Defog Your Writing

Looking for a quick way to help defog your writing? Want it clear and crisp? 

Then delete it is unless it refers to something mentioned earlier. It is constructions tangle sentences, delay meaning, encourage passive verbs, and hide responsibility.

Other foggies to avoid are there is and there are.

See the difference from a simple deletion or slight rewording:

Foggy: It is my understanding that the study includes large companies.
Better: I understand that the study includes large companies.

Foggy: There are some provisions that cannot be negotiated.
Better: Some provisions cannot be negotiated.

Really Foggy: It is recognized that as the program matures, there are likely to be changes in task definitions and priorities.
Better: We recognize that as the program matures, task definitions and priorities are likely to change.

Blogging with Bliss blogger, Dr. Adrienne Escoe, is the president and owner of Escoe Bliss Professional Resources.

2011 STC Summit

Combine four days of professional development, thought-provoking sessions, and the company of some of the greatest minds from your field and what do you get? The 2011 STC Summit that was held in Sacramento, California this May.

Our very own Escoe Bliss team member and president, Dr. Adrienne Escoe, attended and presented at the 2011 STC Summit. She had a wonderful time catching up with STC and friends and returned to the office with lots of food for thought.

A couple of the more memorable sessions that Dr. Escoe attended were:

• What's the Next Big Challenge? Content Delivery! -This presentation by Scott Abel took a look at how businesses big and small are leveraging the power of the crowd to create exceptional socially enabled customer assistance experiences, engaging interactive/enhanced digital content, useful mobile device apps, and powerful location-aware help. Dr. Escoe found that Scott was a very engaging speaker and that the content was refreshing, current, and practical.
  
• CIG SIG Progression - This session presented several topics that technical writers working in a contract/consulting role could really relate to and gave them some valuable pointers
  for increasing productivity, accuracy, building a professional portfolio, and cultivating good client-contractor relationships.
  
  
  

Dr. Escoe's presentation, Do You Have What it Takes to be an On-Demand Editor?, was part of a lineup of Topics of Special Interest from STC SIGs. All three of the sessions were full. To give you a small taste of Dr. Escoe's presentation we have included the quiz she kicks things off with so that you might find out if you've got the knowledge, skills, and work style to succeed in this growing sector:

	True	False
1.      Whenever I view a presentation I look for the typos.
2.      I have ready access to one or more style guides, such as The Chicago Manual of Style.
3.      People often give me their writing to proofread.
4.      I can make time to edit unexpected documents.
5.      I know how to save documents with and without mark-ups displayed.
6.      I know how to make Jones plural.
7.      I never place an apostrophe in the possessive pronoun its.
8.      I think on a daily basis is wordier than it needs to be.
9.      When I am proofreading, I always check headers, footers, headings, and subheadings.
10.  A good writer is naturally a good editor.

If you found questions 1-9 to be true and question 10 to be false, then you probably have what it takes to be an on-demand editor. If you'd like to learn more about on-demand editing services check out 

dr. edit® - The Gold Standard of Online Editing.

dr. edit® is a perfect example of the type of on-demand editing service that is necessary to keep up with the needs of today's fast-paced industries.

In conclusion, there were many sessions and presentations throughout the 2011 STC Summit that Dr. Escoe found to be both fun and informative. If you are a member of the technical communication community we encourage you to consider making room on your calendar for the 2012 STC Summit. This conference is well-worth your time and investment!


 

Making a list and checking it twice?

Readers and writers on your list? How about some recommendations of gizmos, gadgets, and gifts galore from a professional writer?

Books have long been the perfect holiday gift. You can buy physical books, audio books (CD, DVD, and cassette tapes) and digital books. So before you shop, profile your reader. If he or she spends a lot of time commuting, check their car to see if they have a cassette player or CD player. If their laptop is always nearby, consider Amazon Kindle books that can be downloaded and read on a PC, Mac, iPad, Blackberry or Android phone. And if you select the wrong book, the recipient can exchange it for a different book or a gift card.

Maybe your budget includes the hardware on which to read a book. If you are buying for someone who will just read, then the comparison list at http://ebook-reader-review.toptenreviews.com/ might help you make a good decision based on the unit’s memory, screen size, resolution, cost and whether or not the recipient reads regular books (get black and white) or graphic novels (get color). Where books are read can make a difference, too. Black and white units use eInk which is great in sunlight but can’t be seen in dimly lit areas. Color units have LCD screens with back-lighting which are useless in sunlight but great in dark areas. Book availability is also important. Just because a company says it has thousands of books doesn’t mean a thing—they might not be the books your user would want to download. Last but not least, some digital readers, like the low-end of the Sony line need the user to download the book to a PC or Mac first and then move it over using a USB cable or thumb drive.

Bargain-priced readers like the Aluratek Libre, Kobo eReader, Amazon Kindle and Sharper Image Literati all start around $100 or just over. However, if your reader also falls into the category of web-surfer, artist, photographer, Facebook fan, or chat room aficionado then a bigger piggy bank is going to be needed. There are tablets like the full-size iPad from Apple, which can run over $800 for the 16GB, Wi-Fi/3G version. Handhelds like the Huawei, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Nook Color (with Android apps) are mini-meccas of reading wonder that cost between $250 and $300. While the Lenovo tablet, en Tourage eDGe and Dell Streak, all in the area of $500, are mini laptops with digital reading capability.

For writers on your list, a smart pen might be the way to go. These amazing bits of technology turn your handwritten notes into editable text on your computer. Some smart pens require smart paper that can be purchased as notebooks and/or printed out on your computer. The Pulse Smartpen remembers every movement you make and every sound it hears. The Echo translates your notes from one language to the next as fast as you can scribble. Irisnotes and LogiPen both work on any kind of paper but require special ink refills to make the magic happen. The latter of the two also works on your tablet screen. All smart pens connect to your computer either by USB or wirelessly to transcribe your notes and messages. They start around $50 for the Dane-Elec Zpen or the HP Digital Pen with eraser and can run as high as $250 for the 8GB Echo Smartpen Pro-Pack. Just remember, the word “smart” is a generic word. There are also smart pens with no digital correlation whatsoever; so make sure the smart pen you purchase is as smart as you think it is.

Give someone the gift of knowledge, like a $22 a month subscription to Safari Books Online . Safari has over 10,000 books and videos for technology, creative and business professional. For the more budget-oriented gift-giver, Google has a super-easy, fill-in-the-blank Techie Care Package to email friends and parents. Show them how to change their desktop background, track an airline flight or make a blog. Attach as many of Google’s 40 free computer training videos as you like and voila, you have helped to educate the world…for FREE!

This holiday season of 2010 is a digital wonderland of gizmos and gadgets for everyone from novice to hi-tech adventurers and shopping for the perfect techno-gift can be almost as much fun as receiving it! Good luck and enjoy!

Guest blogger and Southern Californian, Pamela Coca of Write-On Communications says she has been writing professionally since dinosaurs roamed the earth. Penned items include magazine articles, news editorials, tech manuals, web content, medical curriculum, and anything else that allows ink to be placed on paper. She believes that writers live to write as well as write to live. She is well-known in local circles for creating the award-winning Escoe Bliss Professional Resources website.

WANTED: Guest Bloggers

Please excuse the short blog for today. We are training a new hire (who will be featured in next week's blog). For today, we would like to throw a branch out there in hopes that our readers will grab on. We currently have a featured e-learning guest blogger, Jenise Cook, who dazzles us every third Monday of the month and are looking for other experts in training, development, OD, change management, project management, writing and editing. If you have a creative blogging voice, provide educational and interesting content, please let us know. We want to give our followers the most bang for their buck and to capture more readers. This is a volunteer assignment that will not only help our readers, but give you and your capabilities additional exposure. If you are someone you know would be interested, please email Jolynn Atkins, Manager of Consulting Solutions at jatkins@escoebliss.com for more information.

Thank you!

Our best,
The Escoe Bliss team

Marching Forth on March Fourth with Grammar Girl

Happy National Grammar Day! Have you figured out how you are going to celebrate? Do you know what you will wear? Perhaps you've been waiting all year to wear your shirt that says, "Talk grammar to me, baby." Well today is your day and the Grammar Girl Website, hosted by Mignon Fogarty, is your source for all sorts of grammar goodies to get you through the day.

Do your friends and co-workers ever refer to you as the "grammar police"? Do you sometimes feel the urge to revise emails that you receive and send them back to their author so that the message can be rewritten properly? Do you cringe during certain lyrics as the blast from your radio?

"I can't get no satisfaction. I can't get no girl reaction." ~Rolling Stones

Well, the Stones certainly got Grammar Girl's reaction, but it probably wasn't quite the reaction they had in mind.

If any of the above ring true for you, then you should definitely join the fun and celebrate National Grammar Day along with the rest of your fellow grammarians. Follow Grammar Girl on Twitter so that you don't miss out on a moment of the grammar guru goodness. Grammar Girl will be keeping the celebration alive and giving away books throughout the day.

On a side note, if you are not a grammarian yourself then you may have a need for professional, on-demand editing. I recommend dr. edit®; a new online editing service built around quality, convenience, and trust. Meet deadlines and ensure high-quality results by using dr. edit® for all of your heavy editing needs.

On-demand, Online Editing: Why You Must Shop Smart to Look Smart, by Adrienne S. Escoe, PhD

No one gets a second chance to make a first impression. Typos, bad grammar, poor formatting, and sloppy word use can be toxic to the image of your products or services and devour your bottom line.

To preserve, protect, and propel your brand, enlist the services of a professional editor. A convenient and cost-effective solution is on-demand, online editing. The result will be a clear, concise, and correct finished product that projects an image worthy of your products or services.

But how do you select an online editing service? Talented writers, as you might have found out already, are not necessarily great editors.

Web sites seeking on-demand, online editing services vary greatly. Many providers have sprouted from the roots of technical writing, corporate communications, English, or journalism, but may not meet your specific needs. As a business-to-business or individual consumer, how can you judge the scope or quality of the services offered? Visit a handful of on-demand, online editing sites (listed below), and see how well they measure up to the evaluation questions that follow.

http://www.dr-edit.com/
http://www.editavenue.com/

http://www.editingondemand.com/

http://www.ewsandassociates.com/

http://www.grammar101.com/

http://www.oleng.com.au/

Questions to Ask

1. How are editors qualified?
2. Are fees the same for proofreading as for heavy editing?
3. Is the pricing structure clear? Are payment terms and methods specified (for example, credit card)?
4. Can customers specify the level of editing they seek?
5. Are performance criteria spelled out, or do customers have to guess the specific grammatical or usage errors or inconsistencies that the service will rectify?
6. Can customers receive a quotation without an obligation to buy?
7. Does the service specify a default manual of style with which its proofreaders and editors comply, and can customers specify an alternate manual of style? The four most popular manuals include APA, Chicago, MLA, and Microsoft®.
8. Is the ordering process clear?
9. Does the service, or an affiliated service, provide writers at your site, if needed?
10. Does the site include a contact form for inquiries?
11. Is the site free from typos, bad grammar, or inconsistencies?
12. Are references or testimonials readily available?

Ultimately, you want to be sure that the service you choose has a customer-driven structure that accepts, and even encourages, customers to transmit their unique editing requirements, including company editorial conventions.

Adrienne S. Escoe is president of Escoe Bliss Communication, Inc. and the author of The Practical Guide to World-Class Documentation.