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I Want To Recklessly Split Infinitives
OK, maybe not recklessly, I just get a kick out of twisting the noses of the Grammar Nazis out there. Yes, I’ve ranted about the split infinitive before; now I’m doing it again. And I’m doing it because it bugs me how people say that it is now OK to break the rule without explaining…
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Active Language Leads to a Happy Life
Do you live life or does life happen to you? I suspect that if you are actively living life you are having a lot more fun than those who let life happen. And for those of us who let life happen – even just some of the time – how can we tap into that…
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Fix it Yourself, Hire a Pro, Start from Scratch?
In my mom’s toolbox, she had the basics for twisting (phillips- and flat-head screwdrivers), pounding (hammer), holding (crescent wrench and needle nose vice grip), sticking (duct tape and marine epoxy), and loosening (WD-40). As we all wore glasses, a set of jeweler’s screwdrivers was also a must in our house. With other odds and ends,…
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Why Beat About the Bush? Everyone Just gets Lost.
There are many reasons people choose to not get directly to the point: tact, fear, the desire to make things sound better than they are, the desire to hide what is really being said. However, when you choose to communicate that way, start handing out the compasses, because your audience is just going to get…
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Does that Word Make You Happy, Sad, or Mad?
One of the things I do for editing clients is question their word choices. My best example was when I convinced a client that she didn’t want to use the word “manifesto” on her website – even though she was using it correctly. I find that people’s brains tend to go to one of two…
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Finding My Writer in Hallmark Movies
I love my sappy Hallmark Christmas movies. I found it interesting that writers seemed to make up a disproportionate number of the heroines with the last crop. I know I watched three surrounding writers – but there were two that connected with me in more than just the, “I need a tissue, because love wins…
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What Makes a Good Blog Topic?
The answer is, of course: it depends. What is the purpose of your blog? Are you establishing your expertise? Are you in a field where the rules change (legal, financial)? Are you in a field where the players change (sports, politics)? Are you in a field where there’s always more to learn (tech, medical)? Are…
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Musings of a Writer without a Book … Yet
Well, I’ve drafted enough of How to be a Writer without Writing a Book to get feedback. So out to the beta readers it is. Now I’m facing a whole new world of writer-hood: getting published. Initially, my intention was to self-publish, and I still may. However, my writing coach has convinced me that the…
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Baseball Blog Brainstorming
During the post-meeting networking portion of a recent BNI meeting, one of the other members asked me for some time to help her with her blog. Eden is the Marketing Manager of an advanced IT solutions company – but that’s not what she wanted help with. She wanted help with her personal blog. So we…
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Punctuation for Clear Communication
I tell people that I edit for readability – and that readability is not always grammatically correct. I tell people that because I am not fluent in the formal terms of grammar. I don’t want to try to defend my edits based on participles, infinitives, dangling modifiers, or gerunds. (No matter how many times I…