I normally don’t work so late at night. But I’m giddy with excitement because Friday is National Punctuation Day. I’ll be lucky if I can fall asleep the next two nights. I’m kind of a punctuation junkie. I have a good handle on when to use the semi-colon (rarely) or the exclamation point (even more […]
Sometimes procrastination pays off. For over a year now, I’ve had an item on my to-do list for our blog: usage rules you can ignore. The idea being, if you’re a writer who knows what he’s doing, you don’t have to stick to every single rule they taught you back in high school. Some of […]
I’ve decided to write this blog post for two reasons: 1) People email us all the time asking for advice on how to start a career in the fabulous world of copywriting, and 2) August is almost over, and we haven’t posted anything new this month (gulp). With these points in mind, here are five […]
I hate you, Cambria font. There, I said it. How have I developed such malice for something as seemingly harmless as a typeface? Well, to start with, you’re not what they say you are. Your Wikipedia entry claims you were “specifically designed for on-screen reading and to be aesthetically pleasing when printed at small sizes.” […]
Confession: I used to get paid to write SPAM. It was about 10 years ago, before we all knew that an email from “Your friend Sally” is probably not your friend Sally, but some dude in a Nairobi Internet café trying to scam you out of your hard-earned money. Or, as the case may be, […]
Now, where did I leave off … In my previous post on this topic, I grumbled about the misconceptions concerning my chosen profession like the 30-year-old curmudgeon that I am. You didn’t think I’d stop at three misconceptions, did you? Surely, you underestimated the power of my bitterness. This time, I tackle the sneering judgments […]
I’ve spent nearly 10 years cultivating a vast and varied cache of writing experience. I’ve written PR and marketing copy, and I’ve worked as a journalist, a lifestyle columnist, a film critic, a comedy writer. I’ve written for print, for broadcast, for the Web. I have published two novels and am working on a third. […]
Newly hired employees returning to the workplace in 2010 will be among the most enthusiastic. How can employers tap into their optimism and zeal? Many of these new workers have previously been downsized, and they may be struggling to regain their self-worth. Enabling them to share their stories and skills will address this issue — […]
The other week I found myself stuck in traffic behind a delivery truck. I can’t remember what they were delivering since I was too focused on their motto. In big letters they declared, “WE ALWAYS AROUND.” Then in very small letters between the “WE” and “ALWAYS,” they had painted a little arrow and the word […]
There’s something awful in my basement. Or at least my wife thinks it’s awful. Lurking down there are half a dozen bankers boxes and a filing cabinet filled with samples from my 17+ years in advertising. There are print ad proofs, cassettes of old radio ads, VHS tapes with TV spots … and piles of […]
