9 ways blogging is like sourdough baking
Like many other Americans, I started baking sourdough bread during the pandemic. I love the process and the taste. As I’ve baked, I’ve also realized that cooking with a sourdough starter has similarities to blogging. 1. It’s scary to start I wouldn’t have started baking sourdough if I’d had to create a sourdough starter on […]
MISTAKE MONDAY for May 31: Can YOU spot what’s wrong?
Can you spot what’s wrong in the image below? The company got this wrong in one place, but not the other. Please post your answer as a comment. I post these challenges to raise awareness of the importance of proofreading.
Top posts from 2021’s first quarter
Check out my top posts from the first quarter! They’re a mix of practical tips on communication (#1, #4), writing (#2), proofreading (#3), and marketing (#5) My posts that attracted the most views during 2021’s first quarter: Discuss your mistakes like Warren Buffett 12 steps to rewrite long articles–This is a practical, step-by-step guide to […]
Lousy headline, provocative first sentence
I nearly didn’t read an interesting article about stocks in The New York Times. Why? The problem of a lousy headline I nearly skipped the article because of the bland headline: “An Ear to the Ground on Stocks.” The article could have been about anything. Perhaps college students who pick stocks for a class. An investment […]
“Better writing without parentheses” by Harriett Magee
Parentheses are overused in financial writing. Here’s a guest article about them by Harriett Magee, a writer-editor who specialized in alternative investments. Her article originally appeared on Jan. 27, 2008, on one of my earlier blogs. It’s still relevant, so I’m sharing it here. Better writing without parentheses By Harriett Magee Parentheses (like all punctuation) […]