One of my memories of primary school was the start-the-week ritual known as ‘the morning talk’. I assume that the objective of the morning talk was to help build social confidence among the five, six, and seven-year-olds – a sort … Continue reading
The recent passing of Ray Columbus reminded me of a friend of mine who used to wander about singing one of Ray’s greatest hits: Cheese ‘Em Off. ‘Cheese ‘em off, cheese ‘em off, cheese ‘em off. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. … Continue reading
I began my writing career writing advertising copy, press releases, and short stories. After a couple of years, I added radio plays to my repertoire. After a further five or six years, I started writing opinion pieces for a couple … Continue reading
Even though the local body elections are still not quite done and dusted, I get the feeling that we are already being softened up for next year’s general election. According to a professor of political science with whom I occasionally … Continue reading
As a friend of mine is wont to remind me from time to time: whether you are seeking to inform or persuade, it’s not what the writer puts in; it’s what the reader takes out. More years ago than I … Continue reading
One of the downsides of having lived a lot longer than I ever expected to live is that, when it comes to language, I find that I am displaying more and more ‘grumpy old man’ traits. Whenever I see a … Continue reading
‘Please be advised.’ Those were the first three words of an email that greeted me when I sat down at my desk with my first coffee of the day on a recent sunny morning. What came next, I almost didn’t … Continue reading
Is there anything that business executives can learn from professional writers, people who write for their living? I think there is. Professional writers know that unless their writing is engaging, a lot of the people who read the first paragraph … Continue reading
Like many sailors, I learned to sail in a small one-sailed dinghy. I say that ‘I learned to sail’ rather than ‘I was taught to sail’ because the chap who I thought was going to teach me to sail simply … Continue reading
Our client was perplexed. His organisation had pitched to seven prospects, and only one prospect had said yes. The contracts for which our client had been pitching were not insignificant. The smallest (by value) would have been worth well over … Continue reading