Are you unique? That’s good. Are you very unique? Probably not. No, I’m not suggesting that individuality is a bad thing. In fact, it’s a very good thing. And the word “unique” should be a very good word. Unfortunately, it’s misused so often that it is losing its uniqueness. In simple terms, “unique” means “singular” … Read more
Have you ever attended a spouse’s office party and not been sure how to react when someone’s comment sends the room into gales of laughter? Someone says something like, “Yeah, but don’t ever hand Karen a glass of milk,” and everyone but you collapses into convulsions of hysterical laughter. You glance at your spouse, who … Read more
Most of us are well-acquainted with the concept (if not the term) of “death by PowerPoint.” It’s a reference to any number of excruciating presentation types. To me, the worst offender is the presenter who subjects you to copy-heavy slide after copy-heavy slide, and must assume you’re illiterate, so he finds it necessary to read … Read more
A local food retailer undergoing a major renovation apparently intended to plead for patience on a social media site, but wound up asking for participation in a nudist event. The retailer’s post asked customers to “please bare with us,” which is actually asking them to disrobe. Clearly (I hope), the store wanted customers to “bear” … Read more
Imagine the average math professor being asked to lecture to kindergartners. As he described chaos theory, the group would become so baffled and bored that it would revert to real chaos. Now imagine that one of your company’s engineers is sitting across the table from one of your product’s end-users. Would they have a mutually … Read more
One of my most successful projects began when I received an assignment to rescue a doomed newsletter for companies providing towing services to a motor club’s members. The newsletter wasn’t being read and the motor club didn’t understand why. It was full of valuable and important information, but nobody seemed to be paying attention, and … Read more
What’s the objective for your new website? “We want it to have a cool design that will attract visitors.” If I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I probably wouldn’t have to write as many websites to pay my mortgage. And each time I hear it, I have to take a deep … Read more
Long before Norman Vincent Peale penned the book that uncovered the power of positive thinking, advocates of similar philosophies promoted positive attitudes and messages as a critical component of success. As the Second World War drew to a close, Johnny Mercer’s “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive” dominated the airwaves and jukeboxes. Even today, you’ll hear people urge … Read more
There’s a common misconception about what people like me do for a living: that when our fingers make that initial contact with the keyboard, brilliance flows forth, creating first drafts that are truly works of art. The reality is quite different. If you read my typical first draft of copy for an article, a website, … Read more
Thanks to a handy tool within Microsoft Word and most other word processors, it’s easy to make your writing tighter and more powerful. That handy tool is the Word Count indicator. And here’s how you can use it to improve your writing: highlight whatever it is that you’re writing, whether that’s a page or a … Read more