People are the key to any brand. People are the center, the edges, and the bottom line. People are the reason that we write.
Want a way to show your readers that you value them? Click the title shot below.
Relationships are built one person at a time.
Thank you, Rico, for this example of Successful and Outstanding Blogging.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Straight talk on business writing is a crucial need in the 21st century. We do business with people we don’t meet. It doesn’t matter whether we work at home or in a Fortune 500 environment, being able to communicate effectively in writing affects our ability to get work; it affects our place in society.
Do you want that job as a police officer, designer, detective, cook,or landscaper? Do you need to write a deal memo or a letter of complaint? You have to express yourself well and clearly, and to know the form and style that best suits the information you’re presenting, or you won’t be heard.
“With the fast pace of today’s electronic communications, one might think that the value of fundamental writing skills has diminished in the workplace,” said Joseph M. Tucci, president and CEO of EMC Corporation and chairman of the Business Roundtable’s Education and the Workforce Task Force. “Actually, the need to write clearly and quickly has never been more important than in today’s highly competitive, technology-driven global economy.”
The National Commission on Writing also found that American corporations have been spending $3.1 BILLION annually on improving employee deficits in writing.
This fact alone has lead many companies to look on people lacking writing skills as unfit for hire and unlikely to last long enough for promotion.
“In most cases, writing ability could be your ticket in . . . or it could be your ticket out,” said one respondent.
How we write is how we are judged by others. It is often the only picture of us they see. Certainly many of the key people in our lives see more of our words than they see of us.
So I’m going to spend this series looking at communication in all of its forms as we interact with businesses — getting and giving work and talking about the work we do together — why it works and why it doesn’t. We’ll talk about targeting your audience, sounding professional and easy to work with, how to delegate properly, emails, deal memos, proposals, conversation, and when things should be in person, on the phone, and in text.
I’m interested in what else you think this series should include.It’s all about business communication. No one is perfect at that.
So comment away on the problems you see and I’ll add them to the list of what’s covered. Improving this single skill set is the quickest way to ensure job security.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you think Liz can help with a problem you’re having with your writing, check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.
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For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week, I offer this Blogging Question. This event really happened.
A blogger who wrote a personal blog about his life as a gas station attendant, who worked at a station across the road from a university in Tennessee or Kentucky, decided to stop blogging. He was a blogger with a following — 20 or 30 comments per post wasn’t unusual.
This blogger and his fans were a community. They shared inside jokes, histories, and details about their families. Some readers had planned to drive down to see him.
In the last post when he signed off, the blogger stated quite simply that everything he had said about his life was fiction. He was not a gas station attendant. He was a student at said university.
The blogger claimed his right to tell the extended blogging story in the tradition of fiction writers such as Samuel Clemens. What’s your response to this blogging fiction?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Anyone who has been in any important relationship knows that most arguments aren’t about money, broken promises, or misbehavior. They are about words. Words cause misunderstandings and broken contracts. In the end, what arguments are usually about is that what was said and what was received didn’t match up.
Certain words make this happen particularly often, nicely said they are unclear referents. Evil pronouns is what I call them.
Let me show you how they cause arguments, er misunderstandings. Evil pronouns in question below are in bold.
IT Husband: So Larry, and the dog, and I went out jogging. He got tired and was a pain to deal with for the rest of the afternoon.
ME: Who?
IT Husband: Who? What?
ME: Who got tired and was cranky?
IT Husband: You know who I mean.
ME: No, I don’t. Was it Larry or the dog?
IT Husband: You weren’t listening. Were you?
[technically he in the original sentence would refer to the dog]
Need another example?
ME: Marcy said, “All married women are single parents.” I thought it was funny. What do you think about that? Do you think it is offensive?
IT Husband: I don’t find it offensive that you thought it was funny.
ME: That’s not what I was asking.
IT Husband: Yes it was.
ME: No, I used an unclear referrent. What I meant to ask was whether you thought what Marcy said was offensive.
IT Husband: But that’s not what you asked.
ME: You’re right, but it’s what I want to know. . . .
[technically that and it in the original sentence refer to what I thought]
Want one more?
IT Husband: We need to write a letter to the phone company.
ME: We?
IT Husband: Yeah. Us.
ME: You really mean me. Don’t you?
IT Husband: Well, you are the writer in the house. Are you refusing?
ME: No, I just wanted to be clear who’s really doing the work. . . .
Enough said about conversation.
You can control those evil pronouns in conversation and even more when you write. Here are two tricks to keep them in line.
Know that pronouns refer to the noun that is closest before it. So in this sentence, I came with both Ben and Jerry, but I spent all of my time with him. the pronoun him would refer to Jerry.
Of course, you can’t rely on other folks to follow that. So when you speak or write, include clues that keep the identify of your pronouns obvious. Listen for responses that might show that your conversation partner has misunderstood you. Look in your writing for opportunities to add details that make the identity of your pronouns unmistakable.
Do those things and you’ll not only communicate more clearly, but . . . you might even find that you argue less frequently. Okay about new topics then. 🙂
I’m sure you’ve been undermined at least once by evil pronouns. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say about them.
–Me “Liz” Strauss
If you think Liz can help with a problem you’re having with your business, your brand or your blog, check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.
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Every morning I get up and write blog posts . Then I go do my other writing work. I’ve been writing for a living for very long time. So I feel qualified to write this post. It’s not a rant. It’s a list. It’s a set of things that folks who think they might want to write for a living ought to know before they blindly follow their dream.
The problem with writing is
that, when you start, no one will believe you are a writer.
that all writing jobs takes longer than folks think they will.
that even talent needs ideas.
that getting to a living wage takes time and boring work.
that, when you write well, the finished product looks like it was easy.
that no one cares how hard it was.
that the lifestyle isn’t glamorous.
that the pay can be less glamorous.
that you’re always interrupted in the middle of the perfect thought.
that you’ll probably have to edit your own work.
that, if you get noticed, your mistakes are very public.
that you need to personally invest and be detached.
that you’ll be critiqued by people who don’t know to say things nicely.
that you’ll be critiqued by people who don’t know what they’re talking about.
that you won’t get to follow through on all of your favorite ideas.
that some of your ideas will stink too.
that folks won’t believe their opinion can’t hurt you.
that you won’t be able to explain the thrill of finding a word you spent 3 weeks looking for.
that only other writers will ever really know what it is that you do.
that your significant other may not read anything that you write.
that being a writer can wake you up in the middle of the night.
that it can make you feel stupid.
that no one can help you do it.
that when you have finished, there’s no applause.
that you have finished, you have to do the same thing all over again.
What could possibly be worth that investment?
Writing communicates through across the world, through time, to people I have never met. It captures ideas, inventions, and information. It’s worth it to be even a tiny part of that.
Bet you could add to this list. Why do you write in spite of it?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
It seems I’m always saying “Thank you, Darren.”.
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Language is a changing thing. The changes first happen in conversation and eventually they become accepted in written language as well. That’s what happened with that old rule Don’t finish a sentence with a preposition.
Power Hits prove that not everything you see in print, hear in a song, or watch on TV are correct.
In this case, two words the mass media can’t seem to get right are less and fewer. So let’s settle that matter once and for all. [Read more…]