So… What Does a Copywriter Do Exactly?
What is a copywriter, and what makes a copywriter different from other types of writers? Get the definitive guide. Bill Gates once said that content is king, and he was right. Content is what drives marketing in the digital world. There are many terms used to describe writers in the modern marketing world. Strategists, specialists, […]
Writing is an Art & As Such, Deserves Respect
Have you ever considered whether writing as a trade should be considered an art or craft? I know I have. Sometimes, when orders are bland and mundane, I can’t seem to find the artistic element, or at least it’s hidden among the SEO demands and the practical purpose of the ordered content. However, when it […]
The Comma Has Been Around for More than 500 Years – Are You Using It Right?
Commas have been around since the 15th Century, yet a lot of people don’t know how to use them. Do you? Birth of the Comma When Aldus Manutius was printing books in the 1490s, writers used the slash mark / to indicate a pause in speech. Back then, the slash mark designated a short pause […]
Give Writers Better Tools for Finding English Dialects
We want to take grammar back starting with a few of the most convoluted but well-rooted rules this grammarian has ever seen. Starting with different forms of English and how to decipher them. Check out these rules it’s time to rebel against and consider which rules you want to break when writing content. Choose an […]
Surviving a Writer’s Existence: A How-to Guide for Leading a Seemingly Normal Life
I’m not weird – I’m a writer. Sure, I sit in one spot for hours on end, drinking cold coffee. Yep, my office is wallpapered in sticky notes bearing story ideas. Yeah, people ask my husband if I’m okay because they never see me. Right – I have the complexion of a mealworm because I […]
Why Do We Procrastinate?
The pilot of the TV show Mad Men centers on Don Draper, procrastinating and deliberating what he’s going to write for a cigarette ad campaign. He asks random people working, socializing, or even cleaning the bar he’s at why they smoke the cigarettes they smoke, but still cannot figure out what angle to write about it. […]
What the Em Dash is Going On?!
Sometimes when you are writing, you feel the urge to—stop—like that. It’s called an em dash and the truth is, you really don’t know why. An em dash is, what exactly? The answer to that question is here, right along with how to properly use this grammatical tool in your writer’s proverbial pencil box. An […]
Writer Tools For Success: Dealing With Rejection
Every profession, career, or even artistic hobby comes with a measure of rejection. After all, no one can be all things, provide all things for, or please all people all of the time. There will simply always be some rejection that comes along with anything you do. With that being said, though, writing is a […]
How Paninis Begat the Language We Communicate With Today
Syntax. The rules and logic behind sentence structure and the way we spin a phrase. The word “syntax” was brought to you by the Ancient Greeks and also means coordination, together, or an ordering. But how do we go from ABC to the X-bar theory? Start here with this quick flick through the timeline of […]
Horace Henry Hart’s Handy Rules for Writers
When I was on the mad dash to find out who was the guilty Brit responsible for the Oxford comma, I came across an interesting character. Horace Henry Hart, with his impressively alliterative name, was the son of a shoemaker and the author of “Hart’s Rules for Compositors and Readers.” No, this isn’t your “The […]
How To Give Freelancers Feedback with Clarity and Kindness
The main barrier to communication is thinking you know what someone is thinking. We see this play out in all our interpersonal dynamics—assuming that someone is acting ill of us and retaliating. Or, on a more neutral note, assuming that a writer is on the same page as you when they don’t even have the […]
Writer Tools for Success: Proofreading
In a perfect world, you would never have to proofread your own work. You could pass each assignment to an editor to receive insightful feedback and ideas for improvement. Your brain would delight in this arrangement as it is notoriously difficult to see your own spelling, grammar, and style mistakes. While proofreading, your brain focuses […]