Yearly Archives: 2006

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and Tipping Point, discusses writing and doing what you love: “I really love writing, in a totally uncomplicated way. When I was in high school, I ran track and in the beginning I thought of training as a kind of necessary evil on the way to racing. But then, the […]

“There are two moments worthwhile in writing: the one when you start, and the other when you throw it in the waste-paper basket.” – Samuel Beckett

Before I do the big “reveal” (as they say in TV land) of my seven secrets of effective business writing, you may wonder why clear communications even matter. Hey, it’s hard work to be clear and compelling in your writing and speaking. Is it worth the effort? What’s in it for you? Why should you […]

Why didn’t they say yes? Why couldn’t you close that important sale? Why didn’t you land that new job, or get the promotion you’d been hoping for? Why didn’t she say yes when you asked her out? You made your pitch, but they just didn’t “get it.” Why not? Why didn’t they value what you’re […]

Writing is hard work. Well, good writing is. As the late, great sportswriter Red Smith put it: “There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” Samuel Johnson agreed, although he lived a few hundred years earlier. “What is written without effort is… read without pleasure.” Finally, […]

A copywriter’s job is to inform and explain the features and benefits of your client’s goods or services, to persuade a prospect to buy (or at least to move him/her along to the next step in the sales cycle). So when we get an appointment with a prospect, it’s not surprising that our tendency is […]

“That man is successful who has lived well,laughed often, and loved much,who has gained the respect of the intelligent menand the love of children;who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;who leaves the world better than he found it,whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem,or a rescued soul;who never lacked appreciation of earth’s […]