What they’re saying:
“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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Category Archives: Growing as a writer
“Be vewwy quiet! I’m hunting intensifiers!”
A modifier is a word or phrase that modifies another word or phrase by adding descriptive, limiting, or qualifying details. Adjectives modify nouns, and adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and everything else. Intensifiers are a special class of modifier that work … Continue reading
Posted in Growing as a writer, Style, Uncategorized
Tagged adverbs, Arthur Plotnik, intensifiers, tired words
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Strengthening the pillars—Ethos, or “a reason to believe”
A while back, I introduced you to (or reminded you about) the pillars of effective communication: Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. (Here’s a quick refresher: ethos is your credibility, logos is the evidence and logic you use, and pathos is the … Continue reading
Writing is a pipeline for ideas
“Ideas are not really alive if they are confined only to a person’s mind.”—Nancy Duarte One of the most beautiful parts of writing (or of speaking) is what I call idea flow. That is, writing is a pipeline that allows … Continue reading
Simplify
Here’s an exercise you can try this week: Make everything you write as simple as possible. Think Shaker furniture. Don’t add words. Cut them. Pare your message to its core. Don’t use big words. Use the simplest words you can. … Continue reading
Persistence and the writer
What does it take to be a successful writer? A few different things, but there’s one thing that we often overlook: persistence. I’m guilty of wishing for shortcuts, or hoping for a lucky break. (I’ve given up on “overnight success; … Continue reading
The pillars of effective writing: Ethos, Logos, Pathos
In architecture, a pillar holds up the building. Effective writing has pillars as well: fundamental principles that hold it all up. Aristotle studied the art of effective communication—he and his fellow philosophers called it rhetoric—and identified three basic things that … Continue reading
After the first draft, start cutting
You’ve finished your first draft. Now what? Start deleting. Why begin by cutting? Why not check your grammar or spelling, search for unnecessary jargon or passive voice, or simplify the language? Your first draft will contain things that you don’t … Continue reading
The Ability to Write Well is “Unobsoletable”
Do you ever worry that your hard-earned skills might become obsolete? That someday, the knowledge that you have worked so hard to attain, the abilities you have toiled to hone and polish, might suddenly lose their value in the workplace? … Continue reading
Posted in Business writing, Growing as a writer, Writing is good for you
Tagged Scott Ginsberg
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Five Basic Stories
There’s something about a story that grabs our attention. And getting people to pay attention is something that every writer wants, right? Ergo, writers who learn how to use stories become better writers. Over at Forbes.com, Nick Morgan tells us … Continue reading
Posted in Growing as a writer, Rhetorical devices
Tagged Forbes.com, Morgan, Nick, story
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