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.

Project declutter underway

The start of a new year always seems to prompt at least a couple of weeks of good behaviour. Yeah, this is when so many people talk about losing 10 pounds, learning a new skill, getting organized. In my case, I looked at the mess in my home office over the holidays,...

More random misspellings

While celebrating Christmas with family in a small Ontario town this past weekend, I ran across countless examples of misspelled signs, inappropriate use of apostrophes in what should have been plurals, random capitalization of Important Words and other affronts to...
Twitter tips for newbies

Twitter tips for newbies

At a hands-on event sponsored by an association called Halton-Peel Communications Association, I joined fellow members Donna Papacosta, Rob Clark and Joan Vinall-Cox in talking about social media. We demonstrated how to use LinkedIn, blogs, audio and video, and...

You should volunteer. Do you?

At a networking event given by IABC/Toronto’s Professional Independent Communicators (PIC), I shared why I volunteer, as did my colleagues Leslie Hetherington, Donna Papacosta, Barb Sawyers and Lee Weisser. PIC supports more than 100 independent communicators,...
How to warm up to cold calling

How to warm up to cold calling

While decluttering my office, I ran across a battered 1981 edition of The Canadian Writer’s Market. In it I found 32 pages of agency listings, each entry with a pencilled X or check mark beside it, plus new telephone numbers and scribbled names. Flashback: I was...