When I was a young writer, I occasionally worked with another writer who had a sign on his office wall saying: Advertising is but promise writ large. As I recall, the observation was attributed to Samuel Johnson. I was reminded … Continue reading
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: good writing can be hard work. Good writing requires effort and it requires commitment. Good writers think about each and every word that they write. They think about whether or not … Continue reading
As a child, I had a rather low opinion of poetry. I realise now that, on the whole, the poetry that we were exposed to at school was largely of the dumpity dump variety. Robert Browning’s How They Brought the … Continue reading
Many years ago now, on a sultry summer afternoon, with the drone of the city traffic struggling to be heard above the incessant chirping of the cicadas, a group of us, perhaps a dozen of us in all, gathered on … Continue reading
Everybody’s talkin’ at me / I don’t hear a word they’re sayin’ – Fred Neil (although for most of us, probably via Harry Nilsson) According to the cab driver who was taking me home a couple of days ago, everyday communication has … Continue reading
My love of written English really kicked in when I was eleven. My English teacher that year was a diminutive woman whose own passion was for copperplate handwriting. My recollection is that she didn’t much care for how you shaped … Continue reading
My dining companion was fulminating against the use of American English. The particular document that was causing him so much distress contained no American spelling. There was no sign of color in place of colour. And there was no suggestion … Continue reading
I was having lunch with an old friend recently. She’s an old friend in at least two senses. First, I have known her for about 30 years. And, second, she has had rather a lot of birthdays – certainly a … Continue reading
We were at a party. People were coming and going, but, at any one time, there were probably about 50 of us. Several of the guests were investment bankers. There were also a number heavy-duty business people. And there were … Continue reading
‘People read with their ears, whether they know it or not.’ – William Zinsser Some years ago now, I was hired to coach a small team of people whose job it was to handle the ‘difficult’ customer service issues for … Continue reading