Shivering Turn approach to organizing your thoughts for writing
Sometimes you get locked into writing about a topic in a certain way. It’s not easy to develop a fresh perspective. If this describes you, try what I call the Shivering Turn Method. In The Shivering: A Jennie Redhead Mystery, a private investigator tries to unscramble the anagram, “shivering turn.” She says, …because you cannot always […]
4 financial blog post ideas from a writing teacher
Writing teacher Roger Rosenblatt’s essay assignments inspired me with ideas for your blog posts. He has had students write essays in each of the formats listed below, as he wrote in Unless It Moves the Human Heart: The Craft and Art of Writing. 1. Menu How could you adopt a menu to a blog post? For […]
My 2017 reading, with book recommendations for you
Here are some of the books I read (or referred to) in 2017, divided by categories. The starred books are books that I refer to in 2017 blog posts, some of which haven’t been published yet. Biography/autobiography * Bossypants by Tina Fey * Turner: the extraordinary life and momentous times of J.M.W. Turner by Franny Moyle […]
Narrower is better for social sharing
If you’re a regular reader of this blog—or if you’ve read Financial Blogging—you know that I’m a big fan of tightly defining your target audience when you sell your services. That’s also important when you want people to share your content, according to Jonah Berger in Contagious: Why Things Catch On. Berger says: You might think that […]
Bond market commentary rewrite
The best bond market commentary is written so its writing style doesn’t interfere with readers’ understanding of the content. Here’s a screen shot of some bond market commentary that I received via email in November. It could use some help. (By the way, I’m not out to embarrass anybody. Before I started critiquing this piece, […]