Susan B. Weiner Investment Writing - Susan B. Weiner Blog

Grammar, punctuation, and word usage questions puzzle many of my readers. If you’d like to brush up on the basics, I’ve got some tips for you.

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Need to write better? Register for my next class on “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Writing Class for Financial Advisors” starting May 16. You won’t get another chance to take this class until 2013.

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Every writer makes mistakes. The best writers learn from mistakes. In the interest of furthering your learning, I’ve introduced Mistake Monday on the Investment Writing Facebook page. My goal is to share examples of writing mistakes every Monday. I also welcome your contributions.

For Mistake Monday, can you suggest a replacement for "mitigate"? You may not think of "mitigate" as a mistake, but I'd prefer a simpler word.

Why you should visit the Mistake Monday posts

Mistake Monday offers you a chance to test your knowledge of the fine points of writing. I’ll post writing samples, but I won’t correct them. At least not right away. I’d like to give you room for friendly discussions about the mistakes on the page.

Reading the comments on the Mistake Monday conversations will help you to refine your understanding of good writing. I expect to learn things, too.

Please contribute to Mistake Monday

I welcome your posts of writing mistakes on any Monday, but only on Mondays. Please keep the content clean and your comments civil. I look forward to learning from you!

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Need to write better? Register for my next class on “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Writing Class for Financial Advisors” starting May 16. You won’t get another chance to take this class until 2013.

Receive a free 32-page e-book with client communications tips when you sign up for my free monthly newsletter.

I learned in high school English to form the possessive of a word ending in the letter s by adding only an apostrophe. According to this rule, the workers of Degas should become Degas’ workers.

But times have changed. Today many people and organizations don’t observe the apostrophe-only rule. Not even The New York Times, where I spotted “Degas’s.”

What about you? Please answer the poll in the right-hand column of my blog. I’ll report on the results in my next newsletter.

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Need to write better? Register for my next class on “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Writing Class for Financial Advisors” starting May 16. You won’t get another chance to take this class until 2013.

Receive a free 32-page e-book with client communications tips when you sign up for my free monthly newsletter.

Writers abuse apostrophes. If you find this amusing, you can see many examples in the Atrocious Apostrophe’s Flickr stream.

Do you understand what’s wrong in the photo to the right? I’ve explained it in “Bloggers’ top two punctuation mistakes.”

If you have questions about apostrophes, please post them as comments on this blog post.

JUNE 6 UPDATE: I apologize if you clicked on the broken link to “Atrocious Apostrophe’s.” I’ve corrected it to http://www.flickr.com/groups/apostrophes/

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Need to write better? Register for my next class on “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Writing Class for Financial Advisors” starting May 16. You won’t get another chance to take this class until 2013.

Receive a free 32-page e-book with client communications tips when you sign up for my free monthly newsletter.

Grammar, punctuation, and word usage questions come up every day–even for someone like me who prides herself on being a good writer.

We can all benefit from online resources that help us figure out answers to our writing challenges.

My three favorites: GrammarGirl, OWL, and Google

I often Google my writing questions.

But sometimes Google’s results aren’t on target or the sources don’t seem reliable. This is when I turn to GrammarGirl and Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL). These are trustworthy sources that explain things clearly.

GrammarBook: A recent discovery

Jane Straus’ GrammarBook website was recently brought to my attention by Jill Brogan of Martingale Asset Management. I plan to visit this site more often. Although founder Jane Straus recently passed away, her husband plans to continue her work. (Note: This paragraph was updated on March 9.)

Subscription-based resources

I use the hard-copy versions of the following two resources, so I imagine they’re worthwhile for organizations with budgets.

• AP Stylebook Online
• Chicago Manual of Style Online

Your favorite online resource?

What’s YOUR opinion on the best online resource? Please answer the poll in the right-hand column of this blog. I’ll report the results in my April e-newsletter.

Your choices include the following:

• AP Stylebook Online
• Chicago Manual of Style Online
• Google
• Grammar Girl
• GrammarBook
• OWL (Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab)
• Something else (please specify)

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Need to write better? Register for my next class on “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Writing Class for Financial Advisors” starting May 16. You won’t get another chance to take this class until 2013.

Receive a free 32-page e-book with client communications tips when you sign up for my free monthly newsletter.

A printed book is sometimes the best place to find a solution to your question about writing style, punctuation, or grammar.

Here are my five favorite reference books.

1. Edit Yourself: A manual for everyone who works with words by Bruce Ross-Larson. Everyone should own this small, inexpensive, easy-to-use book. I use Part II, the back of the book, the most. It lists troublesome words in alphabetical order. It’ll help you cut pretentious words and resolve problems such as deciding between “which” and “that.” Part I describes and offers solutions to problems common in everyday writing. Buy it today!
2. Words into Type, based on studies by Marjorie E. Skillin, Robert M. Gay, and other authorities. This fat classic from 1974 is still my second “go to” reference book when I’m flummoxed by a question of style, punctuation, or grammar. I go straight to the index to look for the word or type of problem. The book is aimed at individuals preparing manuscripts for publication.
3. The Chicago Manual of Style was my favorite reference book for many years. It’s the most academic of the books on this list. You can also subscribe online to the manual and follow it on Facebook or Twitter.
4. The Associated Press Stylebook. If you’ve ever heard an editor say, “We follow AP style,” they’re talking about the print or online edition of this style book. There’s even an iPhone app for this guide. If you’re geeky enough–like me–to consider owning multiple style guides, you may enjoy the sarcastic, not-to-be-trusted FakeAPStylebook Twitter account, in addition to the Twitter account of the real thing.
5. The Grammar Bible by Michael Strumpf and Auriel Douglas. This book gives plain English explanations of vexing issues of grammar and more.

Honorable mention

• Garner’s Modern American Usage by Bryan Garner. This book runs over 900 pages in length, so it covers just about any question you may ask. But it’s so darned technical I only turn to it as a last resort.
• The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White. If you care about good writing, you should read this classic at least once. An early edition is online at Bartleby.com.

If you’re passionate about good writing, you’ve probably got a favorite reference that I’ve overlooked. Please tell me about it.

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Need to write better? Register for my next class on “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Writing Class for Financial Advisors” starting May 16. You won’t get another chance to take this class until 2013.

Receive a free 32-page e-book with client communications tips when you sign up for my free monthly newsletter.

Did you notice that I went wild in May, posting every day as part of the Word Count Blogathon? For your convenience, I’m listing my May posts by category.

Blogging

• The two most important words are…
• Financial bloggers’ posts may violate copyright law
• Spice up your blog with free or low-cost photos
• Setting myself a challenge: A May Blogathon

Economy, investments, and wealth management

• “Have mutual fund fees gone up or down?”
• Poll: Which should investors fear most? Which #CFA2010 speakers were right?
• R Koo, “Lessons from Japan: Fighting a Balance Sheet Recession” from #CFA2010
• GMO’s Jeremy Grantham on “The Ethical Hole in Finance” at #CFA2010
• Dan Ariely says disclosure may hurt investors: Report from his #CFA201 talk
• Roger Ibbotson attacks asset allocation “folklore”
• Hear Roger Ibbotson on asset allocation
• Morgan Creek Capital’s Yusko riles up Tweeters with comments on investment fees
• Morgan Creek Capital’s Yusko on investing
• Small-cap investing opportunities according to Artio’s Dedio

Marketing

• My Boston-area networking suggestions
• Tip for how to connect with your workshop attendees 
• If you enjoy my #CFA2010 tweets
• Top four email mistakes to avoid when you’ve got a referral
• Timely, creative financial ad from Northwestern Mutual
• How to improve your financial planning client relationships
• Your customers, your inspiration

Social media

• Using CFP in your Twitter name–Read the CFP Board’s position
• The compliance-constrained advisor’s guide to LinkedIn, Part II: Status updates
• Can you help with my Facebook dilemma?
• How I’ve benefited from Twitter

Writing

• Plain English can bring your financial topic to life
• How to write subheads that command attention
• Executive’s lesson for your communications with clients and prospects
• Start with a good lead, or lose your reader
• Guest post: “Correct Grammar Errors in Your Writing Quickly and Easily”
• 10 blogs I can’t live without: Writer’s edition
• Financial advisor poll: How do you sign your business emails?
• Whoa, insurance=spam?

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Receive a free 32-page e-book with client communications tips when you sign up for my free monthly newsletter.  

_______________________________________________________________
Need to write better? Register for my next class on “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Writing Class for Financial Advisors” starting May 16. You won’t get another chance to take this class until 2013.

Receive a free 32-page e-book with client communications tips when you sign up for my free monthly newsletter.

Adults often struggle to improve their writing skills. That’s why I’ve become a fan of the teaching techniques of @LindaAragoni. In this article, Linda shares a technique for cutting the number of grammar errors in your written communications.

Do you have trouble correcting your writing for grammar errors?

I know I do.

I suspect you do, too.

Here is a simple way to make correcting your writing easy.

First, keep a list of the grammar errors you make regularly. Most people make a few errors repeatedly. An error you make once in five years is no big deal, but a grammar error you make once every five sentences is an error you need to eliminate.

Your teachers probably have told you about your habitual errors for years. Errors like sentence fragments, comma splices, and run-together sentences top the list. Subject-verb agreement errors and problems with pronoun-antecedent agreement are not far behind. Chances are you know how to correct those grammar errors if you see them.

To make sure you see grammar errors so you can correct them, read your completed paper looking for just your most frequent error. If your most common error is writing sentence fragments, scrutinize each group of words between terminal punctuation marks to see if it is a true sentence. Do not worry about anything else when you look for fragments. If you see any other kind of error, highlight it to fix later.

After you finish reviewing your paper for your most common mistake, go through it looking for your second most common error.

Keep doing that one-error-at-a time correction until you have examined your paper for each of your habitual errors.

When you correct for a single error at a time, take a break between errors. Do not try to cram the editing into the hour before a paper is due. If you do your editing in 5-10 minute sessions spread over a day or more, you will do a better job and experience much less stress.

Although this single-minded correction strategy sounds as if it would be terribly time-consuming, it can be done quite quickly. And it pays off quickly, too. If you can eliminate from your writing three errors you make habitually, your writing will show a big improvement immediately.

Linda Aragoni’s one-mistake-at-a-time strategy grew out of teaching grammar study skills to first-year college students using their error-riddled papers as practice exercises. Her e-book Grammar Abusers Anonymous teaches mature high school and adult students how to master grammar without paying tuition. Copyright 2010 Linda G. Aragoni. 
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_______________________________________________________________
Need to write better? Register for my next class on “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Writing Class for Financial Advisors” starting May 16. You won’t get another chance to take this class until 2013.

Receive a free 32-page e-book with client communications tips when you sign up for my free monthly newsletter.

You’ll learn the names of some useful resources for writers in this post. But first I must tell you why writing this blog post was so hard for me.

Blogs? What blogs?
“10 blogs I can’t live without” is a topic that participants in the WordCount Blogathon are supposed to post about on May 10. When I read the topic I thought “Blogs? What blogs?” I simply don’t consume blogs as blogs. I’m more likely to catch my favorite bloggers on Twitter. 

On the other hand, some of my readers probably don’t think of me as a blogger because they visit my blog through my monthly e-newsletter or my LinkedIn status updates. They might respond to the WordCount Blogathon assignment by saying, “I don’t read any blogs.”

People consume their online information in different ways. This  assignment reminded me that it’s important to make information available to readers in the format they prefer.




Online resources for writers 

Here are some of my favorite online resources for writers. They’re not all blogs. Nor have I limited my list to 10. 

B2B example 
If I were stranded on a desert island with such slow Internet connection speed that I could only read one e-newsletter or blog, I’d choose Michael Katz’s E-Newsletter on E-Newsletters. It has a charming style that sets a good example for business-to-business writers communicating. 

Attracting readers to your blog
Some blogs do a great job of showing how to write copy that captivates readers. When I began blogging I regularly read Brian Clark’s Copyblogger and Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger. More recently, I’ve found some good ideas on Nicholas Cardot’s SiteSketch. They’re worth reading, although I enjoyed them more when their creators wrote more of the content.  

Grammar, punctuation, usage 
When I’ve got a grammar, punctuation or word usage questions, sometimes I’ll just Google it. But I often don’t trust the answers I find. This is when I mosey on over to Grammar Girl Mignon Fogarty’s Quick & Dirty Tips for Better Writing or the Purdue Online Writing Lab. By the way, remember how I mentioned delivering content the way that readers like to receive it? Fogarty has been podcasting her blog posts for awhile. She’s also on Twitter and Facebook. Plus she has published in old-fashioned print book format.  

Onlinestylebooks lets you search 42 style books at once. It’s a relatively new site, so I haven’t used it much.

For occasional tips, I follow APStylebook on Twitter. They’re the folks who officially changed the spelling from “Web site” to “website” earlier this year. As you may have noticed, I was ahead of them in using “website,” but I still respect them as a style setter.

Some other tweeps with useful style tips include EditorMark, Copyediting, and LawWriting. There are many more worth following. You’ll find them if you’re a Twitter devotee. 

Inspiration 
Jon Winokur’s Twitter feed, AdviceToWriters, is great for inspiration. I like his book, also called Advice to Writers. 

Humor 
For word geek humor–yes, there is such a thing–follow FakeAPStylebook on Twitter.

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Receive a free 32-page e-book with client communications tips when you sign up for my free monthly newsletter.  

_______________________________________________________________
Need to write better? Register for my next class on “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Writing Class for Financial Advisors” starting May 16. You won’t get another chance to take this class until 2013.

Receive a free 32-page e-book with client communications tips when you sign up for my free monthly newsletter.

Here are my tweets on today’s talk to the Boston Security Analysts Society by Harry Markopolos, the Madoff whistleblower and author of No One Would Listen.

• “This case was a global tragedy” said Markopolos. “It was beyond evil.”
• Madoff case is only in its 2nd innings, said Markopolos. There’ll be more arrests due to cooperating witnesses.
• CFA# Code of Ethics is important to Markopolos. “It’s about investors and doing the right thing,” he said.
• CPAs, is this true? CPA code of conduct lacks affirmative duty to report fraud.
• Lesson #1 for Madoff victims: 0-25% is proper allocation to hedge funds, said Markopolos
• Lesson #2 for Madoff victims: Never put all of your eggs in one basket, said Markopolos
• Markopolos book is a good road map for conducting due diligence, said Sam Jones of the CFA Institute’s board of governors. 

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The next session of “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A Five-Week Teleclass for Financial Advisors” will start in April. For more information, sign up to receive “Information on upcoming classes, workshops, and other events” as well as my free monthly newsletter.
Copyright 2010 by Susan B. Weiner All rights reserved

_______________________________________________________________
Need to write better? Register for my next class on “How to Write Blog Posts People Will Read: A 5-Week Writing Class for Financial Advisors” starting May 16. You won’t get another chance to take this class until 2013.

Receive a free 32-page e-book with client communications tips when you sign up for my free monthly newsletter.