Folks, today was a weird day. It was the first day in my life that I accidentally found myself on the Internet. Let me tell you how it happened.
I was taking a break from work (I had just finished a case study and was starting in on a website – busy day), when I decided to check out one of my favorite blogs – Copyblogger. Their post for the day was: Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2010.
I am always looking for new blogs to read and learn from, so I clicked on the third one, Make a Living Writing.…
Hiring a writer is one of the smartest moves any small business can make.
I’m not just saying that because it’s what I do. I’m saying it because I have seen the toll that bad writing can have on a small business, and I’ve seen the effect of good writing.
For all you out there who know your website needs updating and are thinking about doing it yourself, please read the following analogy.
You need a new computer. You’re not sure what to get. (Although if you have half a brain, you should get a mac and I’m only saying this because it’s opinion week.…
Two nights ago, I was woken up at 1:30am and again at 5:30am. The culprit? Water was leaking into my apartment, setting off my carbon monoxide detector and potentially taking years off my life with that horrible noise. Is there anything worse than an alarm going off in the middle of the night? Yes, there are millions of things, I’m aware. I do read the newspaper. But somehow, in the moment, an alarm going off in the middle of the night really rates with the worse possible thing to happen in a long time.
Once the beeping stopped and I got another 30 minutes of sleep, I dragged myself out of bed at 7am to wait for the plumber. …
Do you know why the comma is so powerful? It makes your words readable. With out it you wouldn’t know when to pause and when to take a breath.
Simply: A comma is a punctuation mark that reads like a pause when speaking.
However, the use of the comma isn’t 100% black and white. There are times when it is 100% necessary and other times when it is a matter of taste and style.
For example, an introductory phrase is a matter of preference:
On October 31st I wore a Halloween costume.
On October 31st, I wore a Halloween costume.
The rest of the time, around 70%, you need to know when and where to use it.…
Have you heard the news? Nobody writes anymore! Grammar is going down the tubes! We might as well get rid of commas and apostrophes forever because nobody is going to know how to use them anyway.
Hi, my name is Rebecca, and I am a sensationalist. I would like to state for the record that I think people write more nowadays than they ever have in the past. We used to keep in touch via the phone, and now we keep in touch via email. You know what that means? We have to write!
In my line of work (writing), I tend to get a lot of questions on how important it is to have good grammar in this day and age of constant and instant communication.…
Set a timer for 30 minutes, start typing, and don’t stop until the timer goes off.
I could stop writing this post now, and you’d know about 90% of what I’m about to say, but nonetheless, I’d love it if you’d stick with me for 250 more words.
I’ve been focusing a lot lately on how to write well. How to use words to make an impact. In fact, one of my titles was: How to Write Like an Expert.
What I haven’t done is acknowledge the fact that half the battle of putting words into the Internet is making the time to write them in the first place.…
The writing process is an important tool to master. Having a guide to follow makes writing feel less daunting and more manageable.
Do you have a press release or newsletter you’ve been meaning to write for weeks or perhaps months? Do you blame it on being lazy, but really, you just have no idea where to start (plus, maybe you’re a little bit lazy)?
So where to begin? I’m going to break this down into five steps.
The first step doesn’t even require you to write! You’re welcome. This step is simply to identify the message you want to get across and the best way to accomplish that.…
