“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. […]
Writers are always teaching me, whether they know it or not. I’ve been editing and beta-reading manuscripts for a number of people this summer, and their words make me re-evaluate some ideas I held firmly for some time. And I keep coming to the same dilemma: at what point does trimming text and adhering to […]
As the year end and new year approach, I thought it was a good time to discuss a year-related word and deal with something that has bothered me for a long time. The word: anniversary. What bugs me: the way too many people misuse it, as in “first-year anniversary,” or “ten-year anniversary.” […]
Photo: Building Blocks by Myfear on Flickr. Creative Commons licence. Periodically, my university student sons ask for writing advice for their assignments. Most recently, the elder asked for another word for “prelude” or “precursor.” What the Blond Raven wanted to do was describe how Algeria’s experience in the 1990s, when a number of religious groups […]
Photo by: Scott Kleinberg, Creative Commons Writers are always teaching me, whether they know it or not. I’ve been editing and beta-reading manuscripts for a number of people this summer, and their words make me re-evaluate some ideas I held firmly for some time. And I keep coming to the same dilemma: at what point […]
Image credit: http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2014/03/10-keys-for-brand-persuasion-and-change.html#.UyXBv61dXJ4 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 […]
My last post focused on fiction: how to write a novel I would enjoy reading. There are far more people in the world who have to write other kinds of documents: letters, proposals, memos, instructions, report — which may or may not be fictitious. These writers also need some guidance, at least to judge from […]