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“Deft, generous, wise and insightful, Roy Jacobsen’s experience-based blog is one of the best bangs for the click that any writer will find on the Internet.”—Arthur Plotnik“Writing – Clear and Simple proves that it doesn’t take a professional to write clearly and with impact.” —Top 100 Blogs to Improve Your Writing in 2010
One of “The Top 30 Blogs on Writing” according to the Delaware Employment Law Blog.
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Author Archives: Roy Jacobsen
Spot the Error: Pundit Edition
Spotted in a bit of political commentary: If the Romney team believed their own inevitability rhetoric, failing to invest for victory yesterday just as they did before South Carolina, that doesn’t auger well for their ability to make sound decisions … Continue reading
Posted in Spot the Error
6 Comments
“Writing is a skill, not a talent”
“Writing is a skill, not a talent, and this difference is important because a skill can be improved by practice.” –Robert Stacy McCain, The Other McCain
Posted in Good advice from here and there, Quotations
Tagged practice, Robert Stacy McCain
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Need to apologize? Speak plain English.
There are good ways and bad ways to address a customer service fiasco. Courtesy of Southwest Airlines, here’s one of the bad ways: “We are working directly with the family after sincerely apologizing and issuing a full refund for their … Continue reading
Posted in Business writing, Plain Language
Tagged apologies, Plain English, Southwest Airlines, spin
1 Comment
Never underestimate the power of sitting down and doing it
Author John Scalzi recently ran across something he wrote back in 1997 upon finishing his first novel: [L]ike most things on the planet, thinking about doing it is a lot worse than simply sitting down and doing it. The writing … Continue reading
Posted in Good advice from here and there
Tagged discipline, John Scalzi, motivation
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Exculpate the lacuna
Yes, there’s been a lengthy break in posting; real life has reared its head with its normal mix of good, bad, and indifferent disruptions. We will have normal service restored shortly. And for those of you wondering whether I got … Continue reading
Posted in Announcements, Word Choice
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“Friends, Romans, countrymen, borrow lend me your ears”
Borrow Lend me your attention and let me share this gaffe on a newspaper website that my friend Fred pointed out: The day before, his sister Dolly Wambach, of Georgetown, Minn., and family spent about 12 hours loading the tops … Continue reading
New special report available: “Put Your Writing to the Test”
Can you tell if your writing will get the results you want? Will that document, that letter, that brochure meet the goals you have for it? Is there some way to find out? Yes! There are four inexpensive methods you … Continue reading
Posted in Announcements, Recommended Resources
Tagged branding, marketing, testing, usability
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Voting opens for Best Grammar Blog of 2011! Vote now!
Voting has opened for the Grammar.net Best Grammar Blog of 2011 Award, and Writing, Clear and Simple is one of the nominees. This is the first time my blog has been nominated for an award like this, and it feels … Continue reading
No such thing as “very imperative”
Can something be “very imperative?” No, it can’t. I’ve already written about the overuse of intensifiers, our habit of tacking adverbs like very, really, and extremely onto words in an attempt to turn up the intensity of our language. While … Continue reading
