While most of his advice had to do with humor writing and making people laugh, many of his suggestions are valid for copywriters and business writers, too. In fact, anyone who wants people to keep reading what they’ve written.

Here’s some of Dilbert’s daddy’s advice:

• Start with an attention-getting “lead.” Here’s Adams’ opening gambit in his Wall Street Journal article: “Last weekend a French fry got lodged in my sinus cavity.” Does that make you want to read more?
• Hook your readers with stories. You don’t have to be funny, like Adams’ tale (about his ignorance of the human reproductive system when he was 11 years old). But stories resonate with people, draw them in and make them feel closer to you. What if you told the story of why you started your business — who you wanted to help, and why? Show a little of your authentic self — I guarantee it will be a lot more exciting than your company mission statement.
• Make them curious. “Good writing makes you curious without being too heavy-handed about it,” Adams writes. “My first sentence in this piece, about the French fry lodged in my sinus cavity, is designed to make you curious.”

Adams also explains why “yank” is funnier than “pull.” Now there’s something every writer ought to know!

A curious fellow died one day and found himself waiting in the long line of judgment. As he stood there he noticed that some souls were allowed to march right through the pearly gates into Heaven. Others, though, were led over to Satan who threw them into the burning pit.

But every so often, instead of hurling a poor soul into the fire, Satan would toss a soul off to one side into a small pile. After watching Satan do this several times, the fellow’s curiosity got the best of him.

So he strolled over and asked Satan what he was doing.

“Excuse me, Mr. Prince of Darkness,” he said. “I’m waiting in line for judgment, but I couldn’t help wondering, why are you tossing those people aside instead of flinging them into the Fires of Hell with the others?”

“Ah, those,” Satan said with a groan. “They’re all from New England…
They’re still too wet to burn.”

Thanks, Shelly!

Yes, campers, every day or so, a warm, fresh Gaping Void will appear in that spot in the sidebar. For those unfamiliar, Gaping Void is the business-card-size philosophical treatise/cartoon by Hugh MacLeod.

Hugh is probably best known for his wonderful treatise, “Ignore Everybody” — a bracing dip into the waters of self-expression and self-confidence. It begins:

“The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you… You don’t know if your idea is any good (until) the moment it’s created. Neither does anyone else. The most you can hope for is a strong gut feeling that it is. And trusting your feelings is not as easy as the optimists say it is… Feelings scare us.”

That’s also why market research is so often short-sighted and futile. It misses a lot of great opportunities simply because the people they survey have never encountered an idea like yours before, and simply don’t know what to make of it.

So the moral of the story is… If  your idea feels right, go for it!

Now my problem is, how do I get any work done? Being a twit (hmm, that’s probably not the right term, is it?) is a lot more fun than actually working!

Shameless plug: Follow me at @tom_mckay