Keep your editing on track with this checklist
Do you need to edit other people’s work or your own writing? Use this checklist to help you tick the right boxes and make sure you don’t overlook anything.
Say more with less: deciding what to leave out
Have you ever worked on a document that got bogged down in its own content? Where your message was lost in the detail? Some background information is necessary for context. But how much is enough? Here’s a checklist to help you avoid content quick sand and decide what to leave out.
To boldly go against the rules
Some grammar rules can be broken.
You can start a sentence with ‘and’. And depending on the product and audience, you can even start a sentence with ‘but’.
It is also acceptable to split the infinitive. Sometimes you just have to boldly go…
Declutter your writing: the value of a good clean up
A friend recently told me she had just decluttered her whole house in two weeks. I’m in awe. It would take me two weeks just to clear a path to the back of our garage. My friend was inspired by author Marie Kondo, who says a decluttered environment becomes ‘a place where there are no unnecessary things, and our thoughts become clear’. Sounds good. But instead of tackling the garage (have to work up to that daunting task) I thought about how well this theory applies to writing.
Better bullet points
Have you heard about parallel construction and bullet points? It’s not as hard as it sounds. First, you just need to pick the bullet points that don’t match.
The cost of grammar gaffes
Think the odd misplaced apostrophe or spelling error doesn’t matter? Actually, even the smallest mistakes can cost you money (one study found spelling mistakes can slash revenue by up to 50 per cent), affect your SEO results, and damage your professional reputation.