Get It Write

Start with the good stuff, win the trust of the audience and sit back and tell them the story. How can you not like a column where you run across blasters going pew pew and that’s at least mildly bonkers? Enjoy this 2015 conversation with Jason Fry and Roy Peter Clark about storytelling and Star Wars and #MayThe4thBeWithYou https://t.co/EzzozWHXNc

Another interesting read in Chip Scanlan’s Chip's Writing Lessons #52. Advice includes Write your way beyond the fear that stops you from writing: https://www.chipswritinglessons.com//bookbag-exorcising-t/

PLAIN’s Checklist gives 14 ways to improve writing and meet standards, like writing for the average reader and using you:" https://www.plainlanguage.gov/resourc/checklists/checklist/

Demystifying measurement with Cindy Crescenzo via IABC’s Catalyst: https://catalyst.iabc.com//Busine/demystifying-measurement

In this week’s weasel words and corporatespeak: OHIP does not participate in the imaging portion of the visit. Translation: This ‘imaging’ costs extra and you have to pay for it.

Are you sometimes pressed for time and find that you need to speed up your writing? My latest blog post has 10 ways to ignore distractions, focus and get it done: https://getitwrite.ca/2021/04/29/write-faster-2/

Thanks to Ragan Communications for running my Timeless writing lessons from ‘Sesame Street.’ I'm one of many adults who love that show. https://www.ragan.com/timeless-writing-lessons-from-sesame/

Good writers get better by studying work they admire to see how it works, says Ann Wylie: https://www.wyliecomm.com//to-become-a-better-writer-you-/

Finding the human angle is the secret to turning a potentially boring subject into an interesting piece of writing. My latest blog post has the questions I use, including one that almost always pulls out a quotable quote: https://getitwrite.ca/2021/04/08/the-human-angle/

I may have shared this before since it's so cute, but here's a flashback to writing tips from Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve’s Fat Bear Week via Ann Handley: https://annhandley.com/copywriting-counsel-unbearable-camp/

The government of Canada has a way with words and images about disability, with suggestions like Choose words that are non-judgmental, non-emotional, and are accurate descriptions: https://www.canada.ca//pr/disability/arc/words-images.html

Compared to" or "compared with"? There is a difference, and Dr. Clare Lynch describes when to use one or the other: https://www.dorisandbertie.com//compared-to-or-compared-wi

Everybody has stories. You just have to listen or find somebody willing to listen to yours. Lovely tale of 66 days of shell art helping a retired journalist rediscover her writing voice. Where else but Nieman Storyboard: https://niemanstoryboard.org//how-66-days-of-shell-art-he/

This question comes up every year: Is blogging dead? To mark my own blog anniversary (14 years, thanks!), I find answers from experts such as Andy Crestodina, Neil Patel, Christopher S. Penn and Darren Rowse: https://getitwrite.ca/2021/01/28/is-blogging-dead-in-2021/

Thanks to Ragan Communications for running 8 ways to make your internal newsletter shine in 2021 (from my own January newsletter): https://www.ragan.com/8-ways-to-make-your-internal-newslet/

How internal communicators can become better proofreaders, by Jessica DiDonato via Ragan Communications: https://www.ragan.com/how-internal-communicators-can-becom/

Another riveting article and annotation of it by Chip Scanlan for Nieman Storyboard, this reconstructing the tragedy of COVID-19 from the epicenter of NYC: https://niemanstoryboard.org//reconstructing-the-tragedy-/

Collective nouns are just so evocative, like the exaltation of larks and murmuration of starlings: Merriam-Webster takes a look: https://www.merriam-webster.com//a-drudge-of-lexicographer