We are the 90% -- Part 2
2 February 2012
Thanks to the readers who responded to my question last week:
Do you have any tips to share with us on ways to make sure you spend enough thinking time when you write?
I’d like to share them with you today.
Reflection time
Vani wrote, ‘Writing a reflection is a way to keep an audit trail.’ By writing your thoughts and looking at them later, you can process it further and perhaps discard some of it.
…
We are the 90%
26 January 2012
Image by NLNY
Political movements have been big news around the world for the past year, from ‘Arab Spring’ marches in the Middle East to the ‘Occupy’ movement in the US and Europe. People are protesting against corrupt governments and greedy corporations. They’re marching for those who hope for democracy and fair treatment and for those who have lost jobs and been cheated out of homes and pensions.
…
The Importance of Earnest Thinking
19 January 2012
Image by Abode of Chaos
In a recent newsletter from Publication Coach, Daphne Grey-Grant, she wrote about a play she’d seen during a trip to Chicago.
The play, Red, is about the 20th century American artist, Mark Rothko. In one line, the Rothko character states that only 10% of painting involves applying paint to canvas; the remaining 90% involves thinking about the work.
…
A Tale about a Tail
12 January 2012
Image by Noel Reynolds
Actually, I won’t be telling you a tale here (about bird tails or anything else).
Instead, we’ll look at ‘homonyms’ – words that have the same sound and/or spelling, but have different meanings.
Homonyms are very easy to confuse – and it happens to everyone. (I found one while proofreading this post. Hope I caught them all before publishing!)
…
Have Another Happy ‘Low-tech’ Holiday!
22 December 2011
Image by alkruse24
My 2009 Christmas/New Year holiday blog told of how my husband and I experienced a burst of creativity during a day when the power to our house was off and we couldn’t go online. And in last year’s holiday post, I talked about the brain development benefits of in-the-flesh communication with people.
I was again reminded of low-tech benefits while watching a recent TV news story that featured the Waldorf School – a group of more than 1,000 private schools worldwide whose teaching philosophy focuses on physical activity and learning through hands-on tasks. …
GPS Navigational Devices for Readers: Part 2
15 December 2011
Image by Arthur Chapman
In the last post we talked about using conjunctions as transitional ‘GPS devices’ to use in your writing.
Today we’ll look at three other types of transitions, a very small sampling of the many written ‘GPS devices’ you can use to guide readers through a text.
Type 1: the intriguing statement
Intriguing statements catch your attention because they’re fascinating. …
GPS Navigational Devices for Readers: Part 1
8 December 2011
Image by Qole Tech
When my husband and I travel by car, he usually gives me the task of being the navigator, because I’m good at reading maps and he thinks he’s good at driving. I’ve never really liked navigating, however, because (1) I get nauseated when reading in a moving vehicle and (2) I end up being more of a ‘nag-vigator’ when my husband pays more attention to everything else than he does to the road.
…
The Power of One (Part 3)
1 December 2011
Image by Mrs Logic
Sounds kind of silly – Part 3 of the ‘power of one’. But it’s such an important topic that I can’t help myself.
I first wrote about this topic more than a year ago. At that time I quoted John Forde of the Copywriter’s Roundtable, who said:
Good writing is one good idea, clearly expressed.
Recently, John again emphasized this point. …
Writing Technical Information for Tech ‘Dummies’
24 November 2011
Image by julianrod
Thanks to Stephen, one of our readers, who wrote me with one of the writing struggles he has:
It’s difficult to write a clear and short e-mail to my boss, in particular about the system error because he/ she may not have any technical background.
I’m definitely a ‘non-techy’ reader like those that Stephen has to write emails to, so I can understand his concern. …
Grammar Bite #17: Date Formats
17 November 2011
Can you see any problems with the following date formats?
· 18 Sep 2011
· Sep 18, 2011
· 11/10/09
· 11.10.09
· 11/10/2009
· 2003.11.09
· Dec 24th, 2010
· The 9th of March 2001
None of the dates are written incorrectly. But those written with numbers only can be confusing.
Day-Month-Year
Most countries use this format. …
Responding to Complaints: Part 7
10 November 2011
In the last of the series on responding to complaints, we’ll cover the final question for unjustified complaints:
This person complains all the time just to see how much we’ll give him. I’m going to have to get firm with him.
Some customers seem to make a career of complaining. I don’t know if they’re trying to get more from companies, or if they’re just perpetually negative. …
Responding to Complaints: Part 6
3 November 2011
Today we’ll look at my third answer for dealing with unjustified complaints – where we say ‘no’ (in a polite way, of course!).
Situation
To illustrate this type of response, let’s consider a situation where an insurance client submitted a claim to cover medical costs after an accident. The insurance company refused the claim, saying that it did not comply with the terms of the policy. …
Responding to Complaints: Part 5
27 October 2011
Today, we’ll continue with how to respond to unjustified complaints. This is my second answer to the question ‘Is the customer always right?’
The customer is not right, but you decide to be nice anyway
What if you do have proof that the customer’s claim is wrong? You don’t have to give in to the demands, but you still want to maintain the relationship.
…
Responding to Complaints: Part 4
20 October 2011
In recent posts we’ve talked about responding to justified complaints, where your company is at fault.
Now we’ll turn to the more difficult responses – where the customer’s complaint is not justified.
Is the customer always right?
Short answer: No.
The answer that you hear all the time: Yes.
This is what makes responding to unjustified complaints so hard to do. …
Grammar Bite #16: Use of ‘then’ and ‘than’
13 October 2011
Only two letters make the difference between then and than. Perhaps the reason why people frequently confuse them is that they sound almost the same. To see what I mean read this sentence out loud: I’d rather have chocolate than anything else.
But there are bigger differences between these words than just two little vowels. Let’s take a closer look.
Responding to Complaints: Part 3
6 October 2011
Image by skippyjon
Justified complaints: serious problem
Today we’ll look at language to use when responding to a justified complaint about a serious problem. To illustrate, I’ll use an example based on a case I heard about recently.
In this situation, a tenant is having continuing problems with plumbing in the property she’s renting. …
Responding to Complaints: Part 2
29 September 2011
Image by felinest
Justified complaints
Today we’ll look at some language you can use to respond to a justified complaint where a customer has not complained to you before.
Here is what the complainant wrote:
SUBJECT: Damaged crockery, order number AG9872011
Two weeks ago, we ordered 15 forty-piece sets of table crockery from your company. …
Responding to Complaints: Part 1
22 September 2011
Image by Niklas Hellerstedt
Complaints range from very minor irritations that customers (or colleagues) experience, to huge problems that have the potential to damage a company’s reputation.
We can often deal with minor irritations in person or over the phone. Many times a simple apology is all the customer wants to hear. (Customer service tip…
Grammar Bite #15 – Use of ‘any more’ and ‘anymore’
15 September 2011
Today’s grammar bite comes in response to a question by one of our readers, Patrick, who gave me permission to publish it. Thanks, Patrick!
Hello Deborah,
Some friends are discussing the meaning of sentences with 'anymore'. Our findings are as follows but they surprised us. Can you share your opinions?
1) I can't agree with you. (not agree)
…
Writing Effective Complaint Letters: Part 3
8 September 2011
Image by Jsome1
In part 2 of this series we talked about writing a complaint letter to a company. Today we’ll consider how to write a complaint to a colleague.
Organising the complaint
You can organise a written complaint to a colleague similarly to how you organise one to a company (see part 2):
· Subject line
· Opening (background plus the problem in general)…
View Comments