by Sue Horner | Jan 16, 2008 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
One of my clients used to challenge those of us (employees and freelancers) who wrote for the employee newsletter to come up with ever more interesting and clever headlines. During a weekly conference call discussing the newsletter, the editor often mentioned...
by Sue Horner | Jan 14, 2008 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
There was some back and forth in the Toronto Star recently about outdated language in reference to people with disabilities. Former Ontario MPP Gary Malkowski, a long-time advocate for those who are deaf, took offence at a Star headline that used the phrase,...
by Sue Horner | Nov 27, 2007 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Spot quiz: Is the American holiday in February: a) President’s Day b) Presidents’ Day c) Presidents Day? Surprise! The answer seems to be (d), all of the above. While editing a client’s calendar, which included reference to both Canadian and American...
by Sue Horner | Oct 7, 2007 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Thursday and Friday saw me in downtown Toronto at IABC’s two-day writing conference, which featured a number of well-known presenters who have wowed audiences at IABC’s international conferences. Here are some of the things I learned/was reminded...
by Sue Horner | Oct 1, 2007 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
I’ve ranted before about the bad things that happen to good quotes at the hands of executives, so I was pleased to see my sentiments echoed in an article (sorry, I tried to link to it but it may be one of those limited-time-access things) by the impassioned...
by Sue Horner | Sep 24, 2007 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
A post on Dan Santow’s Word Wise blog says, “It’s bad out there and getting worse.” He’s talking about the increasingly common habit of inserting capital letters where none are required to indicate an Important Word. He goes on to give a comprehensive list of...
by Sue Horner | Jul 25, 2007 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
A colleague shared this great term for an affliction common in the corporate world: source remorse editing. That’s when you get a terrific, meaningful, human quote from someone for a corporate use, say a newsletter. During the approval process, your contact sees...
by Sue Horner | Apr 10, 2007 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Writers should never fall in love with their own words, because the pleasure in capturing exactly what you wanted to say can disappear faster than a jerky treat in front of a Lab. I was reminded of this when my client called with the bad news that Big Executive wanted...
by Sue Horner | Jan 29, 2007 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Several different sources pointed me to a marvellous book on writing, Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, published in 1994. The title comes from advice her father gave to her (then) 10-year-old brother, who was struggling to start...
by Sue Horner | Jan 26, 2007 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not perfect. But like author Lynne Truss of Eats, Shoots and Leaves fame, I can’t help but notice and be appalled by the punctuation mistakes that regularly get past proofreaders. (Or perhaps nobody hires proofreaders...
