Category Archives: Make Your Words Work
E-mail Newsletter Demons, and One Simple Way to Get Past Them
How to get past some of the demons that emerge from the woodwork when you sit down to write an email newsletter.
Essential Frames: 10 Ways to Frame Your Words
How using a frame or framework can help you to write with greater impact, or generate more creative ideas. Some examples of ways to use frames in your writing.
5 Simple Ways to Power Up Your Writing
Some practical tips for adding more power and confidence to your writing voice.
How Do You Know When The Words Need to Go?
Read over your compositions, and where ever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out – Samuel Johnson How do you know when some of your words need to go? When there are bits of prose which – however sparkling – deserve to end up on the cutting room […]
When Adjectives are Necessary
When you catch an adjective, kill it So wrote Mark Twain, so it must be right. Plus it’s the name of a book. And it’s deeply quotable, so easily found on a google search for adjectives. But… how does a quote like that help you work out when and how to make use of adjectives? […]
Why Do People Choose to Use Long Words?
An exploration of some of the reasons why people might still choose to use long words – longer than is needed – despite writing advice to the contrary.
20 Ways to Disrespect My InBox
I’ve been gathering tips and suggestions on e-mail etiquette for a while now, and looking for the opportunity to share them. ‘Respect’ seemed like the right framework, so with no pretences at originality, here’s are some classic ways to disrespect my inbox plus a collection of great links and resouces on how to get it […]
How To Write About Hot Issues
There’s a short answer to the question “How do I write about hot (sensitive, controversial, political) issues?” and that’s “Don’t!” That was my first inner response to this suggestion from Brad Shorr: How about writing with respect when your task is to criticize or argue a point? In this political season (in the U.S.), people […]
8 Ways To Free Your Words
For those times when your words seem to be stuck in the mud, here are 8 ways to try setting them free: 1. Write for one person It can be hard to write when you imagine a thousand eyes looking just at you. Or when you’re wanting to attract a lot of attention, and worried […]
"On Writing" On Powerful Writing
One of the few good things about 8 hour plane journeys is the chance to do some serious, uninterrupted reading. On my flight out from Amsterdam to Chicago the other week I got the chance to devour Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft in one sitting. The book kept me wide awake […]
