John Piper's Wife Offers Suggestions for Getting Published

John Piper is pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and author of many books, such as Don't Waste Your Life and When the Darkness Will Not Lift: Doing What We Can While We Wait for God—and Joy. Piper is a theological and pastoral giant among conservative evangelicals and Reformed Christians.

Piper's wife, Noel, is not as well-known, but she is also an author, having written Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God and Treasuring God in Our Traditions. She wrote a post on the Desiring God Blog today entitled, So You Want to Be a Writer? Piper offers seven suggestions to an aspiring yet frustrated writer who asks:

"I get so frustrated with myself because even as I am typing, I think, 'What am I doing? I can't write!' I would like to get published some day, but I don't even know how to start."

I especially liked three of Piper's suggestions. The first is to simply write--you just have to do it regularly to develop the skill. No way around that. She says "if you want to write, write. Don't think about publishing at first. And quit examining yourself and your ability. Don't worry about grammar and spelling at first. Just write. Anything. Journal. Letters. Blog. Keep a writing notebook or computer file."

Secondly, Piper recommends reading all you can from authors you really enjoy: "When you find an author you love to read, read everything you can find by that person. Think of authors whose writing grabs you, then soak yourself in their work." Reading is perhaps the best, and easiest, way to improve your writing.

Piper's final suggestion is to know your subject and your audience. She writes, "Before moving eventually toward publishing, probably most important is getting past the general idea of writing, and getting down to asking yourself, 'What do I have to say? What do I want to say? What are my great burdens that won’t let me be content until I deal with them on paper? Who do I want to write this for?'" Clarity of focus--actually having something worthwhile to say and knowing how best to say it for your intended audience--is key to effective writing and thus, enjoyable reading.

Read Noel Piper's entire seven suggestions on becoming a writer here.

HT to Justin Taylor.

Cliches--the Enemy of Good Copywriting

I've argued several times on this blog that cliches are usually worthless, and most of the time, ought to be avoided whenever you write anything. There are some (rare) exceptions, and in a future post, I'll make that case. But for now...

Cliches such as, "It's too close too call," or "Only time will tell," uttered by journalists ought to be banned because any reporter can say them about almost any subject. The problem with those two cliches in particular is that they've been used so many times that they no longer really evoke any concrete image in readers' or viewers' minds. Some cliches can be colorful, but those two are stale and overused. If cliches are bad in journalism (and they are), they may be worse in sales copy writing.

Charlie Byrne, Editorial and Creative Director for Early to Rise, a health, wealth & success e-zine, recently wrote an article on why cliches and predictability in sales writing can cause you to lose readers and their money. He quotes Michael Masterson, author of Seven Years to Seven Figures: The Fast-Track Plan and Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat:

"When a prospective customer reads your copy, you want to get him excited about your product or service. You want to say something fresh and tantalizing to engage him. But when you use clichés, something else happens to your prospect. A little switch inside turns him off. He says to himself, ‘I know this already… I don’t need to give it any more attention.'"

Byrne adds:

"When readers start knowing where the copy is going… when they can predict the next step in your story… they tend to dismiss it - tune it out, just as I was about to do with Crash. They might still be reading, but really, you’ve lost them."

Avoid cliches and implement some indirection in your writing to keep your readers' attention, Byrne says:

"The best way to defy the brain’s Categorical Imperative is with indirection. Go back to your copy and mark any areas that are boring, obvious, or predictable. More likely than not, here’s what has happened: You’ve fallen prey to writing clichés."

Today's writing to-do's: eliminate cliches, throw a fresh angle at your readers, and read Byrne's entire post, Use "Stravinsky’s Secret" to Supercharge Your Marketing Copy.

One Simple Trick to Writing More Concisely

"Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts."--William Strunk, Jr.

"If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out."--George Orwell

Writing concisely is the key to writing clearly. If you keep your words to a minimum, the minimum necessary to get your message across, you are more likely to be read and comprehended.

If you tend to ramble (to write more than is necessary to make your point), then apply this trick to your prose: eliminate metadiscourse. Metadiscourse is writing about writing, adding words to comment on your own writing. Metadiscourse is extraneous and almost always unnecessary.

Some metadiscourse phrases are: to sum up; candidly; I believe; note that; it has become clear; I would like to point out.

Examples

Metadiscourse version:
"I would like to personally thank you for your time yesterday."

Concise version:
"Thank you for your time yesterday."

The metadiscourse in the above sentence is the entire beginning--"I would like to personally...." It is not necessary to tell the person that you would like to thank him right before you thank him; just thank him.

Metadiscourse version:
"Here's a news flash: You're not the only one to experience this."

More concise version:
"News flash: You're not the only one to experience this."

Concise version: "You're not the only one to experience this."

There's no need to tell your reader that you're about to tell him some news--just tell him. Certainly don't say, "Here is ...." Just say it from the outset. Don't add filler.

Metadiscourse version:
"This is the reality: For all intents and purposes, you may as well be a fly on the wall when you're with that crowd."

More concise version:
"The reality: You may as well be a fly on the wall when you're with them."

Concise version:
"They don't notice you."

Trickery and poetry

Some writers will object that I'm cutting too many words and stripping the poetry from prose. Not really. Most "extra" writing is just that--extra. It's not necessary and it makes you take longer to get to your point, sometimes burying your thesis. When writing anything, you want your main point to be explicitly clear and by eliminating metadiscourse, you can more easily do that.

So...you want to write more clearly? Then write more concisely. Want to write more concisely? Then apply this trick--eliminating all metadiscourse--to everything you write. When you catch yourself describing what you're about to say, cut the filler and just say it.

Bad:
"It is my opinion that we should cut taxes."

Okay:
"I believe we should cut taxes."

Better:
"We should cut taxes."

Best:
"Cut taxes."

We cut our word count from nine to two and got our point out more quickly and clearly than we would have if we had tried to sound "professional" and serious. If you are the one saying we should cut taxes, then anyone listening already understands that you believe we should cut taxes (because you're the one saying so) and absolutely gets that this is your opinion (again, because you're the one saying it).

Writing concisely = eliminating metadiscourse.

I've Moved--Please Read

My new blog is Robust Writing, at robustwriting.com/blog

Sign up for the new feed at:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/RobustWriting

Related

Eliminate Redundancy from Your Writing
Write to Inform, Not to Impress

Want to Write Better? Read Some Road Signs

Read the copy from these six road signs I found on Google Images.

Speed Limit 50
Next 416 Miles

Do Not Enter

Road Work Ahead.
Prepare To Stop.

Caution.
Dangerous Corner.
Drive Slowly.

Right Lane Ends 1/4 Mile.

Sandy Creek 5
Watertown 29

Immediately, you know exactly what each sign's message is.

Do Not Enter: you're in for trouble if you try to come this way.

Road Work Ahead. Prepare To Stop: we're giving you a heads-up that your drive may take longer than you anticipated, so if you can take another route before you get to the road work traffic backup, here's your chance.

Sandy Creek 5. Watertown 29: from your current location, you're five miles from Sandy Creek and 29 miles from Watertown.

My point? People who write road signs have very little space within which to get their message across; they don't have the luxury (hindrance) to jazz up their writing with fancy prose or unnecessary words. They have a very short space to write on and the fewer and larger the words on a road sign, the more likely drivers are to see the words and process the message it's conveying. Only words which are absolutely necessary to get a message across are chosen--road sign authors must choose the few words they can put on a sign with extreme precision.

Do the same with your own writing, whether it's a magazine article, some marketing copy, or especially, a blog post or email. Presumably you have a purpose in writing, a point to make, a message to send--only use the words absolutely necessary for your readers to understand what you're saying. Choose the right words, the most exactly descriptive words, and keep your words to a minimum. Say exactly what you have to say and be done with it.

Remember the quote this blog is based on? Take heed.

"Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts."--William Strunk, Jr.


Related
The Best Writing Advice I Ever Received

Are cliches always bad? Usually they are but...

According to a study of British newspapers and websites, during the first half of 2006, the phrase "at the end of the day" was the most used cliche. Factiva, a news and information company conducted the study.

Following, in order, were: "in the red"; "in the black"; "level playing field"; "time and again"; and "wealth of experience."

I'm with George Orwell in hating the widespread use of cliches. Orwell directed his ire more toward the politicians who used cliches to hide the true meaning of their words. I get especially irritated with professional writers and news reporters who constantly use cliches--to me, cliches are the product of lazy thinking. I really believe that. However, Stephen Brook of the Guardian Unlimited, in commenting on the study, raises an interesting point:

"But however much we disdain them, there is a reason they catch on and it's not just journalistic laziness. They usually express things rather aptly and thus become the sort of phrase it's hard to avoid using. Consistent use of language can sometimes help readers."

That's a legitimate view; not legitimate enough to warrant constant continued use of cliches, though. We need to be more precise in our word and phrase choices. We should respect our story subjects and readers enough to think hard about what words most accurately describe what we are trying to say. It's worth the effort. And, despite his valid insight about the "usefulness of cliches," Brook ultimately agrees with me:

"Still, at the end of the day, as journalists we should try to avoid avoid being repetitive and this survey ought to give us plenty of pause for thought."

Prices May Very.

I picked up a coupon flyer from a major international food chain last week and in the fine print on the bottom of one of the coupons was this:

"Prices may very. Tax may apply."

Again, this is a huge fast food provider and this grammar error went out on a lot of coupons. The lack of precision in word choice doesn't look good. I will say that the rest of the copy was solid. However, a major corporation ought to ensure that its entire copy is mistake-free. It just looks better.

If you don't know what the offending word is, it's very. Here's why:

Very is an adverb or adjective that means: in a high degree; extremely; exceedingly.
Usage example: A giant is very tall.

Very is a homonym of vary, the word the coupon should have used.

Vary is a verb that means to change or alter, as in form, appearance, character, or substance.
Usage example: to vary one's methods.

So, instead of saying, "Prices may very," the coupon should read, "Prices may vary."

Word definitions and examples from Dictionary.com.

Related Links

Bad Grammar and Punctuation in Emails Can Hurt Your Career...or Worse
60% of Business Writing Contains Errors?
Sometimes It's Not It's. It's Its.
We or Us? Pick the Right One. Please.

Got Writer's Block? Just Eat that Frog.

Many writers believe they suffer from writer's block, an illness that supposedly renders them incapable of writing anything worthwhile for a time. They just can't think of anything to write or how to intelligently write what thoughts they do have.

Though a common complaint, I'm not sure I accept it. I mean if you don't have anything that you have to write or want to write at the moment, then you just don't have anything to write--so don't write. That doesn't necessarily mean you have writer's block, though. Bloggers seem to wrestle with this a good bit; again, unless you are under a deadline and must write something for publication, if nothing is firing your creativity, then forget about it until something does motivate you to write.

Now...if you have an article due tomorrow or your book manuscript has to be completed in the next few days or your college term paper was due yesterday and you still want to pass the course...and you sit down to write, stressing that your deadline is almost here but you can't really think of anything significant to write on...then, maybe, writer's block has hit you.

I am familiar with that situation, but, honestly, if you've got to write something by a certain time, then you've got to write it by a certain time. Presumably by now, you have a solid idea of what your article, book, or term paper is supposed to be on. Thus, just get going. Just start writing, from beginning to end, putting in everything you have to work with. Easier said than done, right?

Not really. I honestly think that in those situations, you're not suffering from writer's block; you're suffering from laziness and procrastination. I've struggled with that myself--I can tell you it's not writer's block. It's procrastination. If you know what your topic is about, then you have something tangible to work with. Work with it.

Writer's block? I'm not sure it really exists. I think it's an excuse for one of two things: either you just don't have anything worthwhile to say (and thus shouldn't) or you're just being lazy (and should just get going).

So, if you've got nothing to say, don't worry about it. Go outside and take a walk or go to the pub and drink some wine. Live life. You'll have interesting topics come to you eventually. But if you have to meet your deadline tomorrow and you're having difficulty getting started, don't blame that on writer's block--by now you ought to at least know what your topic is, and that's a huge step forward. Acknowledge that you're probably being lazy and get going. You'll be glad you did.

And if you need some help getting motivated even if you insist you have writer's block (and I argue that you don't), then check out these ideas from a few of my favorite writers, Brian Tracy, Tim Ferriss, and Robert Ringer.

Tracy:

"Mark Twain once said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long.

Your 'frog' is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don't do something about it. It is also the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life and results at the moment....

This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first. Discipline yourself to begin immediately and then to persist until the task is complete before you go on to something else....

The key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning. You must develop the routine of 'eating your frog' before you do anything else and without taking too much time to think about it." Source: Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy

Ferriss:

"Limit tasks to the important to shorten work time (80/20). Shorten work time to limit tasks to the important (Parkinson's Law)."

"Identify the few critical tasks that contribute most to income and schedule them with very short and clear deadlines."

"You should have, at most, two primary goals or tasks per day. Do them separately from start to finish without distraction. " Source: The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss

Ringer:

"What separates professional writers from amateurs is that they take action and start putting words on the computer regardless of whether or not they are motivated. In my experience, after I force myself to start writing, a seamless transition takes place and I become motivated.

When you force yourself to write, it stimulates your brain and body cells and gets your creative juices flowing. And that, in turn, revs up your motivation. It's the only way I know to combat procrastination. Writing is not about the future. Writing is about putting your hands on the keyboard now." Source: Wall-Sign Wisdom by Robert Ringer

Conclusion:

If you've got to finish writing a piece in order to meet your impending deadline, then just get on it. Eat the frog, as nasty as it is--pick it up, put it in your mouth, chew it up, swallow it, and then move on. I'm learning to do that. Also, drinking caffeinated tea and listening to music help me to eat my frogs a little quicker and smoother.

Writer's block? Think Nancy Reagan and Nike--just say no and just do it. Goodnight.

Related Links
Write to Inform, Not to Impress
The Creativity Elixir: Is Genius On-Demand Possible?
Ito En Tea's Tea: Green
Pandora Radio

Vanishing Mists: How Wisely are You Using the Short Time You've Been Given?

"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is."--C.S. Lewis

"Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes."--James 4:14 (English Standard Version)

Time. Eternity. Those two words haunt me. Whatever you believe about the eternal destiny of man in general or yourself in particular, we all know that our time here on earth is short compared to how long the world has existed--and may continue to exist (eternity is a long time, you know?).

Time may be the only thing each of us has in common--rich or poor, wise or ignorant, pretty or ugly, kind or mean--we can't choose the social status we were born into, our IQ level, our physical looks, or our natural temperament, but we each choose how we spend our time. Certainly, some of us are physically healthy while others are fighting for their life, suffering from an incurable disease. However, each person is born into this world for a specific time--once that time is up, we're gone. Most of us are in a position to choose how we spend much of our time, for good or ill.

If we waste it on excessive TV viewing, drugs, pornography, bar-hopping, or any other self-destructive activity, we have only ourselves to blame.

We can choose to use our time wisely, by taking care of our bodies (through proper sleep, diet, and exercise), engaging our minds (through reading great literature), developing deep relationships (through truly getting to know our family, friends, and co-workers), enjoying the beauties of this world (through taking up hobbies we're passionate about, such as writing or hiking in the mountains), and if you're inclined, getting to know the God who created us (through placing our faith in Christ, reading the Word, praying to the Creator, and enjoying the sacraments at Church).

What does all this have to do with writing? Well, I'm new to blogging (two months) and professional writing (a little over 1 1/2 years), and, in addition to contemplating the eternal value of my daily activities and aspirations, I've been thinking about the present, practical effects of how I spend my time.

Is blogging actually worth it? It's fun for sure. Creating unique posts and looking for ways to build traffic and make money off a blog--I've enjoyed it. But so far, I've made about $2 in two months. That's not a great ROI (return on investment). All the real money I've made has been from writing articles for local, award-winning publications.

So...how much time should I really spend on blogging, and more importantly, on traffic-generating exercises (Entrecard, Blogrush, SEO, commenting on other blogs, etc.)? I don't want to live in front of the computer--I hate cliches, but there really is a whole world out there! I will admit, though, that Entrecard is really cool, and it actually works.

Bob Bly, I think, has the right idea--focus on your paid writing projects and legitimate marketing efforts far more than building up your blog visibility. In only his third blog post, back in 2004, Bly wrote:

"1. For a solo practitioner (freelance copywriter) like me, my time is the only thing I have to sell.

Therefore, I am concerned that, since for me time equals money, my blogging is costing me a lot of money … with no visible ROI other than fun.

2. Bloggers – both those who have blogs and write the journal entries, as well as those who read blogs and write the posts – seem to have much more free time than I do … or more energy (probably the latter, though I work a 60+ hour week).

I am amazed at the detailed posts some of you guys make, or that you go look at, read, and respond to blogs so often."
Three years of minimal blogging later, Bly maintains:

"I am obsessed with not wasting time and being as productive as I can.

After all, my income is directly linked to my ability to produce quality work at a rapid rate.

This November will mark the 3-year anniversary of the launch of this blog, and the experience has led me to Bly’s Theory of Blogging and Personal Productivity, which states:

'Personal productivity is inversely proportional to time spent blogging.'"
Bly concludes, "But the more time you spend blogging, the less work you get done," and asks, "How many hours a week do YOU spend blogging — both writing your own blog, responding to comments on your blog, and participating in discussions on other people’s blogs?"

Good question.

I enjoy blogging, especially crafting posts, but I don't want to get too caught up in the latest traffic-generating ventures or hot blog discussions (commenting and then checking back to see who replied to me and then replying back and on and on)--they can be huge time-wasters. I want to spend the short time I have here on this earth focused on what really matters, temporally and eternally, as well as what really makes me money.

In that spirit, I've added a daily reads blogroll--the handful of blogs that I actually derive true, lasting value from on a regular basis. It may seem to go against much of what I've just written, but I don't think so. I have not been arguing that blogging is a complete waste of time; what I have been trying to emphasize is wise usage of time--focusing on those things in life which we truly enjoy and benefit from. For me, clearly, building up my writing business is probably a much more valuable use of my time than trying to build up my blog traffic--one earns me thousands of dollars and the other has yet to pay me enough to buy a combo meal at KFC.

What do you think? Are you heeding Ben Franklin's advice?

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that the stuff life is made of."--Benjamin Franklin

Related Links

How Much Time Should Professional Writers Spend Blogging?
Lessons for Bloggers From The ‘Death of 2007′
Bly’s Theory of Blogging
The Top 5 Uncommon Timesavers for Bloggers/Writers (Plus: Video of Me Kissing a Hairy “Coo”)
The Not-To-Do List: 9 Habits to Stop Now

Vigorous Writing's Top Posts So Far

I've been blogging close to two months now; I'm still learning the craft and trying to figure out what exactly my ultimate purpose in having a blog is. I've got some ideas--I'm getting closer to explicitly defining my course soon.

I've written 31 posts prior to this one and I thought I'd share the posts that have received the most traffic as well as the ones that I think are the best. Here they are--three of each.

Most-visited:

How Much Do Writers Make?
10 of the Best Posts/Articles on Writing/Blogging from the End of 2007
Do NOT Write for $3 an Article. Unless...

Best overall:

Almost Everything in Life is Negotiable--Even for Freelance Writers.
How Much Time Should Professional Writers Spend Blogging?
The Number One Way to Improve Your Writing--No Actual Writing Involved.

Bad Grammar and Punctuation in Emails Can Hurt Your Career...or Worse

Earlier this week, I ran a post on a press release that claimed 60 percent of business writing contains errors. I wasn't surprised.

Today, I ran across this article from the Etiquette Ladies, which asks, Are your e-mails hurting your career?

The ladies write, "The general attitude these days, especially among those who use email for business communications, is that people are too busy to care. This attitude has become an excuse for being lazy (writing experts suggest that 30% of people don’t even use spell check and it’s right there – easy and available with a click of a button). Whatever the reason, poor communication ends up costing time, money, and in some cases…it can cost you your relationships or reputation."

The article lists 14 common grammatical errors in email communication and shows the correct way to handle each one. If you write a lot of emails, you might want to bookmark this simple guide.

Related Links

We or Us? Pick the Right One. Please.
Sometimes It's Not It's. It's Its.
Use That Semicolon!

Author John Shore Tells Us How To Make a Living Writing

Many people would love to make enough money from their freelance writing to support themselves, but many of these same aspiring authors aren't willing to invest the long-term effort required for financial success.

Most writers (even those who truly are good) suffer from too much focus on the creative aspects of the business and not nearly enough on the marketing and selling side--no matter how good you are, if you aren't marketing yourself regularly to gain new clients, you won't accomplish much. You've got to learn how to market and do it, and then do it some more. Period.

John Shore, co-author of Comma Sense: A Fun-damental Guide to Punctuation, reminds us of perhaps the most important thing a new writer needs to know:

"Anyway, here's the deal (or one of the deals) on magazine publishing: Nobody cares about you as a writer. Magazines rip through writers like ... well, like elephants rip through hay. You don't want to even care about you as a writer. What you want to care about is the editor of whatever magazine you want to publish in (or, in a larger magazine, the editorial head of whichever department in that magazine you'd like to publish within). That's who you care about."

Shore is right--editors only care about you if you make their job easier. You can be a better writer, technically and creatively, than the rest of the editor's freelancers, but if you're late or require too much of the editor's time sorting out problems, you may often lose out to less talented, but also less problematic writers.

Shore continues:

"Your job -- your goal, if you're starting from the outside -- is to make that person's job easier. Because everything about an editor's life is working against his job being easier. Freelancers are late with their stuff. Photographers send in shots of their feet. The graphics department decides the next cover would look good with everyone's face bright red. The PR rep for the star about whom you were going to run a feature is suddenly insisting their client be on the cover of the magazine. The people running the ad on your back cover want that ad changed. Your rep at the printer's quit, and her replacement is color blind. The publisher -- your boss -- decides at the last minute that you need to switch out a story you'd planned on running with a story about his wife's yoga teacher."

If you want to succeed, heed Shore's advice:

"But you! You,with your tight writing style; your timeliness, your outstanding story ideas; your flawless execution; your blessedly low-maintenance personality; your flexibility; your plain, good ol' fashion, astoundingly rare professionalism.

You're someone who's actually helping that editor, for a change!

Thus do you in very short order become invaluable to that editor. You become one of the editor's go-to people."

Read the whole post on his blog.

Grammar note

I have to do it--I gave Shore a lot of link love, plus, I really like and recommend his advice. But, Shore writes, "That's who you care about." The sentence should read, "That's WHOM you care about."

The mixing of who and whom bugs me too much to let it slide. Am I nitpicking? Like I said, Shore's advice is great and I hope everyone buys his book. Also, if you find any such errors in my posts, slam me for it. Constructive criticism is good.

Resume Writing Sins

Most people will need to write a resume at some point in their working life. Even for those who are not professional writers, this is one area where good writing skills are necessary.

In addition to clear writing, a good resume also stems from a clear focus before writing it.

To prevent the wrong focus, Chandra Fox of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution warns us to avoid the 7 Deadly Sins of resume writing.

Writing Helps You Lose Weight? New Book Says So

In an interview with Newsweek, author Julia Cameron claims she went from a size 16 to a size 10--primarily from writing.

Cameron says, "The bedrock tool of weight loss is writing three morning pages. These are longhand, stream-of-consciousness writings about absolutely anything that is annoying you, bugging you, vexing you or just simply capturing your attention. You become more in tune with your own needs and desires, which means that you make peace with some of your frustrations. Instead of eating, you discover what's eating you. Write in the morning about the day you're going to have. And during the day you keep a food journal of everything you eat."

The writing she describes sounds a lot like blogging.

Cameron's book is The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size.

How much weight have you lost since you began your blog?

Note

One of the ads running on the Newsweek website next to the interview had this headline:

"Less wrinkles in only minutes."

It should read "FEWER wrinkles in only minutes."

Do you know why?

60% of Business Writing Contains Errors?

I found this interesting bit from a press release that hit the wires yesterday:

"Despite the ready availability of free spelling and grammar checkers, 60% of all business correspondence STILL gets sent containing one or more grammar or spelling errors, according to the results of a study released today by WhiteSmoke, developer of the world’s leading English writing software solutions."

Certainly, WhiteSmoke has a financial interest in this whole thing, but their "findings" don't surprise me. It may or may not be a good study (it was based on analysis of 5000 business writing texts), but I'm sure a lot of workplace writing is littered with errors.

The most common one the study authors found was missing words, such as writing, "I will there tonight," instead of the correct, "I will BE there tonight."

Why all the error-filled writing from business professionals?

Use That Semicolon!

I often see a comma used in prose where a semicolon ought to be. Here's a sentence straight from a recent advertisement in a local magazine:

"At..., we want to solve some of your problems, no we can't solve them all, but we do try."

Right after the word problems, there should be a semicolon or a period; by using a comma, the sentences run into each other. The comma should actually be placed after the word no. Also, the comma after the word all might be unnecessary; I think that may be a stylistic preference, but certainly, there should not be a comma after the word problems and there should be one after the word no.

Compare:

"At..., we want to solve some of your problems; no, we can't solve them all but we do try."

"At..., we want to solve some of your problems. No, we can't solve them all but we do try.

What do you think? How should this sentence be best punctuated?

Clean Up Your Writing--Links to Some Strong Posts

I found some really good posts on writing along the lines of what I typically explore on this site--grammar and style issues as well as the thinking behind the words you use. Give 'em a look.

The Language Perfectionist: Expletive Deleted by Don Hauptman. The post is in the bottom third of this edition of the Early to Rise newsletter.

"In most cases, the use of there is and there are is anemic and a sign of lazy writing. Fortunately, it’s easily circumvented. 'There’s a salesman at the front desk' is better rephrased as "A salesman is at the front desk."

Five Grammatical Errors That Make You Look Dumb by Brian Clark.

"While we all hope that what we have to say is more important than some silly grammatical error, the truth is that some people will not subscribe or link to your blog if you make dumb mistakes when you write, and buying from you will be out of the question."

Farther versus Further by legbamel.

"Use farther when you are talking about actual, physical distance. Use further to indicate an increase in less measurable characteristics. Use furthermore to replace in addition or moreover, if you like to use words of more than ten letters. That was as far as I meant to go, and no further."

Better Business Writing in the Workplace by Brian Scott.

"Remember: less is more. Try not to repeat ideas. Repetition, unless necessary, is tiresome for the reader. Keep the piece moving along. Use a lively pace. Progress through your points efficiently."

Things Quotation Marks Shouldn’t Do by Gabe Doyle.

"However, while italic text can be used solely for emphasis, quotation marks always carry some other meaning in addition to emphasis. So using them to only convey emphasis is confusing. Please don’t."

A Tall Order: Stop Using Cliches in Writing--They Stick in My Craw

"It's too close to call." "It's too good to be true."

Many writers, even experienced ones, regularly use cliches in their writing. Here's a good definition from Wikipedia:

"A cliché (from French, klɪ'ʃe) is a phrase, expression, or idea that has been overused to the point of losing its intended force or novelty, especially when at some time it was considered distinctively forceful or novel. The term is generally used in a negative context."

George Orwell's term for cliches was "ready-made phrases," phrases that consist of stale language you regularly hear, such as, "It remains to be seen," or "It's anyone's guess." News reporters use such language constantly--dulling your writing or speaking with cliches is simply lazy thinking. It shows you don't value your subject enough to invest the energy and time to really describe it in more colorful, unique, and accurate language. The use of cliches is indicative of "phoning it in" (that phrase itself is a cliche) rather than truly searching for more precise words.

After reading Orwell's thoughts several years ago, I've tried to never use a cliche--it takes more work but it's worth it.

Note
I'll have a much more in-depth look at cliches--why they're so bad and how to avoid them--in an upcoming post. I'll also give examples of how common they are, even in professional circles as well as give simple examples of what to use in place of specific cliches.