by Sue Horner | Aug 23, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
If you use numbers to make a point, it’s not enough to just list the numbers. Especially with large or small numbers, you help your readers by giving context. In the August issue of my newsletter, Wordnerdery, I look at some of the big, big numbers around Taylor...
by Sue Horner | Jun 21, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
If you want to explain something, make a point or spark an “aha” moment, reach for “figurative language.” It’s a type of expressive writing that doesn’t just enhance style, it sharpens meaning, says The Canadian Writer’s Handbook. One type of figurative language is...
by Sue Horner | May 23, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
When Canadian music legend Gordon Lightfoot died on May 1 at the age of 84, tributes flooded in. They praised his songwriting abilities and ballads that brought Canadian stories to the world. “A songwriter without parallel, his melodies and words were an...
by Sue Horner | Feb 23, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Metaphors are marvellous when you want to explain something complicated, give an idea of size, make a point memorably – or just make someone smile. “An especially apt metaphor surprises and delights,” says author Jack Hart in A Writer’s Coach: An Editor’s Guide to...
by Sue Horner | Oct 25, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Brown bears are big. I mean, BIG. You probably have to guess at the size, but would you guess “seven times the average American adult”? That’s Chunk, at 1,200 pounds the runner-up in the annual Fat Bear Week, October 5 to 11 this year. The winner, Bear 747 (shown...
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...
