What’s the most important part of writing? Right. The reader. Consider the readers’ needs. Write for them. Keep in mind why they should care about what you have to say. What’s in it for them? How can you make their lives or work easier or better? Why should they spend time reading or watching […]
In my last post, I outlined GRIP, which stands for the four steps that every writer should complete before starting to write: – set a Goal – know your Reader – state your main Idea – make a Plan, or an outline. This post focuses on the G: setting a goal. Communication as a tool […]
You can’t persuade an audience with unproven ideas, nor can you fire one up without appealing to their values. Read this opening to a seminar on secure information technology practices and then answer this question: do you care? “Why is security important to us? Because the effectiveness of our programs, activities and services depends on […]
The next few posts on this blog are going to focus on something that I like to tell myself I know something about: how to write. Since audiences seem to like step-by-step guides, I’ll start with the two basic rules of writing. Know what you want to say. Be able to sum up your main […]
“A camel is a horse designed by a committee.” That’s been attributed to more than one person, and it’s an excellent way to describe written documents that get approved by authorities who are more concerned about things other than the content of the documents themselves. In other words, documents produced by corporations and governments. Recently, […]
Don’t you just hate it when you see a typo in work you’ve just published, posted on a website or sent to a client? Every writer needs to learn how to proofread. As a professional editor for over 30 years, I have a few favourite techniques for effective proofreading. Here are some, plus a few […]
Title: A proposal to supply Acme Corp. with Blagfly Macroscopic Flange Background: In 20187, Ignati and Wilhelmina Lightblack noticed the diminishing return on investment of industrial-size household powersource applications for lightsabres. The siblings engaged upon a ten-year research project into the optimal application of flange technology in lightsabres. A side enquiry into the efficiency […]