Twyla Tharp, the master choreographer, has a wonderful book on creativity called The Creative Habit. One of my favorite pieces of advice in it is her discussion of how to start anything – a dance, a book, or a piece of music. To begin, she says, you don’t have to start at the actual opening of the piece. Dive into a part that interests you, begin brainstorming there, and you can build the piece outward, in any direction. This is good advice for writers in the earliest part of the process, lon... Read Full Story

It’s not always terrible to be invisible; sometimes it’s exactly what the job requires. This applies most to verbs and verb phrases that are so commonly used they do their job while disappearing from view. The best invisible verb phrase I know of is when a writer, quoting someone, finishes with “he said” or “she said.” Writers – especially in business and school writing – often try to tamper with this wonderful, quiet little phrase, by spiffing it up with substitutes like “he stated” or ... Read Full Story

Last year I took a trip to St. Mary’s City, the original capital city of Maryland. It’s a great place where re-enactors dress up as 17th century Marylanders, living as they did when St. Mary’s was the hub of activity in colonial Maryland. One of the main attractions, besides the Indian village and the Maryland Dove, the merchant ship at St. Mary’s dock, was the printer’s house, where the town’s newspaper was printed. The volunteer there showed us how the printer’s letter blocks were set in t... Read Full Story

A tribute to the humblest of words, hooray for the article. They’re short, they don’t seem important, but look what they do. Consider the following two sentences: He moved the cart. He moved a cart. I’ve noticed lately that people don’t mind dropping an article now and then. Maybe they’re writing quickly, and a short little “a,” “an,” or “the” gets lost in the rush. But articles are important. They give a sense of how specific, how... Read Full Story

Think you can’t have fun reading about grammar? I’m a structure-lover myself, and grammar’s always been a given – part of the furniture, you might say. But I just finished reading Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, and I’ve got to say that for the first time, I actually read a grammar book straight through and enjoyed it! First, Mignon Fogarty, “Grammar Girl,” has a great style that makes her easy to read. Second, she answers a lot of those murky questions we all have a... Read Full Story

Last post was for people who don’t know how to stop themselves from saying too much. Today’s post is for those who can’t find what to say. Having enough to write is not a matter of finding the words. It’s a question of finding the ideas. And the way to ferret out ideas – if they don’t come on their own – is to ask questions. For example, a common problem for school research or term paper writers is that they think a basic statement covers a topic. Consider this one: American history ... Read Full Story

Sometimes people just don’t know when to stop. I’m not a big advocate of word limits, but there are those who need them. They take fifty words to tell you nothing, or less. Take this for an example: There is no doubt but that at that point in time, the factors contributing to their troubles were rising to the surface. This caused Marge, in particular, to feel surrounded on all sides. She felt she was in a very unique situation, and there were two d... Read Full Story

Some people have trouble getting comfortable with the language. Since having a feel for the words you use is essential to good writing, I recommend a fun exercise that helps people learn not only the direct meaning of words (their denotation), but the secondary meaning of words – their connotation -- the picture those words make in a reader’s mind. To do this exercise, get yourself a good thesaurus. Pick a word – this works especially with verbs and adjectives, but some... Read Full Story

Business writing is best when simple and straightforward. You don’t need fancy, long words when a normal, short one will do. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy the possibilities of the language. That’s why it pays to know the meaning of the words you use, and not just the broad meanings, but the shades of meaning, the connotation of a word. Take the words “strong,” for example. Synonyms for it are words like “mighty” and “great,” “sturdy,” and “powerful.” But each of those words leave... Read Full Story

Do you love words? So do I. I love them so much that sometimes I think they’re enough. Unfortunately, they’re not. The classic business writer’s mistake – made especially by people with some writing talent – is to just sit down and start falling in love with words, when there are no ideas to write about. I’ve talked a lot in this blog about structure. Now it’s time to talk about the place for polish. And that’s at the end of the process. Once you’ve got your ideas in order, you know what yo... Read Full Story