by Sue Horner | Jun 14, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Part of the joy of running your own business is playing hooky on a random weekday. So it was that my husband and I spent a recent day enjoying a visit to Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) followed by a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game. For the second time, the ROM...
by Sue Horner | May 28, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Safety precautions like a national marshmallow test. The spread of COVID-19 like glitter. Fighting the virus like a game of whack-a-mole. I first shared these and other pandemic analogies at the end of 2020, thinking it would be a one-time thing. Remember thinking it...
by Sue Horner | Feb 28, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
“Corporate” writing doesn’t need to be so “corporate.” Employee communications consultant Steve Crescenzo thinks it gets that way when people write for the approver, not the reader. He advises taking the “corporate” out of corporate comms and replacing it with...
by Sue Horner | Sep 24, 2021 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Don’t you appreciate when people use creative ways to help you understand something complicated? This is especially welcome as we continue grappling with COVID-19. These days, scientists are explaining how vaccines or preventive measures work, the perfect situation...
by Sue Horner | Apr 23, 2021 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Maybe you’ve noticed this about the pandemic, too: People speaking about all things COVID-19 are trying to make them easier to understand. Or, sometimes, they’re trying to make a point about actions that are or are not working. Want to explain how the virus works or...
by Sue Horner | Dec 21, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
For the past few years, my December newsletter has shared some “life is short” moments. I have more – and during these pandemic times, so do many of us – but I’m shutting the door on this dumpster fire of a year with another look at creative ways people have tried to...
by Sue Horner | Oct 21, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Do you want to explain something, make a point or spark that “aha” moment? Reach for what I call expressive writing, which shows rather than tells, often through similes and metaphors. Similes show how two things are alike, using “like” or...
by Sue Horner | Aug 5, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
So, you need to write about something important. The problem is, it’s boring or routine. You know the topics. They’re necessary, but they aren’t the sexiest. Safety reminders, maybe, or a potentially dry explanation of a (zzzz….) process...
by Sue Horner | Jul 31, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Do you want to explain something, make a point or maybe just spark a laugh? Give readers and listeners a shortcut to understanding by reaching for similes, which use “like” or “as” to show how two things are alike. (Metaphors do the same thing...
by Sue Horner | May 14, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Simple, powerful, vivid words and analogies. They’re critical if you want people to understand you; even more important if you want to inspire action. Notice what’s happening with the COVID-19 pandemic. Health experts are using simple words to encourage understanding...
