You know the year is already half over when it’s pool season in Canada. That means it’s time to look back at the most-viewed posts on my Red Jacket Diaries blog so far in 2019.
I’m often inspired to blog about what’s going on around me, such as in these posts:
- My own blogging anniversary in January prompted me to look into the usual rumours of the death of blogging. Still not true (spoiler), as I reveal in Is blogging dead in 2019?
- How to know when it’s time for a refresh talks about how often and why people should think about redesigning their website. Of course, it was inspired by my own website refresh.
- Word-a-day calendars, books about words and a new Caps and Spelling book? These are some of the 10 ways to spot a word nerd, posted to mark Word Nerd Day. Yes, there is such a thing.
I like to summarize events that may be of interest to readers:
- Trying to clone yourself? There’s a better way to win business recaps a panel discussion by IABC/Toronto’s Professional Independent Communicators.
- How to write emails employees will read shares tips from a webinar based on the results of a benchmark report analyzing 350 million internal emails. Tips include keep it short, eliminate jargon and work on your subject lines.
And as I like to tell people, words are my business, so I also write about jargon, expressive words and the mechanics of writing. Here are some posts that struck a chord with readers:
- Expressive language helps explain or make a point. Penguins ‘like an audience’ + more expressive writing shares some terrific examples of showing, not telling.
- Many words are specific but obscure. Rather than go with a word that needs explaining, like “petrichor,” I suggest going with the less specific one in For readability, choose words that communicate.
- Dictionaries choose a Word of the Year that caught the public’s imagination, showed widespread use or reflected important events. Don’t weaponize that toxic information looks at the words for 2018.
- Nice try, but this is not a ‘salubrious’ list covers the “weird, beautiful words that have sadly fallen out of use over the years.” IMHO, some of them should have fallen out of use, like salubrious.
- Hidden facts? Might as well be weasel words describes the lack of plain language in a move by Costco.
As always, thank you for taking the time to read (and sometimes, comment on) the Red Jacket Dairies this year. Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Related reading:
Best of the blog to June 2018
Best of the blog to June 2017