Like most writers, I’m a natural introvert (ignore what some of my friends will tell you). For me, the very phrase “working a room” has the same effect as:
catching your teeth on the opening of a canned drink
being trapped in a small room with a larger-than-average moth
insert your particular phobia or teeth-on-edge trigger here.
Today, in a post on his Word Sell blog, content optimisation guru Brad Shorr offers some great advice to anyone thinking about launching a business blog.
In his post, Brad asks other bloggers how we prepared for our entry into the blogosphere. Looking back – though I didn’t know it at the time – I think I prepared for blogging by doing a PhD. (more…)
The current financial crisis has been exacerbated by fear. Not fear of losing money, but fear of losing face.
At no point, it seems, were any of those self-declared smartest guys in the room brave enough to admit that they didn’t have a clue how the exotic financial derivatives they were spewing into the world worked.
Perhaps we’d have been spared financial Armageddon had one of them just put a hand up and said: “Actually, guys, can you run those CDO-cubed thingies by me one more time? How is it they make us money again?” (Hint: they don’t.*)
Why am I musing on this? Well, last week, two different clients told me they really appreciated the outsider’s perspective that I provided. It backed up what I’ve long said – that being able to admit you’re not an expert gives you an advantage. (more…)
I open every course I teach by asking participants what they find most difficult about writing. One of the most common things I hear is a lack of confidence when it comes to writing about topics on which the writer isn’t an expert. How can a marketer write knowledgeably about a complex new financial product? Or how can an HR person write clearly and relevantly about a highly specialist role in IT? (more…)
In his “Manage Your Writing” blog, Kenneth W. Davis is urging people to be more conversational this week. It’s good advice, and writing like you speak is a great way to connect with your readers. So here are seven practical tips on how to develop a more conversational writing style. (more…)
Occasionally I come up against resistance when I’m evangelising for plain English on one of the courses I teach. And the most common argument people give for refusing to change goes something like this: “But my boss wants me to use fancy words and jargon – it just sounds more professional and I’ll hold myself back if I don’t play the game.”
I’m not convinced that your boss really does like your bad corporatese, but if you believe this to be the case, perhaps you might like to direct your boss to a certain Warren Buffet. (more…)
In my last post I talked about rhythm – and how it feels to have your prose decimated by an editor who’s deaf to the cadences of your carefully crafted prose. There are many ways to put a little rhythm in your words – here I present five things you can do today. (more…)
I spotted this in Pseuds Corner in the latest issue of Private Eye (asterisks inserted for those of a sensitive disposition):
And worst of all. Dumbest, deafest, s****est of all, you have removed the unstressed “a” so that the stress that should have fallen on “nosh” is lost, and my piece ends on an unstressed syllable. When you’re winding up a piece of prose, metre is crucial. Can’t you hear? Can’t you hear that it is wrong? It’s not f***ing rocket science. It’s f***ing pre-GCSE scansion. I have written 350 restaurant reviews for The Times and I have never ended on an unstressed syllable. F***, f***, f***, f***.
Times restaurant critic GILES COREN rebukes his sub-editors, quoted in the Guardian. (more…)
In a recent post on his Manage Your Writing blog, Kenneth W. Davis discusses the distinction between “real” verbs and “filler” verbs.
Davis rightly points out that a sentence such as “the committee reached an agreement on the project” is much better expressed as “the committee agreed on the project”. As he says, “The committee didn’t reach; it agreed. Reached is a filler verb; the real verb, agree, has been changed into the noun agreement.”
It reminded me of how bad business writing – otherwise known as corporatese – is awash with filler verbs. In fact, whenever I’m asked to edit a business document I rewrite the copious “filler verb + noun” constructions almost on autopilot. (more…)
I sent my last blog entry to Communicators In Business and got the following reply from Steve Nichols, the editor of the online newsletter containing the survey.
“Ok – fair point. Unfortunately the software package puts that on everything. You’ve made me feel guilty so I have changed the font colour to white to hide the line. Can’t make it get rid of the asterisk though.”
So you’ll notice that the survey no longer contains the nonsensical instruction “all questions marked with an * must be completed”.
A prompt, highly personal response that makes me feel like my opinion is valued. Thank you, Steve – a nice example of good communication.
