Do you love poetry? Hate it? Feel indifferent? Every writer should read poetry and take a stab at writing it. Even if it’s not really your thing, your prose writing will improve if you’re at least acquainted with the basics of poetry and the more well-known poets. Some people think poetry is boring or stupid, … Read more
Do writers need a specific degree to be successful? Can you get writing skills without college? You’ve probably wondered about that if you’re an aspiring writer who never went to college. Could be you majored in something practical like business or computer science, or you earned a two-year technical degree. But now you want to … Read more
I’ve known that transitions are important, but I had quite an eye-opener recently. Just a few days ago, I received an email from a fellow writer, and I opened it right away. It was one of his business newsletters, which are almost always interesting or thought-provoking. His writing is usually excellent as well. But this … Read more
Can you write a 1000-word article on a topic you know little or nothing about? Of course you could. Do some reading, take lots of notes, and get to work. Let’s face it. Very little you write is completely original—you learned it from somewhere. Even if it’s a personal experience essay, the slant you take … Read more
The time to begin an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say. —Mark Twain Editing is just as important as writing—maybe even more important. If you can edit your work effectively, your rough draft … Read more
For over a week it’s been all about the weather here on the east coast of the US. I’m a Weather Channel junkie, and though I don’t watch it on TV anymore (I pulled that plug awhile back), I do check in regularly online. So I knew there was a high probability of a serious … Read more
How many spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors can you count in one of your recent blog posts or email newsletters? Go ahead. Go count them. Take your time, read out loud, take it sentence by sentence. How many mistakes did you find? If you didn’t find any, try again. Almost every blog post has at … Read more
Subtitle: Avoid everyone, everybody, nobody, and no one unless you’re 100% sure of your facts or you’re in marketing. Why? Because there’s almost always an exception.
Case in point: Seth Godin’s blog post Talker’s Block. In the first paragraph, he establishes his argument by asserting that “no one ever gets talker’s block.”
In an article about managerial techniques and effective leadership, a writer compares “toughness” on one end of a spectrum with “being more touchy-feely” on the opposite end. Given workplace restrictions on both touching and feeling, I stopped to consider what this writer might mean. “Touchy-feely,” in my experience, is an expression used sarcastically by people … Read more