The golden ratio for details

The golden ratio for details

A strong main idea or takeaway is crucial, of course, but our audience often needs more information to think, feel or do something. That's where details come in, those vital tidbits of support that create sufficient context to move the audience. And though I've been...
Advice for young writers

Advice for young writers

I got my start in journalism on Chapel Hill High's paper, The Proconian. (I even took third place in a statewide opinion writing contest!) And here I am, a zillion years later still slinging sentences. So it's no surprise I'm bullish on scholastic journalism and do...
Before you send that…

Before you send that…

We've all been there. We've sent someone a message asking them to do something we totally could do ourselves in less time than it takes to ask them to do it. Or we come off a little snippy when we don't really mean to but we're in a hurry. Let's try to do better....
Best of the blog Q123

Best of the blog Q123

Here are the most-read posts from Q123, plus a bonus revisit! Some thoughts on grammar I'm not saying we shouldn't care about grammar. I'm just saying we need to care differently about it. And when it does matter, we can be more efficient with corrections if we wait...