by Sue Horner | Sep 20, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
This week I had the shocking experience of having someone Not. Like. My. Work. I say shocking because I’ve been fortunate. Over about 18 years of running my own business, I’ve been able to submit a first draft of my assignments that’s pretty close to...
by Sue Horner | Sep 12, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Now, this is expressive writing! Other People’s Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See (edited by Bill Shapiro), which I commented on recently, has many examples of writing that touches the heart. Here are some that appealed to me: “I love...
by Sue Horner | Sep 9, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
I turned down an assignment today that wasn’t my area of expertise. Instead, I referred my contact to someone else I knew would do a great job. But it got me thinking, what do clients want from a freelance writer? Here are some things, beyond of course the...
by Sue Horner | Sep 8, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Through the serendipity of the web, I somehow came across a blog called 37 Days, written by Asheville, North Carolina writer Patti Digh. In it, she asked the question, “What would I be doing today if I only had 37 days to live?” after her stepfather was...
by Sue Horner | Aug 31, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Updated July 13, 2018 You have to be disciplined to be productive when working from your home, and usually I am. I’m at my desk at 9 a.m. After a quick check for e-mail, I keep the sound off to avoid hearing the siren song that more has arrived. A to-do list has...
by Sue Horner | Aug 28, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Here are some interesting items I came across this week: PostSecret: Frank Warren started PostSecret.com as a community art project. Since November 2004, he has received more than 150,000 postcards, each sent anonymously and containing that person’s secret. The...
by Sue Horner | Aug 23, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Have you read Four Letter Word: Original Love Letters (edited by Joshua Knelman and Rosalind Porter)? Although one reviewer said it “unleashes the romantic in all of us,” I didn’t find it that way at all. Confession: I am a hopeless romantic....
by Sue Horner | Aug 19, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn had the communicators at the IABC conference in San Francisco in June in the palm of his hand, as I mentioned talking about highlights of the conference. He sealed the deal in an interview in the The New York Times published August 15. One of...
by Sue Horner | Aug 17, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Customer/employee surveys are important. I know this, so I try to go along with companies who take the time to survey me as a customer. But they need to do a better job of asking questions that are both within the customer’s ability to answer and that they can...
by Sue Horner | Aug 13, 2009 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Here are more great examples of words eloquently or imaginatively written for the enjoyment of readers: “The files holding the data are as thick as unabridged dictionaries.” – Joshua Wolf Shenk in The Atlantic, “What Makes Us Happy?”...