The one thing every tech writer hears early in a career is, “Avoid jargon in your writing.” Sage advice. But what is “jargon” really? I did some research. The best definition that I’ve found comes from the Writing Center at Read more
Last month I wrote about my long-overdue efforts to put in place a disaster plan for both my freelance business and my personal well-being. I’m not paranoid, mind you, but a recent spate of natural and man-made disasters has underscored Read more
February is a short month usually marked by cold weather (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) and by a particular holiday which helps to warm those frosty winter nights—Valentine’s Day. While there are strong arguments that the holiday has gotten Read more
February is a short month usually marked by cold weather (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) and by a particular holiday which helps to warm those frosty winter nights—Valentine’s Day. While there are strong arguments that the holiday has gotten Read more
Have you ever had the experience in daily life where someone provided you with instructions for a certain task, and upon trying to follow them, you found them to be incomplete and inaccurate? That’s not meant to be as rhetorical Read more
For several years I flew search and rescue missions with the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in Colorado. One of our jobs was searching for lost hikers and missing airplanes. As part of our training, we learned that when you search Read more
Generations of British children learnt to read with Ladybird Key Words Reading Scheme books in the 1960s and 70s. The books were designed as materials for teaching a small child to learn to read, using a system of key phrases and words Read more
Learning a foreign language is, I believe, one of the most useful ways to improve your writing skills. The modern day English language is a flexible, ever-evolving language. It’s developed from Saxon, Celtic, Old Norse, and Norman French, with words Read more
My husband is what I call an “accidental saver.” Every evening, he empties his pockets of coins and dumps them into a plastic dish on his desk. Over months, the pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters pile up and spill out Read more
With a new year, new resolutions are abound. Usually new year’s resolutions are along the lines of spending more time with family, getting in more exercise, or the most popular of all, losing weight (or in my case—all of the Read more