Five Reasons why you Need an Editor

“Oh. I just edit my own stuff.”  That’s nice. Who edits your work after you? I recently heard a fantastic analogy from author Daniel Audet about editing your own work. He says, “No race car driver can also be his own mechanic and he’ll never win any races without a good one.” Whether you are blogging every day or working painstakingly on what’s sure to be the next New York Times Best Seller, you have a message for thousands if not hundreds of thousands of readers. With that many people reading your words, it is imperative your writing be perfect.  A...

Write beyond statistics; move your reade...

Unpack the stats! Sounds like a bumper sticker, doesn’t it? Statistics and shocking facts are good attention grabbers when constructing a message that is intended to move your reader. This is especially true if you are an organization seeking donors, sponsors, or volunteers. Strong statistics provide perspective and specific detail about your cause.  But the numbers and facts alone are unlikely to move your audience to action. It isn’t until you unpack the “whys” behind your facts and tap into the emotion of your reader that you will get them to click the...

Who or Whom? That is the Question

  In my opinion, of all the grammar decisions in all the land, deciding whether to use who or whom is one of the most difficult. In technical terms, the difference between the two is:   Who can be used in place of the subject of a clause or question: Example: Who told you that was okay? Brian is the one who told me it was okay.   Whom can be used in the place of the object a clause or question: Example: With whom are you going to the movies? Andrew is the guy whom you went with last week.   If you ask me, this is still confusing because the second...

Brainstorming–A heavenly technical...

Writing rules are important, but they don’t mean much if you aren’t even sure what to write. Sometimes getting words on the page is hard, let alone arranging them in a cohesive and rule-binding manner. The other day I read a great article by Jamee Rea about the art  of brainstorming. This is the most heavenly part of the writing process that is often times ignored. I think the constant change of information within the swirling vortex of social media creates pressure to remain relevant. If we don’t hurry up and produce content, then the topics change and we become...

“Snooze-proof” your prose: Passive Voice...

I squawk a lot about using better words in your writing. Better word choice equals less boring prose. Only less boring, though. To make your prose snooze-proof, you need to avoid using passive voice.  In simplest terms, passive voice is when the subject of a sentence is receiving the action of the verb indicated… as opposed to active voice where the subject is the doer of verb indicated. For example: Passive: Mary’s dinner was cooked by Mike. Active: Mike cooked dinner for Mary. The passive voice is not grammatically wrong, but it is boring—and wordy.  Many...

Little Writing Details Matter: Time, Num...

Have you ever come across a situation in writing where you think, “Hmmm… not sure how that is supposed to be written, but I don’t think anyone will notice if it’s wrong.”?  I promise plenty of people  in your audience will  notice if something is written incorrectly. To build and maintain your credibility as an intelligent and knowledgeable source for your audience, even the tiniest detail should be written correctly.   Time When you refer to time with a.m. and p.m. make sure to use periods in between the letters. Those letters are abbreviations for ante...