Better ways to write (almost) everything
I am the world’s most terrible scribbler.
Are you addicted to scribbling notes?
I hand-write all over everything in my (home) office. I have scribble pads in my living room. Beside my bed. In my bathroom (yes, really.) I write all over those pads during the day and collect up the scraps of paper each morning to see if any of the rantings make sense.
Most don’t, but a few do escape recycling.
But that’s not writing by hand. [Read more…]
Do you groan when you have to address an envelope by hand, or write something in a greeting card? Or do you welcome the chance to express your true self through personally-penned words rather than use the impersonal blandness of a keyboard?
How many of us remember how to write by hand – neatly?
Recently I was chatting to my good friend Sarah Sibley who runs a business offering the most gorgeous personalised stationery, and we got on to the subject of handwriting and how today it has become almost a novelty in a world of text generated by keyboards that make everyone’s written communication look identical.
Much as I love the online environment because it offers so many varied opportunities to communicate via the written word, I can’t help wondering if its sheer “high-tech-ness” isn’t slowly strangling the poetry and romance out of writing that I, like all children born in the Ming Dynasty, experienced when writing before the digital age. [Read more…]
The other day I came across this nice, square infographic and felt I absolutely had to share it with you. I have no idea who the original author/producer is (I found it having been shared, on one of the social media platforms) so if it’s you, please say so and I’ll either take it down or give you full attribution with links. In the meantime, we can all learn from its wisdom, and many thanks to the originator whoever you are:
Much as I love the online environment because it offers so many varied opportunities to communicate via the written word, I can’t help wondering if its sheer “high-tech-ness” isn’t slowly strangling the poetry and romance out of writing as those of us who, like all children of the Ming Dynasty, experienced when writing before the digital age.
I quite like the discipline. Every word and sentence is written by me, from the heart.
The sheer anarchy and textual diarrhoea enabled by keyboards (and by that I mean typewriters, too, although they were rather a half-way house between writing by hand and what we do now) have obviated our need to think first and write later.
With this wonderful technology that allows us to ramble on at 120 words or more per minute we simply whack down whatever comes into our heads and then repent, or at least edit, at leisure. [Read more…]
In this article we shared some ideas on how writing by hand for business messages can be a welcome tonic for customers and prospects who are getting a bit oblivious to endless streams of emails and word-processed printed communications.
But if you’re like me and have handwriting that looks like it has been written by a young chimpanzee with two broken arms, you need to check yours out and work on it a bit. [Read more…]
Who would have thought that writing by hand to your customers and prospects would come back into fashion after more than 100 years?
That’s not as ridiculous as it sounds. [Read more…]
Suzan St Maur
Here on How To Write Better, you'll learn how to improve your writing of...
*Nonfiction
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*Wedding Speeches
*Social Writing
*Grammar
*Business
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*and much more
... in more than 1,500 articles and tutorials by some of the English language's top writing experts. Find what you need in the SEARCH box top right.
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Amazon (genuine) bestseller every Holiday Season! This little book is a firm favourite with horsey families and makes the ideal gift for anyone who loves riding. Compiled by Suzan St Maur.
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---------------------------------------------------------The no-bullsh*t guide to writing blogs that boost your brand, business and customer loyalty..."At long last, some common sense writing about how businesses can use blogging effectively." Written by Suzan St Maur.
---------------------------------------------------------"This book is by no means all encompassing, but in it author Suzan St Maur has researched and shared several hundred of the most commonly used terms. Not only do we now know what they all mean but, where appropriate, we also learn their origins – some of which are fascinating and very surprising."
---------------------------------------------------------Great little book for anyone who enjoys dining out and wants to learn the right issues to write about in reviews for Trip Advisor etc. Written by the late Sam Worthington, superb chef, restaurant critic and bon viveur...
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Great short story by my friend and colleague Joanie Chevalier in the Connection-Cafe ... imagine the temperature getting up to 121F (nearly 50C) ... and no airconditioning...
2/21/2020 Short Story Saturday
connection-cafe.com
2/21/2020 Short Story Saturday: She Couldn’t Cook Neither Joanie Chevalier Mining is hard. So is living in the desert. What is harder? Living in the desert mining. Long days, short nights. Ge...Do you love fumblerules? I do - have a look and see why. 54 grammar grins for a windy Sunday .... howtowritebetter.net/54-grammar-fumblerules-to-make-you-grin/
54 grammar fumblerules to make you grin | How To Write Better
howtowritebetter.net
Although we've looked at funny grammar rules before, here is an even more comprehensive list to give you some smiles! Enjoy (and learn, of course...)Being a pro writer and author and all that, I have given dozens (literally) of traditional editors self-inflicted alopaecia after reading my book manuscripts. Why? Because I don’t stick to punctuation rules. Do you? Should we all? Discuss! bit.ly/2HMg6tn
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