I have added a new word to my vocabulary. Logorrhea. We’ve all been touched by it. What is it? The Word Spy defines it, “excessive verbosity and long-windedness. Also know as verbal diarrhea.” Basically, you’ll find plenty of examples of logorrhea in online blogs and content. Do you read every online or email content word … Read more
I referenced Yuwanda Black’s article in a past blog entry in which she shares her experience as a freelance writer, so I was honored when I saw an e-mail from her in my inbox. Sometimes when I link to others, they drop me a note thanking me — so I wasn’t completely surprised. However, she … Read more
Tom Johnson offers a great writing tip especially for tech writers and others who write instructions. This method also works well with Web content and forms. Watching people use a Web site, a product, a service — anything is a superb way to get insight on how others use the product or service. Those involved … Read more
Books on writing often reiterate the same advice we learn over time, the reader sometimes lucks out in using a tidbit or two. Realistically, no one has time to study the advice and put it to practice. Thus, it’s not a bad thing for a book on writing to cover the things we’ve read before. … Read more
Lifehack had me thinking about handling criticism. As a one-person business with no manager to meet with me to discuss performance goals and progress, I must rely on my clients for feedback. They’re essentially my managers. On occasion, I e-mail a client requesting feedback. I explain that I want to serve him or her better … Read more
Jonathan and Lisa Price have a nice article on writing FAQ and covered many points that we may not think about. For instance, if you have a large site — you might want to show the FAQ or Help that’s relevant to the page users are on rather than give them the whole thing to … Read more
Must blog fast. Finally got go ahead on a project with about 150 written pages due before May 1. Best thing to do is just type it all out. Don’t worry about being perfect. Once the content is on paper… it’s easier to modify and beautify. This material has sidebars/boxes. Those I’ll fill in after … Read more
Pick the Brain nicely abstracts George Orwell’s 5 Rules for Effective Writing and provides the link to the original essay. I just came across this tool that helps you eliminate cliches from your writing. This helps with Orwell’s first rule of avoiding the use of metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech that you’ve seen … Read more
Stop with the Overdone Modifiers On Writing Well taught me to cut the use of modifiers such as “really,” “very,” “so,” and “quite.” I save those for when I *really* mean something 🙂 It’s amazing how many articles I’ve edited that abused these words that they lose meaning. Using Only in Sentences “An Ode to … Read more
This past entry addresses the dying art of letter writing (by hand and snail mail!). Cursive writing becoming a thing of the past looks at cursive writing’s decline in the classroom. Students typically learn cursive writing in third grade and I believe this should continue — but not with a heavy focus on getting it … Read more