Indirect speech is one way that we communicate politeness, willingness to collaborate, modesty, and other worthy attributes when we speak with each other. Despite the American love of “getting right to the point,” people who always speak directly may sound brusque, impatient, or rude. However, indirect language patterns often read differently in print. In writing, […]
Polite or Pushover? Indirect Speech in Business Writing
If you send business emails, write blogs in a professional capacity, otherwise write in a professional context, I think this might be a really important topic for you you should read this post. Indirectness. Copyeditors will find it and delete it. Writing coaches give you grief about it. My online course on revision includes a […]
Talking from 9 to 5: A Book Review
Short Version: In this fascinating book, Deborah Tannen explores how mismatched conversational styles affect women and men in the workplace. I highly recommend it for writers, as well as anyone who works with other people. Long Version: We each develop certain conversational habits and styles during our lives. The words we use when speaking reflect […]
What I Learned about Writing from Narrating Audiobooks
Creating an audiobook is not a trivial task. As a nonfiction author, I’ve decided to narrate my own books rather than hiring it out to the professionals. I hope that audiobook readers cut nonfiction authors some slack. There is something authentic about hearing the author’s own voice in the words. Or so I tell myself. […]
The Misinformation Age: A Book Review
Short Version The Misinformation Age by Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall offers important insight for scientists, journalists, nonfiction writers, and anyone who wants to combat the spread of false beliefs. Long Version: How Misinformation Spreads and What We Can Do About It “Individually rational agents can form groups that are not rational at all.” […]
Be Impatient. Be Patient. Write.
F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” First-rate writers need to do something similar: sustaining patience and impatience. Being patiently impatient, if that’s possible. Impatience motivates Many writers are driven […]
