Don’t you find that keeping up with blogs and blogging goes out the window when things are busy? I finally have a few minutes to catch up after a “drop everything and do this NOW” project this week that I just completed. This was something I had to quote on, and when I gave a range of what it might cost, the customer checked “If X then you will charge Y?” and jumped on the lower rate. Of course, that makes me think I quoted too low, but the customer will never say so.

Other random thoughts that went through my brain this week:

It bothers me when people write “a couple” and leave out the “of”, as in “X is looking for a couple bloggers.”

I ran across a cute term (but can’t remember where): word of mouse, about referrals through online connections.

If you have a blog, sometimes you will start to relate a story to someone, and he or she will say, “Oh yes, you blogged about that.” So you never really know who is reading your posts. As friend and fellow writer Gloria Hildebrandt referred to the people reading her novel in blog form, it’s a “secret society” of readers!

Everyone is getting into it – creating those gathering places for communicators to meet online and trolling for new members. So I’ve been spending way too much time getting set up on MyRagan, Melcrum’s Communicators’ Network and LinkedIn. (Yes, I know I am late to the game, especially with LinkedIn.) Then there’s checking up on IABC’s members-only forum, MemberSpeak, and IABC/Toronto’s members-only discussion board. Can you feel the time flying past as your work isn’t getting done? No wonder the Ontario government has banned employees from using Facebook!

As an aside, I have to report two misspelled words found on a free download from the Melcrum site: “Corporate communication always suffers the reputation of towing management’s line” (should be “toeing”) and “blogs shouldn’t replace traditional tools, but compliment them” (complement, unless blogs are being especially flattering). I’m sorry, I can’t help myself.

My preferred method of getting a comment from someone to include in an article for an employee publication is to actually talk to the person and get the comment straight from him/her. As with writing a speech for another person, it’s hard to capture the person’s manner of speaking unless you talk to each other.

There seems to be a trend lately among several of my clients where they ask me to “craft” (make up) quotes for various Big Executives. I suppose the reasoning is saving time for these busy guys – and it always seems to be guys – but I think a bigger time-saver would be to have a short conversation where they tell me, “Here’s what I want to talk about.”

Instead, what can happen is this: I write a comment for Big Exec in which he sounds human and enthusiastic. By e-mail or discussion with my contact, he asks for something that sounds more like him. Not having the chance to speak to him, I don’t know what he sounds like so I ask for more direction. My contact suggests a comment that sounds stiff and corporate. He approves it.

I do fight for more natural-sounding comments, but in a case like this I have to let it go. I can just see the employee eyeballs rolling, though.

I ran across a couple of instances this week where the writer chose words that didn’t quite hit the mark, in my opinion:

1. “Church for people who like church” (seen on a notice board outside a church). It appears to be out there as a selling feature, but if you already like church, that’s not exactly a new reason to visit. Unless the church wants to pull in more people who like the same old hymns and sermons, wouldn’t it be more of a selling feature for the church if it read “Church for people who don’t like church”? That’s a promise of something new and different.
2. “Enchanting your garden” (seen on a truck advertising a landscaping company called Garden Elves). Cute tie-in to the elves, but do you care if your garden feels enchanted by the landscapers? You’re the one who wants to be enchanted! Wouldn’t it be more appealing (and accurate) if the Garden Elves promised “Building enchanting gardens”?

Think through what you want your words to convey, and make sure they do the job!

When it comes to writing that you want people to read and understand, simple and familiar is good. Many executives don’t see it that way, though; they want to “utilize” this and “optimize” that until you want to scream. My rule of thumb is that if you wouldn’t use the word in casual conversation with family and friends, don’t use it in your writing.

The terms setting my teeth on edge most often these days are:

• impacts - why does no one talk about “effects” any more?
• overarching - I guess it’s the new “overall”
• inception - what’s wrong with “creation”?

What words get you riled up?

A compliment is a small thing, often casually given, but don’t underestimate the lift it can give the recipient.

It’s been a stressful week (which explains the lack of posts), and in such situations a fine remedy is to collapse in a comfy chair with a glass of red wine at the end of the day. Unfortunately, I’m taking an antibiotic that I’m told reacts forcefully with alcohol, even the minute quantities that might be in cough medicine. Warned that I could be violently ill or have an extreme headache, I haven’t wanted to test the reaction. But I miss that glass of wine.

So I was pleased that two small compliments came my way this week.

1. A potential client had asked me to quote on some work. One piece was right up my alley, but for the other I would have to subcontract to someone else. So I told her I could quote on one part but she should really hire a different expert for another piece of it. She would have been OK with a subcontracting situation, but she said “I appreciate your honesty.”
2. A former colleague and sometimes client asked me if I could write a small fact sheet and edit some newsletter copy. The first compliment was that I didn’t have to quote up front; he trusted me to charge a reasonable amount. The second compliment came when I asked about the audience; “You always ask the right questions,” he said.

See, they were small. I was still happy to get them.

Many people are intimidated by the thought of networking. They feel they need to have a properly rehearsed elevator speech summing up what they do, and a pocketful of business cards that must be handed out. They expect to sell their company or their business, or maybe their boss expects that to justify paying for the event.

Networking doesn’t have to be as formal as that. Really, it’s just making a connection with another person. And that’s just what about 15 members of IABC/Toronto’s Westend group did yesterday at a lovely place called The Victorian Garden Tea Room. Over tea (a choice of 20 different varieties) served in china pots along with individual two-decker trays of tiny sandwiches and dainty desserts, we talked about a whole range of business and personal topics. Although most of us, with a few exceptions, had not met before this lunch, we parted with warm feelings. I heard from several people later that they enjoyed the lunch as much as I did.

I don’t think a single business card changed hands, although as one of the organizers I sent everyone a follow-up note with the list of attendees and their e-mail addresses, as a reminder of who was there.