Tag Archives: writing

Punctuation Matters

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Grammar Nazis say that commas save lives. Take, for instance, the sentence, “Let’s eat grandma.” Surely, the author who penned it meant “Let’s eat, grandma.” Or did he? No doubt he (or she) did – and don’t call me Shirley!

Language is changing before our very eyes (and ears). Our vocabulary is changing daily. Words like “meme,” “troll” and “cryptocurrency” are now part of the vernacular. People are getting lazier and lazier with their writing. It’s embarrassing. English teachers who check out Twitter must cringe when they look at their mobile devices.

Have you been on Twitter’s site lately? Most tweets leave out all punctuation – to the detriment of the tweeter – and the English language. And, they who post, write in the most casual way possible. Obviously, there is little discipline that goes into tweeting.

It’s the Technology, Stupid!

We can blame the demise of the literary world on our smartphones all we want. And some of that blame is warranted. With their small chicklet keys, it can be painstaking to craft legitimate sentences.

But linguist John H. McWhorter, author of Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music, and Why We Should, Like, Care, often talks about dying languages. He insinuates that people generally take the easy way out when communicating. One example that he uses is people pronounce the double “T” in bottle as if it were a “D.”

Fortunately, the autocorrect feature on our phones, we are told, is getting better. Apple’s new iOS 11 will include “smart punctuation.” This from a company whose slogan is “Think different.”

Words, Words, Words

Mark Twain said “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter – it’s the difference between lightning bug and the lightning.” Well, not only do words make a difference, but so do the way they are presented.

There’s a story about a teacher writing words on a blackboard in front of her class. She wrote: “A woman without her man is nothing.” She then asked a boy in the class to add punctuation to it. He did so and it read “A woman, without her man, is nothing.” The teacher then changed it to “A woman: without her, man is nothing.”

For some reason, this reminds me of the Groucho Marx line, “One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas, I’ll never know.”

The Humble Apostrophe

Last week I wrote about what are called “apostrophe books” – an expression that was coined regarding books that have Tom Clancy’s name on them – but weren’t written by him.  This week I want to mention apostrophes themselves.

The apostrophe came into existence in the mid-16th century. It has Greek roots. It was important enough to find itself on the earliest typewriters. Other symbols, however, that are in common use today, didn’t make the cut. That goes for #, $ and !. Back then, however, you could get creative and type an apostrophe, then back space over it and type a period. This would get you your exclamation point.
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The apostrophe is the Rodney Dangerfield of the English language. Many consider it optional. Try explaining that to Shaquille O’Neal, Bill O’Reilly or former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor, each of which would probably take umbrage – or give you an argument – if you said your computer doesn’t have their dinner reservation in the system.

There is hope

Fortunately, a number of books have come to the rescue. You can get them for your favorite uncle for Christmas. You know, the one who writes like he never graduated from third grade.

Here are a few that are at the top of my recommended list:

  1. Lapsing into a Comma: A Curmudgeon’s Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print – and How to Avoid Them, by Bill Walsh
  2. The Elephants of Style: A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English, also by Bill Walsh
  3. Eats, Shoots and Leaves, by Lynne Truss
  4. The Girl’s Like Spaghetti: Why, You Can’t Manage Without Apostrophes, by Lynne Truss and Bonnie Timmons
  5. Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language, by Richard Lederer

And, here are a few that are for the serious writer:

  1. On Writing Well, by William Zinsser
  2. The Careful Writer by Theodore M. Bernstein
  3. The Elements of Style by Strunk and White

If something isn’t done soon, you may find yourself saying something like “Sadly, the days of using proper English are went.”

About the Author

Frank Felsburg is a content strategist living in Western North Carolina.

Lost and Found: How to Be Found

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“If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door.” Or so the expression goes. Usually, it doesn’t work that way.

For example, how about if the world doesn’t know that you have a better mousetrap? What if they aren’t sure where you live – or how best to reach you?

“Surely that doesn’t happen in this day and age of the information explosion,” you say. Well, it could. And don’t call me Shirley.

Even though telephone books have pretty much gone the way of the operator, the fact is there is so much information out there, that we can’t keep track of it all. Have you ever changed your email address? What if someone sent a message to an old address of yours and you never received it? Likewise, have you ever changed jobs? Most of us have changed both – jobs and email addresses.

Unless you have a solid brand like Cheers (“where everyone knows your name” – and, for that matter, what you’re all about) or knows how best to reach you, some of your prospects could be falling through the cracks. Can you afford that?

Maybe you can. Perhaps you don’t want every lead that has an interest in what you provide. Maybe you have all the business you need at this time. Well, if that’s the case, more power to you.

But, Public Relations and Marketing are HUGE in this day and age, especially in the very competitive publishing market. If you want a brand that is congruent with who you are – which, essentially is (or should be) a purveyor of information that can be TRUSTED, it’s probably best if you can be reached successfully – the first time. That gets the communication off to a good start.

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  1. Keep the email address on your Linkedin profile updated. Some people export all of their Linkedin contacts into a CSV (Excel spreadsheet) file. If your address isn’t up to date, you may not receive their correspondence. This isn’t always bad, as many people do the export for marketing purposes. But if they are genuinely interested in you, you have missed an opportunity to connect with that person (if they email you separately from Linkedin).
  1. Consolidate your Twitter accounts (and optimize your Twitter profile). First of all, do you even use Twitter? You should at least be on it, even if you aren’t active. There are those who believe it shortens your attention span reading 140 character blurts, day in and day out. I get that and there is some truth to it. But did you know that nearly one-third of all Twitter users are journalists and media? Furthermore, members of the media tweet the most.
  1. Have a website and keep it up to date. Be aware that Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Social Media all factor into the amount of traffic that visits your site. Having a blog with recent posts helps your ranking with Google.

If you can control the message, and therefore your brand, the flow of prospects to your products and services will increase. As a content provider, this should certainly be in your wheelhouse. Finally, make sure the web content (as well as your Twitter profile) uses keywords and images that align symmetrically with your brand.

In this day and age of fake news, you want every advantage you can get.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Frank Felsburg is a ghostwriter of books, blog posts, white papers and web content. Recent projects include a stint for Forbes magazine on angel investing, as well as articles on commercial real estate and medical technology.

Dying to Write Something

I recently travelled to Europe on a ski trip. On the way over and back, I read Paul Kalanithi’s riveting book, When Breath Become Air, which was posthumously published by Random House in January of 2016. The book was voted Goodreads’ Best Memoir & Autobiography and was on the New York Times bestseller list for a while.

It is a poignant story written by a neurosurgeon who develops Stage IV metastatic lung cancer and passes away shortly thereafter. His wife, Lucy, finishes the book.

My slogan is “Most people die with their book still in them.” Kalanithi’s courageous and herculean effort is a rare exception. How many people, when faced with a life threatening illness or a death sentence would bother to write about it? Very few, I am sure. Lucy was blessed to have married such a gritty human being.

Talk is Cheap

Many people put off writing, saying “Someday I’ll write a book.” Well, frankly, some “day” turns into months, months into years and years into decades. And decades add up. With apologies to Everett Dirksen, “a decade here, a decade there, pretty soon you’re talking about your entire life.”

As someone I know once said about painting, “I’d rather be whipped than paint.” Is painting a room really that grueling? From where I sit, it is mostly the process of getting started that intimidates people.

In painting, it is the setup that takes time and borders on the mundane. You have to move furniture and use drop cloths. Then you have to remove wallplates, patch up holes and cracks. After that, you apply a primer coat. All this before you apply the actual paint. So, there’s a lot involved. However, physically it isn’t exactly cruel and unusual punishment.

The same goes for writing. Most of the effort involved in writing isn’t the work itself. The challenge is more that you have to convince yourself to create something out of nothing. There’s research that needs to be done. You have to read and make sense out of what source material is already out there. And you have to carve out the time for the actual work. It is imperative, however, that you understand the topic before actually putting pen to paper.

The Process

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That’s pretty much it.

It can be overwhelming if you let it be. But if you break it down into its component parts, it is doable.

And, if you would rather have a professional – whether that be a painter or a writer – do it, that is always an option.

Your turn. You could start a blog, write an article or get take on a book. There are plenty of genres to consider. What do you read? Whatever content you consume on a regular basis could be source material for what you will ultimately write.

Start now. Before it’s too late.

About the Author

Frank Felsburg is an APE (Author, Publisher and Entrepreneur) as well as an occasional amateur painter.

ME? A book?

Many people don’t think they are WORTHY of having a book about their life. They think their life is too mundane to warrant a story.

I disagree.

We all have life experiences. Granted, some lives are more exciting and interesting than others. However, even the ones that are seemingly dull have redeeming qualities to them.

We think the only people that lead interesting lives are the ones that are glamorized in the media. The swashbucklers. The bombastic. The rich and famous.

Consider Walter Mitty

Walter Mitty had a “secret life” that was much more colorful than his actual life. Perhaps you are like this and dream dreams that no one has ever dreamt or articulated before. Why not have that turned into a story? You might be surprised to learn how many people would be interested in seeing, hearing or reading it.

In 2013, 20th Century Fox produced – and Ben Stiller directed – the movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” with a $90 million production budget. Actors included Stiller, Kristin Wiig, Shirley MacLaine and Sean Penn. There was also an earlier rendition of the story in 1947, which starred Danny Kaye.

Are you an introvert with a wild imagination? You could be the next Walter Mitty.

Outgoing Types

On the other hand, perhaps you are a raging extrovert who is so busy socializing that you don’t have the time – or the patience – to sit down and crank out chapter after chapter about your interesting life.
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And interesting it no doubt is. The people you meet, the places you go and the things you do.

If you put it in print, many people – including those outside your circle of influence – could benefit from it. Therefore, you would be adding value to the lives of others.

Who Are You?

Whether you are an introvert or an extrovert – or somewhere in between – we all have stories to tell. We have all overcome obstacles to become the people we are today.

Don’t be like George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life who had to be shown what his life was like if he had never been born.

Consider a Ghostwriter

Many people are readers – but not writers. As Hugh Prather said, “If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire is not to write.”

If that’s the case, consider a ghostwriter. Joe Pulizzi, in his book Content Inc., says “Believe it or not, many of the books from the authors you love have been written by someone else. I know, hard to believe, right? But it is true.” Did you know that Tom Clancy, Gwyneth Paltrow, JFK, Beyonce and Donald Trump all employed ghostwriters? So did Ronald Reagan. And yes, it is legal. A good ghostwriter can coax stories out of their subjects that make them come alive.

Books are often the source for the script of a screenplay. The movie doesn’t always resemble the book. Sometimes it is better and sometimes it isn’t. In my opinion, the movie is rarely better than the book. But the movie is usually monetized to a greater degree.

We all have a story to tell. Are you telling yours?