I am not a fan of the term “grammar Nazi.” I refuse to use it in reference to myself or others. The term may be meant as a jest, but I’m not sure that it is. It smarts just a little too much. Even if it is a jest, it’s not a flattering one. I know I joke about wielding a red pen, but such jokes are meant in good fun. No one gets hurt when I say I wield a red pen. While I am serious about writing better and encouraging others to write better, I’m equally serious about poking fun at my own obsessive-compulsive behavior when it comes to finding the right word or punctuation mark.
Write Right: At Around
Today’s lesson is a practical one. It’s one that marketers and content writers can put into action immediately. It won’t hurt too much, either. All it will involve is choosing one word or the other.
The Secret to Writing the Perfect Headline
I might have used some link bait with that title. I don’t think Jim Dougherty, the author of this post, or I know the secret to writing the perfect headline. We simply bumble and hope that we write a better headline the next time.
Headlines are pretty important. More people will read your headline than will read your content. Some people will comment on your headline if your blog posts circulate in social media circles. But most importantly your headline is the reason that people will choose to read your writing or not.
For most people, this probably isn’t a huge revelation. But for me, it was.
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What to Do When You Feel Like a Failure
It’s hard to know what to do when you feel like a failure. Your failures seem insurmountable. They’re the bullies at the playground. They’re the opponents who outweigh you by one hundred pounds. All you can see is the size of the failures. All you can hope is that your feelings are wrong and that they won’t last forever. All you can do is stumble your way through them.
Write Right: Ahoy, Maties!
It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Why don’t you give Captain Write Right your best pirate impression in the comments? You know you want to do it. If you don’t, the captain of this particular ship might make you walk the plank.
The E-Book is Here!
Over the course of a few months and conversations with several people, I realized I needed to add additional resources to Write Right. I have a couple of posters about how to survive the writing life, but they aren’t sufficient nor are they necessarily something that someone new to Write Right might enjoy. Thus, I went down the e-book path. I deliberated between a few ideas and finally settled upon one: principles of effective communication.