The Red Jacket Diaries blog

Sue Horner is a freelance writer in Oakville, Ontario, who blogs about writing, communications and running an independent business in The Red Jacket Diaries blog.

Top 11 posts for independents

By Sue Horner | Published: December 31, 2011

On this last day of 2011, here are the top 11 most popular Red Jacket Diaries posts about living the independent communicator’s life: How to get paid what you’re worth What an unpaid bill says about you Some tips for following up Marketing on a tight budget 20 things I’ve learned in 20 years 10 [...]

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Take time to celebrate

By Sue Horner | Published: December 23, 2011

It’s been a little quiet around the Red Jacket Diaries these days. I’ve just finished a stretch where every spare minute and then some went into various school assignments, both team and individual. My head was down and it felt like it came up only to check the next due date — sometimes, I’ll admit, [...]

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Happy holiday’s, er, holidays

By Sue Horner | Published: December 22, 2011

You’ve gotta love the intent behind the message, while regretting the lack of proofreader.   < A message in my in-box today.

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20 things I’ve learned in 20 years

By Sue Horner | Published: December 7, 2011

It’s been a busy year, and somehow I just realized that the milestone of 20 years as an independent business communicator and freelance writer passed months ago. To echo a post my friend and fellow indie Donna Papacosta ran about her 26 years in business, here are 20 things I’ve learned in those 20 years: [...]

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Punctuation challenge results are in

By Sue Horner | Published: December 5, 2011

No doubt you’ve been breathlessly awaiting the results of the contest that marked the 2011 National Punctuation Day (Sept. 24) — the day for drawing attention to America’s lapsed grammar skills. Well, wait no longer! NPD founder Jeff Rubin has announced the select few among the 220 entrants who attempted to meet the challenge of [...]

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Curating content: It’s not just about dinosaur bones!

By Sue Horner | Published: November 22, 2011

The internet brings us more information than we’ve ever had, but that’s not the real issue. As Donna Papacosta told the IABC/Toronto Westend group on Nov. 15 — quoting author and speaker Clay Shirky – “It’s not information overload, it’s filter failure.” “People used to rely on the morning newspaper and the nightly news, and [...]

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Friday word nerd fun

By Sue Horner | Published: November 18, 2011

Hey, it’s Friday. Time for some silly fun with words! Play Hangman with Oxford English Dictionary. No surprise, expect tricky words. Play Oxford Fortune Cookie on Twitter by tweeting “I want to play OxfordFortuneCookie with @OUPAcademic” and a number between 1 and 400. The reply will be a quote/your fortune. Build or test your vocabulary [...]

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Measuring social analytics takes more than intuition

By Sue Horner | Published: November 8, 2011

If you aren’t measuring social analytics, you’re just operating on intuition. That’s what Adele McAlear told the group attending the Nov. 2 session of IABC/Toronto’s Professional Independent Communicators. Adele is Director of Operations for Measurement & Analytics at Edelman Digital’s Montreal office, heading up a team that provides social insights and measurement to help guide [...]

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Let’s be discreet about using discrete

By Sue Horner | Published: November 2, 2011

Don’t you find that it’s rare to see the word “discrete” used correctly? For some reason, that’s one of the most frequent homonyms (also called homophones) I keep running into lately –  referring to one word mistaken for another that sounds the same. When I first saw the newspaper heading shown here, I thought the [...]

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#NoMoreBullies

By Sue Horner | Published: October 27, 2011

Several different sources have pointed me to comedian Rick Mercer‘s powerful rant this week about bullying, which was inspired by the recent suicide of 15-year-old Jamie Hubley. As a mother, I can only begin to imagine the heartbreak Jamie’s family is going through. And while I can’t understand the depth of despair that would make [...]

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