Does your next writing project have a deadline? If not, I suggest you give yourself one. The larger the project, the more important it is to have a deadline. Deadlines make the work better There’s scientific research for this from Dan Ariely, described in his book Predictably Irrational. If you don’t want to read the […]
Writing
Why Writing Takes More, and Less, Time than You Think
People often ask me how long it took me to write something: a book, a blog post, a paper, whatever. I suspect what they want to know is this: how many hours did you put into it? I never know how to answer. Even if I tracked my time, where would I draw the line? […]
How to Write about Metaphorical Gray Rhinos
My first job in marketing involved pitching software for database backup and recovery, specifically to reduce downtime and data loss. At that time, databases weren’t as distributed and resilient as they are now, and outages happened more often than anyone wanted. We discovered that many businesses weren’t motivated to invest in backup and recovery solutions […]
Detours, Diversions, and Cancellations: Writing as a Journey
Many of my favorite travel experiences were never part of any planned itinerary: running into someone from my hometown in a restaurant in a different continent, an impromptu concert experienced in a cathedral, or the tiny restaurant we stumbled into when the one we planned to visit was full, and which resulted in the most […]
Writing for Overloaded Readers: It’s Not Dumbing Down
As college students, we are taught to read and analyze literature or dense texts, and to elaborate our brilliant thoughts in complex sentences. Then we enter the real world, and it all goes out the window. Business writing coaches and style guides sing the praises of a “conversational” tone in writing. We are encouraged to communicate […]
Stories and Fiction, Facts and Truth
Stories and fiction are not synonymous. Facts can mislead, and frequently do. Fictional stories can hold meaningful truths. Data can distract us. Whether we’re reading stories online or writing for others, we need to keep a few distinctions clear in our heads: stories vs. fiction, truth vs. facts, fibs vs. frauds. Stories and fiction For […]