by Sue Horner | Jul 17, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Who doesn’t love a slice of deliberately bad writing? Yes, word nerds, gather ’round. It’s time to celebrate the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest, “where ‘www’ means ‘wretched writers welcome.’” The contest awards the best of the worst opening sentences, or what the...
by Sue Horner | Jul 11, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
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:...
by Sue Horner | Jul 4, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
People are upset with Kim Kardashian because she tried to use (and trademark) the name “Kimono” for her new line of “shapewear.” Her plan was to call it Kimono Solutionwear. Apparently, the uproar was enough that she’s already backed down and is giving “careful...
by Sue Horner | Jun 28, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
One way to help people understood something is get to the point. Don’t bury your information in too much detail, ramble, or hide the action with passive language. While falling down the rabbit hole of internet links one day, I happened upon an article from 2015 that...
by Sue Horner | Jun 20, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Having been on the outside of company employee communication for many years, I’ve recently gone looking for the current “inside” view. The June issue of my newsletter, Wordnerdery, continues a series where I report the results. In this issue, I continue to look at...
by Sue Horner | Jun 13, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
When it comes to your workplace communication strategy, don’t expect one channel to rule them all. The best bet for success is an approach that mixes up email, a mobile app, social media, face-to-face, intranet and whatever other channels are available. That was the...
by Sue Horner | Jun 6, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Wayne State University in Detroit aims to bring back words “worthy of retrieval from the linguistic closet.” (What a great line!) Thus its Word Warriors produce a list each year of some of the English language’s “most expressive — yet regrettably neglected — words.”...
by Sue Horner | May 30, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
“Solopreneurs” may think we have to clone ourselves to take on more business. We can’t, but that’s the wrong approach anyway. Instead, we should partner with others to create a diverse team with varied skills and experience, which allows us to take on more business...
by Sue Horner | May 22, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Having been on the outside of company employee communication for many years, I’ve recently gone looking for the current “inside” view. The May issue of my newsletter, Wordnerdery, starts a series where I report the results, starting with one perspective on...
by Sue Horner | May 16, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Print can be expensive, so I understand that Costco will no longer send their printed Costco Connection magazine to lower-tier members like me. After all, their stated mission is “to continually provide our members with quality goods and services at the lowest...
