“What’s the moment you realize you’ve been successful?” A friend who was about to publish her first book asked me this question the other day. It made me pause. Most authors, indie or otherwise, won’t find their books on the New York Times best seller list. They won’t make hundreds of thousands of dollars, at […]
Writing
Collaborative Writing
Although writing in the workplace is a team sport, usually only one team member bats at a time. After the planning phase, the designated writer accepts responsibility for putting the words together for the first draft. In some situations, however, team participation also extends to the drafting phase. Truly collaborative writing presents significant challenges for […]
How to Improve Your Technical Explanations [Video]
In this Femgineer video, Poornima Vijayashanker and I discuss techniques for being understood when you’re writing or speaking about abstract topics. Highlights include: Getting over your misconceptions about using story Balancing brevity and repetition Dumbing down vs. being clear The video covers topics from my book Writing to Be Understood. If you like the […]
Humor in Otherwise Serious Nonfiction Writing
The careful application of humor catches the reader’s attention, sustains their interest, and, if done well, earns their trust.
Talking Writing on the Marketing Book Podcast
Why is a book about writing the subject of a Marketing Book Podcast episode, you may ask? One of the biggest challenges of content marketing is creating great content. That means writing well. If you need to up your game, understand what your readers are experiencing. That was the topic of this podcast interview. Give […]
Explaining Technical Concepts: Why It Matters [On Femgineer TV]
As a big fan of Poornima Vijayashanker and her the work she does helping techies develop their careers, I was thrilled to have the chance to chat with her on the latest episode of <Build> on her Femgineer TV channel. The subject was the topic of my latest book, Writing to Be Understood, and how […]

