The mission today

Really, I’m working away here, but I just had to stop and share this. A client invited me to sit in on a conference call, with the intent of writing an article for the employee newsletter. Before the call, the fellows we’d be talking to took the time to...

When your words inspire

After “Bitter Waitress” posted a comment on my rant about a restaurant not taking reservations, I asked her how she found her way to my blog. Her reply indicates, as if you didn’t already know this, that you just never know who is going to find you...

More on lengthy sentences

After posting yesterday about a 66-word sentence, I came across Grammar Girl’s column on the same topic. Quoting Bonnie Trenga of Sentence Sleuth, she says about why you should keep it brief: “Your readers are following a path you’ve laid out for...

The long sentence award

A colleague asked my opinion on a line in a client’s article this week. The colleague thought the line ungrammatical but the client insisted it was right. In the interests of privacy, I won’t show you the line here. However, I can tell you that...

Writing for readability

I’ve been playing with the grammar function in Word after a reminder from the Publication Coach, Daphne Gray-Grant. By paying attention to things like words per sentence (aim for an average of 14 or less), passive sentences (no more than 10%) and Flesch-Kincaid...

Amusing words

From Encarta’s top 10 business buzzwords: Delayering: A newer, more PC term for “rightsizing,” a.k.a. downsizing. Potato, potahto. It’s still a layoff. Narcissurfing: Googling yourself to see where, when and how often you show up on the...

New way to resume

Today I found Marci Alboher’s New York Times blog Shifting Careers, which highlights “the newfangled ways we are custom-blending careers, and shares tips for doing it better.” Check out the post about the “Web 2.0 resume,” which includes...