Have you ever noticed how we start to see new things just by changing focus? I shifted my blogging focus a week ago and whereas I’d been stumbling across thinking on authenticity throughout September the blogosphere seems to have been awash with pieces on clarity in the last seven days.
Here’s a selection of the best.
- Brian Clark at Copyblogger challenges us to keep focused on our audience and readers
- There’s a useful summary of techniques for writing with purpose and clarity from Laura at Writing Thoughts
- Kenneth Davis at Manage Your Writing adds a practical suggestion to step away from your document and get a sense of its visual impact, never mind the words
- Paragraphs are key to readability and clarity and Daily Writing Tips has some suggestions on the how and the what of getting paragraphs to work for you
- Lynn Gaertner-Johnston sorts out some e-mail clutter by reviewing what’s up with e-mail slogans and sayings
- And once you’ve done all that, once you’ve written your piece as clearly as you can – there’s a reminder that the story doesn’t end until your reader gets the message. Check out what happens when we’re not crystal clear with our words in “The Importance of Clarity” over at the Middle Zone
Some great material out there to help us keep focused, keep clear, and keep working to communicate our message.
Hey, Joanna, thanks for the mention! I liked Lynn’s article on email signatures – one of my own pet peeves
My pleasure. I will never be able to think about “the meaning of the communication is the response you get” (which is also one of the presuppositions of NLP) without first thinking about the story of the cows!
I’m glad you enjoyed Lynn’s piece. Her site is full of practical writing suggestions – and I particularly enjoyed the perplexing set of quotes she’d gathered to illustrate how distracting e-mail signatures can be.
Joanna
This is a great list of helpful posts on staying focused.
Thanks so much for including my post with the others.
Laura – my pleasure.