My 7 steps to ‘spin straw into gold’
You may have heard me talk about “spinning straw into gold.” That’s my shorthand for turning reams of raw interview notes into a concise, readable story. Often it also means boiling 1,500 words down to 500. (“Pulling a rabbit out of a hat” is doing so to meet a tight...
New dos and don’ts for summarizing Twitter chats
(This post updates one originally written in 2013.) Storify used to be a handy free service that “makes the web tell a story.” It’s been taken over by Livefyre and now requires a paid license. Many people are instead turning to Twitter Moments to collect – or curate,...PWAC chat summary: How to ask for referrals
Join us Wednesday for the next #PWACchat for freelance writers? pic.twitter.com/t6YVjqr5Fr — PWAC Toronto Chapter (@PWACToronto) July 5, 2015 When do you ask a client for a referral or a testimonial? We writers are often shy to ask, but it’s an important way of...
Does removing the date make you a cheater?
Have you ever noticed this? You’re digging around the web, collecting advice or thoughts on a particular topic. You find interesting content, but when you try to check how current it is, you can’t find the date it was published. Sometimes, you only find a...
7 ways to improve your non-profit annual report
Non-profit organizations use annual reports to let donors know where their money goes, and ask for more support. Yet a 2013 study* shows only 26 per cent of the Canadians surveyed think charities do a good job of explaining how donations are used. So, how does a...
Push For Your Tush results are in
After almost 14 years of walking a dog three times a day, walking 5K is a piece of cake. So earlier this month I laced up my walking shoes to do the 5K Push For Your Tush in Burlington, Ontario, raising money for Colon Cancer Canada (tagline: We’re behind your...
Don’t wait for perfection; start, already
Is aiming for perfection holding you back? Sure, getting rid of typos and fixing glaring errors is important. But if you’re waiting to launch your website or start tweeting or record your first podcast until all conditions are perfect and you’ve tied...
Spending hours to save pennies on insurance
For years, I stuck with the same car insurance company. I thought being a valued customer – they assured me I was! – would mean saving money. My insurance costs should go down for all kinds of reasons: The Ontario government introduced legislation that is supposed to...