The Process of Writing Without Ambiguity.

December 23, 2009

Even the newspapers have their awkward word choice from time to time. Read the very end of this article about a retired gentleman who studied for, and participated in, a history class just for the pleasure of learning. “As for his future, “Jack” has no plans to go full time and, say, join a fraternity. [...]

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Should you need writing advice…

December 16, 2009

Ever hear the saying “Don’t should on yourself”? Within that cute pun lies a kernel of truth, best paraphrased by Jedi Master Yoda: “Do or do not. There is no try.” There’s nothing to be gained from telling oneself “I should do X, Y and Z today.” when instead thinking “Today I’ll do X, Y [...]

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Writing without rambling.

December 2, 2009

When we listen to a speaker, we always appreciate clear, concise language. Rambling is not welcome. So why would we put up with anything less in writing? How does this sentence take excess time to express itself? In the 1970s, some of you may remember, there was an “oil crunch” in the United States. It [...]

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Simple, clear writing.

November 30, 2009

The collective attention span shrinks as fast as the quantity of reading material explodes. Using fewer words to convey more meaning respects the reader’s time. Writers must carefully choose their words. With that in mind, pay special attention to the second sentence in this sample. “There’s no such thing as a local story, a trade [...]

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Confident, direct writing.

November 16, 2009

Be direct. Respect your reader’s time and interest. Use qualifying words and statements sparingly. With that in mind, let’s take a look at this little sentence… Nearly all development and construction, in the strictest sense, is not fully sustainable. “Nearly all”, “in the strictest sense”, and “fully” distract from the sentence’s core message: ‘Most development [...]

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