by Margot Carmichael Lester | Jan 18, 2022 | Blogs & Blogging, Content & Content Operations, Writing/How to Write
January is, apparently, Get Organized Month. It doesn't have to be only about putting all the holiday decor away and getting paperwork ready for your tax accountant (hint, hint). We can use the observance to improve our writing process and boost quality. We lean...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Oct 20, 2021 | Best Practice
If you're of a certain vintage, you were taught to put two spaces after a period or other mark of terminal punctuation. That was because back in the olden days of typewriters and lead type, each key or letter took up the same amount of space. The "i" took up the same...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Sep 24, 2021 | Writing/How to Write
If there’s one topic that engenders the most emotion with coaching and training clients, it’s the serial or Oxford comma. We don’t even agree on it here at The Word Factory. Seriously, if you looked at unedited copy from our group, you could narrow down who wrote it...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Aug 11, 2021 | Writing/How to Write
One of the most misleading pieces of writing advice is "read a lot". It's not that it's untrue, it's just that it's too broad to really be helpful. Look, if you want to read a lot fiction, feel free. But it's unlikely to help you become a better memo writer, content...
by Pete Andersen | Aug 3, 2021 | Guest Posts, Writing/How to Write
A few weeks ago, my colleague Pete and I did a team writing training for one of our long-time clients. Someone asked about the passive voice, which has always kind-of flummoxed me. Luckily, Pete swooped in to save the day with an explanation I liked so much I asked...
