Tip: Beware of sentences longer than 20 words

11 March 2010

Here’s an easy rule of thumb when you’re writing at work: never write a sentence longer than 21 words. OK, it’s extreme. But it will often get you out of trouble. (Before you explode, let me remind you that phrases containing capital letters can be treated as a single “word” in this situation. Phrases like [...]

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Free e-book when you enrol: online Diploma in Web Content

5 March 2010

Last week Rachel had a Significant Birthday, so we’re giving you a birthday present. All you have to do is enrol yourself (or a group) in our Diploma in Web Content before midnight, 19 March 2010. With every enrolment before the deadline we’ll send a terrific free e-book worth USD17.00. “Write Me A Web Page, [...]

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Book titles are hard to write

5 March 2010

I find writing books easy and fun, but writing a book title terribly painful. (This is Rachel talking, by the way.) And so much depends on the title—sales, for instance! By sheer luck, my latest book has a pretty good title, but it went through the usual hair-raising cycle. 1. While I was writing, the [...]

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Why we don't do in-house, face-to-face training in writing for the web

4 March 2010

Do we provide in-house training in writing for the web? Not any more. Recently an email arrived from a large non-profit organisation in Colorado Springs. That’s a long way from Wellington, New Zealand. Could we provide 2 days of in-house training for their staff, on readability and plain language? Hm, let me think about that [...]

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Tip: Write what the reader needs to know

2 March 2010

It’s tempting to write what you need to say. That’s good, if you’re writing a book or a poem. That’s bad, if you’re writing a web page or any document that is supposed to be helpful or even useful to the public. Here’s an extreme example from the small web site of Pestoff Animal Control [...]

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Writers' blogging block: just habit

1 March 2010

How alarming! My blogging rate has slowed down from lively to sluggish. This must change. Sure, I had excuses. In the last couple of weeks I’ve launched a book which involved a certain amount of effort and publicity (Scarlet Heels: 26 Stories About Sex) and I’ve rehearsed and performed in a dance show (Crows Feet: [...]

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Vocab alert: "Diploma" has multiple meanings

24 February 2010

In Australia, “diploma” has a precise meaning, one that implies a pretty serious study programme. You wouldn’t embark on an Aussie diploma lightly. It’s not like that all over the world, however. Internationally, a diploma can be anything from a post-graduate 2-year course of university study to a short, solid professional development qualification, like ours. [...]

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George Orwell father of plain language

12 February 2010

Plain, yes. Boring, no. Barbarous, never. 2010 is a big George Orwell year: the 60th anniversary of his death occurred in January. John Rossi summarises Orwell’s life work in the Philadelphia Inquirer. George Orwell’s advice on writing style is recycled over and over again, year after year, all over the world… for a very good [...]

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Wedding speech model for tweeting

28 January 2010

Recently I attended a delightful wedding. It was perfect. Admittedly there were flaws, such as a cold and windy day, and the bride’s boat being stranded in Lyttelton Harbour. But the flaws just added to the perfection. (The clouds were aesthetically pleasing. Coastguard came to the rescue so the bride was only fashionably—not worryingly—late.) The [...]

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Tip: Use common words whenever possible

27 January 2010

Whenever possible, use common words. Words that nearly every adult is likely to understand. Words that don’t require a trip to the dictionary. Your aim in all business and professional writing is to get your message across quickly and clearly. Using common words is a plain language trick that really helps. It’s a simple way [...]

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