Well, f**k my old boots and call me potty-mouthed, but I swear. I swear when I speak and I swear when I write. How about you other ladies? (Or if you want to be PC, “women?”)
Many of us “gals” the wrong side of 40 grew up believing that if Daddy stubbed his toe and said the F-word we would smile and tut-tut sympathetically, but if the same happened to us we would be told that swearing is unladylike and deserving of chastisement — not an ice pack and analgesia.
Letter from the doctor: can you understand this awful jargon?
June 10, 2019 By Leave a Comment
An Agony Column email from Emma in Gloucestershire, England brought this pearl of gobbledegook to my attention this week…what are these doctors on? Read on and be gobsmacked…
Dear Suze
Having an attack of shingles is no joke – but the letter warning patients about it is.
My mum has just turned 70 and received an invitation from her GP doctor’s surgery (family doctor’s office) to go get a jab to help prevent shingles. The first paragraph was plain enough and referred readers to the enclosed leaflet produced by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), which was also plain enough and explained everything well.
The rest of the letter, though, is unbelievable…
Great writing tip from Ann Handley, top US content expert
June 3, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Please welcome the one and only Ann Handley, content head honcho of the famous US site MarketingProfs.com for which I once had the honor of being a columnist (and whom she named “Little Wacky.” Probably because I am, er, a little wacky.)
Ann is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author with her brilliant book, “Everybody Writes,” and writes an incredibly useful and entertaining bi-weekly newsletter called Total Annarchy. Here’s an excerpt from the current edition which I really wanted to share with you. (Below you’ll see her in action live in this video, but don’t forget to read her tip below!)
Hey, Homeslice!
A friend asked me to look at a few chapters of a book he’s writing. It’s a strong book with a strong premise. But he’s struggling with making the writing equally buff. [Read more…]
Why you need to know the difference between writing errors & writing mistakes
May 28, 2019 By 2 Comments
Most old-fashioned editors (hereafter known as OFEs**) and all my happy clients know that when it comes to “sticking to the rules” of writing I am an anarchist.
The fact that information crosses approximately 3,400 miles of Atlantic Ocean in less time than it takes you to sneeze does rather make a mockery of trying to preserve the good olde days of British English. British, American, Australian? They’re all OK.
Please note, however, that I’m not particularly anarchic in any other ways. I never burned my bra for Women’s Lib (although I was too young to need one then) and I didn’t even go to the anti-Trump protests in London in 2018 but only because there was no-one available to let my dogs out for wee-wees.
Grammar, spelling, punctuation: do you control them or do they control you?
This question has been bothering me for a long time over issues like the Oxford comma and whether you use a capital letter after a colon or not. Short answer? Issues like that do not matter worth a pinch of coonsh*t, as my dear old Canadian dad used to say. [Read more…]
Writing wedding speeches: a sample chapter for you
May 12, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Welcome to this sample chapter from Wedding Speeches For Everyone!
Wedding rehearsal dinner speeches
Increasingly the (originally US) custom of a formal dinner following a wedding rehearsal is coming over to Europe and beyond. The rehearsal dinner usually happens after the rehearsal itself the day before the wedding, and includes all members of the wedding party plus a few close friends and family.
Some people really let rip and have a totally informal wedding rehearsal party … but don’t push it unless you’re sure the majority of the guests will appreciate it!
In the UK and Europe families often do get together for dinner the night before the wedding, but it tends to be on a more informal basis. If people have travelled some distance or don’t finish work until late the thought of having to get dressed up and attend a formal occasion the night before an even bigger formal occasion isn’t always popular among some of the guests, at least.
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For more information about Wedding Speeches For Everyone, click here.
Want to buy the book now? 91 pages, instant PDF download, less than the price of a coffee! Click here and get your copy right away.
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However this may well be changing and the rehearsal dinner, as an excuse for another somewhat more formal party, is becoming more popular in many Western countries. As this is a book about all wedding speeches everywhere, let’s take a look at those for rehearsal dinners and see how they work … for everyone.
Toasts, not speeches (in other words keep ’em short)
Get your copy of “Wedding Speeches For Everyone!”
May 7, 2019 By Leave a Comment
At long last, a book about writing wedding speeches that are bang up to date – not still based on the traditional roles from the last century or two, although there’s plenty of advice on how to do those well if they are your choice.
Added to that, though, are speech ideas for all the women in your family and circle of close friends … your children, both adult and younger … and of course, partners, friends and families of same-sex marriage partners.
Interestingly enough as of today’s date, there are no other books on Amazon or elsewhere that I can find, and I have been researching… that cover such a wide spread of wedding speech makers in as many social circumstances as I have included.
Although this is an eBook it’s not a short one. In all it runs to more than 90 single-spaced A4 pages, nearly 25,000 words which is just over half the length of an average business or self-help paperback book.
In fact I had to restrain myself with this book as there was so much more I could have shared … maybe in the next edition which I will produce and publish as a full-length book if you folks decide you’d like that!
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