By Barbara McNichol
No matter what you’re writing—a sensitive email, a report, a proposal, even chapters in a book—you aim to make it easy for readers to understand. But how can you ensure what you actually write is what you intended?
Ignore this question at your peril—no matter how busy you are or how fast you want to advance your projects. When you rush to action, you risk having to redo, revise, and explain. That doesn’t save you time!
To improve the readability of your message as you write, turn the following five tips into strong habits: [Read more…]
How to Boost Your Professionalism Through Better Writing Webinar
These days, doesn’t it seem like we’re all getting lazy with our writing? Perhaps we can blame technology. Whatever the reason, poor writing skills can really call your professionalism into question. Errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling are just the tip of the iceberg. Being overly wordy, repetitive and vague can also create the impression that you lack confidence and competence, and that can spell career disaster for any administrative professional.
As an assistant, you probably also play the critical role of proofreader for the leaders you support. Without well-honed skills, you might miss some egregious error—or worse, insert an error of your own! These mistakes can be embarrassing, costly and damaging to credibility, for your leader and you.
In this free webinar replay, we tap into a great writing resource with special guest, Barbara McNichol. A seasoned editor and author of “Word Trippers: Your Ultimate Source for Choosing the Perfect Word When It Really Matters,” Barbara will teach you how to craft EVERYTHING you write with precision and intention. She will join Joan Burge, CEO of Office Dynamics and author of 7 books, to discuss why strong writing skills are vitally important for administrative professionals and to share strategies for boosting your professionalism through the written word.
If you’ve ever worried what others are seeing in your writing, you don’t want to miss out on this session! Don’t wait, watch it now. [Read more…]
Whack Extraneous Phrases from Your Writing
This is part of a series by editor Barbara McNichol to provide tips that help you write like a pro.
In their classic book The Elements of Style, Strunk and White called word clutter “the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood out of words.” Who wants that in their writing?
You can de-clutter your writing by questioning the use of these phrases that are often extraneous: [Read more…]
Not Sure If It’s One Word or Two? Check This List
This is part of a series by editor Barbara McNichol to provide tips that help you write like a pro.
When you are proofreading your writing or a colleague’s work, chances are you question if a phrase should be two words versus one. For example, should you write “backyard” or “back yard”? Because no one rule covers this, it’s essential to look these up: [Read more…]
When “Start” Begins to Creep into Your Writing
This is part of a series by editor Barbara McNichol to provide tips that help you write like a pro.
Do you have a habit of frequently starting a sentence with the word “start” or “begin”? Recently, in a 5,000-word document I edited, those two words appeared 14 times, while only five were deemed necessary.
To be more direct with your writing, skip the “start” part and remember the phrase Nike made famous: Just do it!
These examples show how you can write a stronger statement by going straight to the action verb rather than “beginning” to go for it.
Example 1: Slowly begin to approach your teammate with your idea.
Better: Slowly approach your teammate with your idea. [Read more…]