The Red Jacket Diaries blog

Sue Horner is a freelance writer in Oakville, Ontario, who blogs about writing, newsletters, communications and running an independent business in The Red Jacket Diaries blog.
IBD can’t wait

IBD can’t wait

A woman knocked on my door one day, asking to use the washroom. I don’t remember if she had a card to say she suffered from Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), but that’s probably the only reason someone would ask to use a stranger’s bathroom....
Don’t be a hoarder

Don’t be a hoarder

You wouldn’t believe it, looking at my office last week, but I am not a hoarder. Hoarders, as displayed to the world in the A&E show of the same name, have “an inability to part with their belongings” that is so out of control, they are on the...
Thank a teacher

Thank a teacher

“If you can read this, thank a teacher.” This is how a post linked to by my friend and colleague Joan Vinall-Cox began. While blogger Ralf Schwartz suggested that the best way to thank your teacher is to teach others “by further developing what your...

Awareness up with Earth Hour

At 8:30 p.m. tonight, it’s Earth Hour. Turn off your lights, and get off the computer! Critics wonder, what’s the point of turning lights off for an hour on one day when we abuse the Earth for the other 8,736 hours in the year? But I truly believe that the...

Newsletter points to ponder

I’m working with a new client who wants to introduce a newsletter for his customers, and I thought the discussions we’ve been having might be of interest to other people. So here are just some of the points to ponder if you’re thinking of a...

Customer disservice files

Can you tell me… Why my bank has hired people to make “courtesy calls” to customers — which seem to be thinly disguised ways to sell other products/services — but cannot tell me that they have discontinued my paper statements? I have no...
Sue awards her own gold medals

Sue awards her own gold medals

Phew. It’s been all Olympics, all the time for the past two weeks, and I’m ready to say goodbye to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. But first, my own gold medals go to the things I loved about these Winter Olympics. Gold medals: * Patriotic feelings....

Attention-grabbing titles, 2010

If you pay close attention to words and love clever word play, you’ll enjoy The Bookseller, a British trade magazine, and its quirky “oddest book title” contest. I first ran across this contest in 2008 and have looked forward to reading about it ever...