I just completed an article for a magazine. The original version was about 1400* words long, so the editors removed the last couple of paragraphs, made other minor modifications, and returned the article to me. I accepted most of their edits, added back the “missing” paragraphs, and sent them a note explaining their version […]
I’ve been working on improving my writing for about 20 years. When I was inside organizations, I asked some of my colleagues to review my memos and reports. I gained valuable insights. (“A verb, JR, a verb. Please.”) But once I started my consulting business 11 years ago, I needed more help with my writing.
I’m reviewing an article from a long-time colleague who’s just started to write. He has great ideas. And the way he’s packaged his ideas (the writing part) doesn’t do justice to them. There’s a mnemonic* I use (when I remember 🙂 to help me package my ideas better. It’s Hey! You! See? So… Hey! grabs
I have an article on Computerworld.com, Three Tips to Managing Across the Globe. Please leave comments here (because you can’t leave comments there.)
Esther and I have finally integrated all of our reviewer comments for Behind Closed Doors. We’re looking forward to final publisher (that’s Andy and Dave) comments, and copyediting, and then yippee, the book is ready for printing. We think the printing is about 6 weeks away — very fast for a book. Some of
Esther and I are editing (the next-to-final pass, we think) the book this week, integrating comments from our reviewers. We are very fortunate; our reviewers provided wonderful feedback. And some of the feedback we’re not going to use — at least, not in this book. One of the hardest things to do, whether it’s
I led a two-hour writing workshop this past weekend. The attendees ranged from a 9-year-old who says, “I LOVE to write,” to retired adults who are involved in community projects who hate to write. We performed two writing exercises. Although the writing is useful, it’s the debrief of each writing activity that helps each writer
Last week we held the AYE conference. Attending bloggers (in random order) were: Ron Pihlgren, Esther Derby, James Bach, Don Gray, Steve Smith, Tim Bacon, Rachel Davies, Dave Hoover, Dave Pickett, and Dave Liebreich. I hope I didn’t forget anyone. One of the highlights for me was the writing workshop. We practiced several timed writing
Read “Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully – in Ten Minutes”, and when you’re done chuckling, note the necessary ideas: His point #5: throw away reference books. This works for all first drafts. I don’t care if you’re writing a novel, a spec, or code. It works. Interrupting flow and what do you
Esther‘s here this week (again), so we can finish the pre-review draft of the book. We’re telling the story of a great manager who’s just arrived to a new organization. We describe meetings ,where we wanted to say “Everyone nodded.” I wanted to add “like bobble-headed dolls.” While that’s humorous, it’s not very respectful to