Improve your Writing
November 8th, 2013
Hanging out with teenagers can be an enlightening experience. Last week, I participated in a panel discussion convened by MediaSmarts, “Canada’s centre for digital and media literacy” and a repository of fabulous resources for teachers, parents and kids. The teenagers present from across Canada asked really smart questions, many of which betrayed both deep scepticism […]
read more...TL;DR – advice to ignore, but implications to heed
Improve your Writing
August 13th, 2013
Let’s say you have a graduate degree and/or 20 years of experience in your field, and you’re used to speaking or writing for people who are similarly well-informed. Chances are you sometimes find it difficult to translate your knowledge into sentences that engage a lay audience. But whether you’re writing a newspaper commentary, or speaking […]
read more...2 words to make your writing more accessible
Our Advocacy Work
June 29th, 2013
The following op ed, commissioned by the Montreal Gazette, also appears in today’s Saskatoon Star Phoenix. It’s like poking a hornet’s nest: Dare to suggest that the words to the English version of our national anthem should be altered to include the 50 per cent of the population they currently leave out, and you’re guaranteed […]
read more...Official sexism brought to you by Canada’s national anthem
Improve your Writing
August 23rd, 2012
Far too much research has already documented that when something goes wrong, women are highly inclined to blame the problem or setback on their own deficiencies. This tendency operates in stark contrast to men, who are more likely to blame external circumstances, regardless of the actual cause. There’s an upside to women’s default of accepting […]
read more...Most common errors made by aspiring op ed writers – part 2
Improve your Writing
August 9th, 2012
If you saw the following sentence at the start of a piece in your daily newspaper, would you keep reading? “You don’t see a lot of naked men in advertising.” Lots of people did — no thanks to me. The lede I’d originally placed at the top of an essay I wrote 20 years ago […]
read more...Don’t Bury the Lede!
Improve your Writing
July 29th, 2012
Whether you’re picked last for the ball team, get rebuffed on the first date, or fail to elicit a positive response from an editor, rejection stinks. That’s why Informed Opinions offers online editing feedback (free to our workshop participants, but available for a fee to others). We’ve found that many aspiring op ed writers – […]
read more...Most Common Errors Made by Aspiring Op Ed Writers – part 1
Improve your Writing
May 26th, 2012
In the middle of delivering an op ed writing workshop recently to a very engaged group of United Way staff and volunteers from across Ontario (organized through Sean Moore‘s fabulous Advocacy School initiative) I was reminded again of the value of a second pair of eyes. It’s not that I don’t know this already: even […]
read more...Think “outcome” when crafting an op ed
Improve your Writing
April 23rd, 2012
“No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be a heroine.” “Tap-dancing child abuser. That’s what The Sunday New York Times from March 8, 1993, had called Vivi.” “But, you may say, we asked you to speak about women and fiction.” Are you intrigued by one […]
read more...Opening lines – make ’em work
Improve your Writing
January 2nd, 2012
It hardly seems fair: you spend years in school, mastering the impenetrable jargon necessary to earn the degree or qualify for the professional designation. And then someone (ok, that would be me — backed up by thousands of journalists and plain language advisors across the country) tells you to lose the language that demonstrates your […]
read more...Don’t do it!
Improve your Writing
June 27th, 2011
Who wouldn’t like to be a more persuasive communicator? In every aspect of our personal and professional lives – from seducing a beloved or winning a promotion to controlling the TV remote or getting your way at the Air Canada counter – our ability to marshal words into sentences that compel others to think as […]
read more...NY gay marriage bill: persuasion in action
