Alternatives to “at the end of the...

If you pay attention, it’s appalling how many times the phrase “at the end of the day” is used. It seems to be everyone’s favorite way to force a half-finished sentence to completion. In most circumstances, the phrase can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence. You’re right. At the end of the day, Valentine’s Day is a fraud. Thank you for not ever giving me anything on February 14. At the end of the day, why do you insist on writing such insipid, dim-witted screenplays?  No one reads the annual report . . . at the end of the day, we all know...

Words to fall in love with — Part 2

A continuation of our love affair with words . . . here are 13 more words, one for each letter of the alphabet, N through Z.   Nameling — people who share the same name I’m having drinks this evening with my namelings in the accounting department.   Obdurate — hardened against tender feelings; uncompromising Your obdurate opposition to any change in our sick leave polices is disappointing.   Pervicacious — stubborn; uncooperative My brother — pervicacious and willful even as a child — would never back down from a fight.   Quiddle — to play with...

Words to fall in love with — Part 1

In our profession, it’s fairly easy to fall in love with the words we work with. Words are our currency . . . carefully selected, thought about, and fussed over until we finally pick the right word (or words) for the job. Below are 13 words — one for each letter of the alphabet, A through M — that are guaranteed to make you swoon. Even if you can’t use these in your professional work, you’ll wish you could.  (Part 2 of this post will include words for each letter of the alphabet, N through Z.)   Atavism — the reappearance of a characteristic belonging to an...

Clear up your writing in 5 steps

You have 10 seconds.  10 seconds for your readers to digest what you’ve written. Less if your message is garbled by jargon, overly-complex phrasing, or useless information. Want to make sure your copy gets more than a 10-second scan? Follow these tips to bring clarity to your content.   1. Don’t bury what’s important Lead with the most important, interesting, or attention-grabbing elements of your message, and include those in the first paragraph. Most corporate writing fails at this, either by including irrelevant information in the first sentence or bogging down...

Avoid spam filters?????!!!!!! Learn how,...

Take a look at your spam folder and it’s easy to see why messages end up there. The telltale signs of spam — strange subject lines, urgent requests, symbols, emojis, and exclamation points — are obvious. Emails destined for the spam folder also contain spam words, such as “removes wrinkles,” “meet singles,” “buy direct,” and “not spam.” And while most spam words are obvious, some are less so. Below are 50 once-innocent words and phrases that now alert spam filters and doom your messages before they’re sent. Avoid these if you can. Act...

Audience, byline, copyright . . . code w...

We’ve all seen movies with fighter pilots, spies, and police dispatchers using words like “alfa, tango, foxtrot” to spell words phonetically. What I never knew was that the code words they were using to represent the letters of the alphabet come from something called the NATO phonetic alphabet. The NATO phonetic alphabet — officially known as the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet (ICAO) — is used so that critical messages are more likely to be pronounced correctly and understood by those speaking over the radio or telephone. The 26 words in the ICAO...

Icebreakers for writers

Want a way to connect with your fellow writers? Check out the following icebreaker questions. Answer them for yourself, and then ask them at your next online team huddle or virtual happy hour.  Though some of them may keep until your next in-person happy hour. Do you prefer to write fiction or non-fiction? As a writer if you could only choose one, would you rather be a commercial success or a critical success? If you could have dinner with any writer living or dead, who would it be? What was your favorite book when you were in elementary school? What was your favorite...

Simple advice for complicated times

Over the past several weeks, we’ve all seen a spike in content about how to better manage our work-from-home lives. Bloggers, podcasters, and journalists seem particularly preoccupied with video conferencing. From “How to look your best on a webcam” (from the New York Times) to “13 etiquette tips for video conference calls” (from TechRepublic), are we really supposed to be worried about our on-screen appearance in the middle of a pandemic? Do working professionals actually need to be told to “call from a quiet place”? Let’s keep it simple. My son is in...