My survey of 547 business writers found one big pain point: managing editorial feedback. Only half of business writers get the feedback they need, and only one in three feels that their process for managing feedback works well. Business writers have little love for feedback processes In this table, the first data column summarizes all the responses; the other columns…
You should write shorter. You should read Roy Peter Clark‘s book “How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times” to learn how. The biggest problem with how people write now is that they are out of touch with how people read now. People read online, and the average article gets 20 seconds of attention….
My wife Kimberley and I decided to homeschool our children. There’s only one reason: we think they learn better this way. Since people are curious about homeschooling, I’d like tell you how it works. Homeschooling is a personal preference. My intention here is not to change anyone’s mind or win anyone over, but simply to explain myself. I am…
Christopher L. Gasper is a Boston Globe sportswriter. His metaphors startle the reader, jarring you from the trance of reading and making you say “wha?” Learn from his excesses. I’ve recommended that you avoid cliches in your writing. Don’t say “dumb as a post” if you can say “dopey as Sarah Palin.” But there’s a limit. When…
While Web research is great, interviews generate insights and spark in your writing that you can’t get any other way. But your interview won’t be successful with a haphazard approach. Follow these four steps to maximize your chance of success: Find ’em, contact ’em, persuade ’em, and interview ’em. Find ’em: Figure out who to talk to Ask…
Mark Zuckerberg yesterday announced “Reactions,” a set of six emoji that will join “Like” as ways to indicate what you thought of a post. For instance, you can now tap “Yay” or “Wow.” Zuck’s not thinking big enough. When I read a post, the set of emotions I feel isn’t covered by this meager list of…
Lack of discipline pollutes your writing. Multiply by the whole world of “content creators” and we’re all consuming brown, dirty prose. I’ve spent time in Beijing and São Paulo. While the people were wonderful, the air was awful. A light brown miasma cast a pall on everything, making our eyes itch and making every incredible cityscape appear…
Everybody Writes by Ann Handley is a spectacularly useful book about writing, organized into 74 bite-sized chunks. Ann and I look at the world through the same eyes, and we are fighting the same fight — to help you express yourself more clearly. Here’s my interview with her: Why a book on writing now? There are so…
All day long we read on our various screens. This has vastly increased the demand for content, which comes to us through many channels. But those who create it have forgotten what good writing is. Think back to the world of 1980. The average consumer or businessperson at that time had no email, and there was no Internet. What…