Archives for February 2018

Do you know how readable your writing is? You can – and you should! With all the tools available to you these days, there’s no excuse not to know. I assure you that your target audiences know – instinctively. Once they start reading what you’ve written, they’ll keep going – or quit – depending on how easy or hard it is … [Read more...] about How Readable Is Your Writing? (Part 1)

“Maybe at last,” wrote Jack Smith, the late great author and Los Angeles Times columnist, “we are throwing out old Miss Thistleblossom’s notion that the preposition is a bad thing to end a sentence with.” He added: “If we could purge the English-speaking world of this foolish teaching, we might eliminate the … [Read more...] about Writing: The Preposition Position

In speaking, and in writing, it’s important that the words we choose accurately convey our meaning. One young man learned this the hard way when he sought advice from a friend on how to make a good first impression on the attractive new female employee in his department. “Compliment her on her good looks,” his friend … [Read more...] about Words: Loaded Pistols

Columnist and author Bob Greene once commented: “The way I see it, every one of us in the writing business starts off with precisely the same tools, the 26 letters of the alphabet. All we can do is try to arrange those 26 letters in a different way than anyone else has before.” Whether speaking or writing, that’s … [Read more...] about Twenty-six – That’s All You Get!

In my last post, I told you about a poet named Myra Brooks Welch and the handicaps she overcame to follow her dream. But I found the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby even more amazing. A French journalist and magazine editor, he suffered a massive stroke at age 43, which left him mentally alert, but locked in a body that … [Read more...] about Want to Write That Book? What’s Stopping You? (Part 2)

Columnist and author Bob Greene once commented: “The way I see it, every one of us in the writing business starts off with precisely the same tools, the 26 letters of the alphabet. All we can do is try to arrange those 26 letters in a different way than anyone else has before.” Whether speaking or writing, that’s … [Read more...] about Twenty-six – That’s All You Get!

Say what? When was the last time you came across that word (if ever)? When I typed in “deportment” on Google, I was immediately asked if I meant “department.” No, the word I wanted was indeed “deportment,” and I hadn’t seen or heard it in years. I subscribe to a weekly ezine from a Pennsylvania physician, who began … [Read more...] about How’s Your Deportment?