Blog
“Position” Your Ideas For Success
Al Ries and Jack Trout co-authored a classic marketing book, Positioning, more than 25 years ago. The book’s ideas contain many applications for writing, and I often refer to them in my workshops.
The book got a rewrite a few years ago, but the message remained the same. The most important idea, with the greatest impact [...]
The Source of Grammar and Usage
“The plain people, hereafter as in the past, will continue to make their own language, and the best that grammarians can do is to follow after it, haltingly, and not often with much insight into it.” H. L. Mencken, The American Language (1936)
As the above quote clearly tells us, grammarians don’t make the rules for [...]
Writing’s Ongoing Battle: Creation vs. Analysis
Most people waste time and energy at every stage of the writing process! Business Writing Solutions teaches a six-step process you can apply to any kind of writing: on the job, personal, technical, creative–whatever. Keep the steps separate, and keep them in sequence, and I guarantee better writing that takes less time.
Split-brain studies offer insights [...]
Myself: The Most Misused Word?
I can’t help it. My mother was a college English professor who made sure I did it right from the day I began talking (and writing). I notice every grammar mistake, even if I’m not looking for it. And nearly everyone, it seems, misuses myself these days.
John, Mary and myself agree with you.
It was important [...]
Tell It Like It Is: Conversational Writing
Writing often fails because we consider the written word different from other forms of communication. But what works best face-to-face, or person-to-person, works just as well (and exactly the same way) in writing.
What are we thinking?? Business writing isn’t choosing and slapping together phrases that sound impressive: “Pursuant to your request, enclosed please find herewith…” [...]
Eliminate Half The Words You Write!
BREAKING OLD HABITS
Habits from days gone by still affect our writing. Teachers assigned papers and essays to us in school, and required a specific number of words or pages. We groaned, sat down and wrote everything we could on the topic. Then we did the dreaded “word count.” Inevitably, we ended up dozens (or hundreds) [...]
Do You Love Needless Phrases?
DO YOU LOVE NEEDLESS PHRASES?
Writers often use phrases that don’t add to their writing. They put them in every document, and think they’re using good writing technique and good communication. Turn them loose with a letter or memo, and some will use one to begin every paragraph.
Readers skip those phrases completely, and may turn the [...]
Business Writing: See The Big Picture
For the past six and a half years I’ve written this monthly newsletter, focusing on small ideas and pieces of the total process we call Business Writing. From time to time, it’s a good idea to step back and look at the big picture. I promise you: reading and applying this month’s information will revolutionize [...]
Full StoryLincoln’s Gettysburg Address
The best writing reaches a desired reader (or readers) at levels comfortable to their reading ability. If you write something too hard for people to read and understand, you’re not likely to enjoy much success.
Many people consider the Gettysburg Address the greatest American speech. For decades, middle school students have struggled to memorize it. Nearly [...]
Check Your Writing’s Readability
Check Your Writing’s Readability
The best writing reaches readers at levels comfortable to their reading ability. If you write something too hard for people to read and understand, you won’t enjoy much success.
“Readability” charts are not new. Nearly 60 years ago both Rudolph Flesch and Robert Gunning devised simple ways to measure the difficulty level of [...]
