In his 1991 book, ‘The Miracle of Language’, Richard Lederer writes: “When you speak and write, there is no law that says you have to use big words. Short words are as good as long ones, and short, old words – like sun and grass and home – are best of all. A lot of
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If you’re writing a complex business document, it can be difficult to know where to start – so you don’t. And then you end up writing in a panic. So here are three tips to help you to get cracking: 1. Organise your information into categories and give those categories headings. 2. Use the headings
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People are often amazed at how fast I write, but the truth is that it’s not the writing that takes the time – it’s the other 80% of the equation. It helps to think of writing as a 50:20:30 ratio. To write well, you need to think well, and that means time to plan, to
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Struggling to write content for your business? Can’t come up with any ideas? Here’s how to get some words on the page and not get bogged down by writer’s block: Write badly. Write anything. Bad writing can be fixed, but a blank page helps no one. Apply bum glue. Most of the time you just
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I’ve been self-employed since – let me just check my CV – November 1997. I know a little about working from home and how to stay motivated. So I thought I’d share my top tips: Have a work zone. It doesn’t have to be a whole room, but it should be a space that you
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Do you have a company profile? Does it say you’re extremely innovative, customer-centric and solutions-focused? Oh dear. I have bad news. So does everyone else’s. And none of those words really tell me anything about your company and how it can solve my problems. What should it say? Well, it should give me a sense
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So, you won an award, or received a compliment. You want to post about it on social media – you have your reasons. But how do you go about doing so without sounding like you’re bragging? Well, here’s what you don’t do – you don’t say, “I’m humbled …” Why? Well, if you really were
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You don’t need to post your own “thought leadership” articles to be regarded as a thought leader on LinkedIn. Yup, you heard me right – and I speak as someone who is hired every week to write these kinds of articles on behalf of other people. Wanna know why? Because you don’t set yourself apart
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Pee Arrs, gather round – let’s talk proofreading quickly. Media releases are often a bit of a “production by committee” undertaking. Typically, a broad strokes brief is given, someone writes the piece, and then one or more others chip in. A release may go through several rounds of this, with people tweaking it at every
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