Apparently, one of the things that is making our Facebook feeds appetizing is a sauce—a combination of metrics mixed in exactly the right proportions to make this particular meal ever appealing.  Continue reading...

A big part of succeeding at a test is knowing how to take it. Given that job testing seems to be growing, and that more than 60 percent of organizations with more than 100 employees do it, here is some advice on how to ace a writing assessment test.  Continue reading...

Whenever I talk about the benefits of the crappy first draft some people always object. Why? For some, it's a habit and — as anyone who's tried to quit smoking can tell you — habits are hard to break. But for others the problem is fear.  Continue reading...

Perfectionism should have been the furthest thing from my mind after getting — and recovering from — a repetitive strain injury. But I was reluctant to resume working on my book. It wasn't so much the pain in my arm. It was more my concern that my writing wasn't any good. Could that have been perfectionism speaking?  Continue reading...

Anyone who works for a large organization (or maybe even a small one) knows that certain phrases grab people's imagination and spread through the organization. If you're like me, you go to meetings and presentations and expressions keep popping up, which is very distracting — you try to listen to what the speaker is saying, but you end up paying more attention to how they're saying it.  Continue reading...

If you write copy, have you ever had to "make up" quotes for your boss? This is not such an unusual thing in the world of corporate communications. Bosses are busy and they often don't have time to be interviewed by their own PR or public affairs person.  Continue reading...