), I explained how I became a bolder, faster editor by creating a section for scraps at the end of my documents. If there’s a sentence or paragraph in my rough draft that doesn’t quite fit, I no longer fret over whether to keep or delete it. Instead, I just cut it out and paste it into my list of scraps at the end of the document. If I change my mind later, I can always put it back in the document. What kinds of content usually end up in my bucket of scraps? Great question. Read More
Posted in General Writing 5 Comments
Helpful advice on saving your scraps.
One of the all-time toughest choices for any business writer is deciding what to leave in your rough draft and what to take out. This vexed me for years. I would waste precious hours trying to decide whether a particular phrase, sentence, or paragraph should stay in my text or go. Finally, I figured out a way to make decision-making easier, and it has sped up my writing ever since. Read More
Posted in General Writing 4 Comments
Life is too short to memorize 25,376 writing tips.
If you’ve ever looked at all the things you need to do to become a better communicator…and panicked…then, this is for you. Read More »