by Sue Horner | Oct 28, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
When you have something to write, do you focus and get it done? Or do you find yourself with lots of things to write, but little time to actually do the writing? Meetings, events, planning, meetings, organizing, meetings and consulting can shrink your writing time to...
by Sue Horner | Oct 23, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
An interesting article usually starts with a conversation with a “subject matter expert,” as companies like to call them. Your job is to pull out the human side of the subject – sometimes against the instincts of the person you interview. How do you do it? Check out...
by Sue Horner | Oct 13, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
What better day than International Plain Language Day (Oct. 13) to talk about getting rid of jargon and wordiness? Plain Language Day is a way to let people know that plain language doesn’t mean “dumbing down” material or making it too elementary, a worry a...
by Sue Horner | Sep 7, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
The plaintive opening drew me in immediately: “Why are many financial news releases and publicly filed documents written so poorly?” In A Plea for Plain English in Financial Documents, Steve Lipin and Adam Rosman make the case for good writing in financial...
by Sue Horner | Aug 23, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
One of the best mission statements I’ve ever run across was framed as instructions in the managing editor’s office of the Rocky Mountain News (which folded in 2009): “Get the news. Tell the truth. Don’t be dull.” Companies spend serious...
by Sue Horner | Aug 17, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
There it was again, in a caption on the front page of a section of today’s newspaper: a sneak peak. (We won’t talk about the use of bugs in food. Ugh.) I feel silly offering guidance about when to use “peak” and when to use “peek,”...
by Sue Horner | Aug 3, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Have you ever noticed that some words suddenly become popular, and you see them everywhere? Next thing you know, a solid word turns into overused jargon, or it gets mangled by misuse. Lately, I keep tripping over the word “resonate.” I understand its...
by Sue Horner | Jul 21, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
In a showdown between fast cars and slow-moving turtles, the losers are easy to spot, flattened on increasingly busy roads. The study of this often deadly interaction of road networks and nature is called road ecology. Some background reading I’m doing for a project...
by Sue Horner | Jun 27, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
How rare is it to be born on February 29, the extra day in a Leap Year? By chance I was travelling on this extra day one year, and found this explanation by journalist Steve Rubenstein in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Being born on Feb. 29 is rare, sort of. The odds...
by Sue Horner | Jun 1, 2016 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
A campaign described in The New York Times last week got me thinking about how writers can contribute to safety awareness. The article reported that roadway deaths are on the rise, and we need to stop calling the reason accidents. Writer Matt Richtel quotes “safety...
