After “Bitter Waitress” posted a comment on my rant about a restaurant not taking reservations, I asked her how she found her way to my blog. Her reply indicates, as if you didn’t already know this, that you just never know who is going to find you and why.

My commenter (who confesses she’s not actually bitter, but is indeed a former waitress) teaches English to new immigrants who want jobs in the hospitality sector. She was doing a session on reservations, and did a search to find relevant Canadian information. Somehow my post popped up. Although you can certainly question how relevant my thoughts are, I was thrilled to find out that they inspired “a lively discussion on the merits and detractions of taking reservations.” Bitter Waitress posted her comment to present the other side of the argument – when a table of six doesn’t show and the restaurant loses $200-$300.

What’s also cool is that (not) Bitter Waitress is using a wiki to post links, vocabulary, tips and other information of interest to her students.

You may be wondering how Jake, the dog known to police, is doing these days. I’m happy to say he is not looking mournfully out from behind bars. After our call from the Humane Society officer, I did indeed take steps that will weigh in his favour should someone need to lodge another complaint.

I bought a harness for him and use it faithfully, with a bribe to make it all worthwhile. I also met with an animal training expert, or as I like to think of the job, a dog whisperer. She guessed, as I did, that Jake’s issues stem from fear and he’s taking the ol’ preemptive strike when he lunges and barks at other dogs. She gave us homework that includes a pocketful of smelly jerky treats that I dispense in bits when we see a dog coming. We still cross the street too, but the whole idea is to make it a very GOOD thing when he sees a dog coming towards us. Jake is a very food-oriented dog and it seems to be working, somewhat. I just have to worry about coming away with all my fingers, because the only way he can get those treats in his mouth fast enough is to gobble.

For a description of what this is like, read Quinn Cummings’ QC Report. I can’t remember what treasure hunt led me to her blog but I regularly laugh out loud. In the scheme of things, the jerky treats are probably less stinky than Quinn’s salmon goodies, but I too have to wipe my hand after the slobbering is over.

After posting yesterday about a 66-word sentence, I came across Grammar Girl’s column on the same topic. Quoting Bonnie Trenga of Sentence Sleuth, she says about why you should keep it brief:

“Your readers are following a path you’ve laid out for them. Don’t try to be a turbo guide and make them traipse along too many side streets…Your readers just don’t have a very long attention span, and their feet tire easily.”

Her advice:

“The best way to cut down a super-long sentence is to figure out your main points. (You’ve probably crammed two or three main points into your long sentence.) Once you remember what they are, highlight each one with its own medium-sized sentence.”

For our readers’ sake, let’s do it!

A colleague asked my opinion on a line in a client’s article this week. The colleague thought the line ungrammatical but the client insisted it was right. In the interests of privacy, I won’t show you the line here. However, I can tell you that technically, the client was right; what he said wasn’t wrong. It was  just awkward. What was worse, though, was the sentence stretched a breathtaking 66 words! This when research shows that sentences with an average of 14 words are the easiest for readers to understand.

My service to the client’s readers was to suggest a less awkward way of saying the controversial line, and to suggest he break the sentence into two. I’m told he agreed to both.

As confessed here before, I am certainly not perfect. But a flurry of errors in ads, newspapers, a concert program and a sign makes me wonder if anyone cares/notices any more. Spotted recently:

• Diamond in the ruff
• Patsy Klein
• Gift’s with purchase
• Anicdotes
• Book reccomendation
• The Shopppes at  Dundas

Where were the proofreaders, or are they not used any more?

This week, a client sent me two tapes to listen to and turn into an engaging newsletter article. The tapes contained two different interviews with executives. One took the time to explain acronyms and seemed human, by oh my! The other! I can’t tell you how many times he talked about “leveraging” something or other, threw around acronyms that were hard to  make out and then didn’t spell them out either. And unlike a live interview, I didn’t have the chance to ask for explanations.

I sent out the draft without a single use of “leverage.” We’ll see if it survives!

From Encarta:

“The total cost of buying, feeding and maintaining a dog the size of a Labrador retriever is, on average, equal to the cost of one Starbucks Espresso Frappuccino a day.”

Lucky for Jake that I don’t spend much time at Starbucks!

Things are continuing busy here at Get It Write world headquarters, which may offer an explanation for the scarce posting. But I have to take a minute to share that two new pieces of business arrived this week, both “warm” referrals from people I know through networking. I am a big believer in building relationships as the best way to both find and serve clients and this proves to me that it’s the right way to go.

It’s a dull, rainy, cold, miserable day in Toronto and I am spinning my wheels. I’ve got several articles to write, having done the interviews and research required to get going. But I just can’t get started. I’ve read some of the blogs I follow for inspiration, but that’s not working. I have already procrastinated by going through e-mails and my in-box is empty. So it’s me and my equally empty little head.

I know the problem, and it’s the fact that I’m not bumping up against an urgent deadline. Last week I had many of them, making each day a nose-to-the-grindstone kind of experience. This week started similarly, but has calmed down. That should be a good thing. It is a good thing.

So once I post this, I’ll open one of the waiting documents and get to work. My trick is to start with “Clever heading here” as a placemarker for later when inspiration hits. Then I’ll start organizing my notes and looking for the “what’s in it for me” aspect of interest to employees who will ultimately read the article I eventually pull together. The simple act of putting a few words together always gets something going.

But thank goodness it’s Friday!

How do you kick-start yourself when you hit a similar slump?

When proofreading, you have to pay special attention to things like headlines or common words that your eye skims. I know this, I do, but…

Yesterday a client asked me to proofread an e-mail he was sending out. He confessed he had almost sent it out with a glaring typo and wanted me to give it one more look. In the back of my mind, I wondered if he had left the typo in and wanted to see if I would catch it. He did, and I didn’t. Turns out the typo was in the subject line, which I didn’t look at.

I am humbled. My client feels better that he was not the only one to miss it.