by Sue Horner | Aug 23, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
If you use numbers to make a point, it’s not enough to just list the numbers. Especially with large or small numbers, you help your readers by giving context. In the August issue of my newsletter, Wordnerdery, I look at some of the big, big numbers around Taylor...
by Sue Horner | Aug 17, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
I can’t be the only one who eagerly awaits the results of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. At last, they’re in! This amusing contest goes back to 1982, and invites ideas for the worst possible opening sentence to a fictitious novel. It’s named after Edward...
by Sue Horner | Jul 27, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
For those of us who actually liked and used Twitter, the months since Elon Musk took it over have been rough. Twitter’s web traffic is down 11% compared to the same time in 2022. In less than two weeks, some 150 million people signed up for the new Twitter alternate,...
by Sue Horner | Jul 21, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
If there’s an event involving people, you can bet someone is going to get injured. Oh, and the organizers don’t want to be responsible. That seems to be the thinking behind the official waiver you must sign to take part in a 5K run or walk. But will people understand...
by Sue Horner | Jul 5, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
What are you reading in the Red Jacket Diaries? I’m always looking under the blog “hood” to see, and share the top 10 midway through each year. And since you know the year is half over (already!) when it’s pool season in Canada, it’s time. Here are the top...
by Sue Horner | Jun 28, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog, Writing samples
If you spent limited time with family over the pandemic, you probably have a new appreciation for a good old-fashioned family reunion. RTOERO asked me to talk to some of their members, who are mostly retired teachers and other education workers, about family reunions....
by Sue Horner | Jun 21, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
If you want to explain something, make a point or spark an “aha” moment, reach for “figurative language.” It’s a type of expressive writing that doesn’t just enhance style, it sharpens meaning, says The Canadian Writer’s Handbook. One type of figurative language is...
by Sue Horner | Jun 9, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
It’s Pride Month, it’s National Indigenous History Month and National Indigenous Peoples Day is coming up June 21. So diversity/inclusion is the focus of the latest roundup of links you might have missed, taken from social media posts shared on Twitter, LinkedIn and...
by Sue Horner | May 23, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
When Canadian music legend Gordon Lightfoot died on May 1 at the age of 84, tributes flooded in. They praised his songwriting abilities and ballads that brought Canadian stories to the world. “A songwriter without parallel, his melodies and words were an...
by Sue Horner | May 10, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Are you as fascinated by the discussion about Artificial Intelligence (AI) as I am? If so, you’ll like the latest roundup of links you might have missed. These are all taken from posts I’ve shared on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. First, the discussion...
