Christmas Movie Tropes: Cliché Screenwriting We Love Year After Year
Christmas movies use familiar storylines to inspire audiences. These tropes may be predictable, but well-written Christmas movies still become traditions.
Writing
HIV “Patient O” Cleared Decades After Shortsighted Spelling Choice
“Patient O” Gaëtan Dugas was wrongly accused of bringing HIV to the US after shortsighted researchers used a naming convention that was misinterpreted.
Content Development SEO Case Study: A Shoe Mystery
Content development SEO turns a web writer into a modern Sherlock Holmes. Our case study in web content development SEO explains how to improve engagement.
Technical Writing & Instructional Design: A Convergence
Technical writing and instructional design have long been regarded as separate disciplines, but that is changing. Overlap is forging a unified discipline.
Jefferson’s Polygraph Machine
Almost every day, Thomas Jefferson wrote letters. “From sun-rise to one or two o’clock,” he noted, “I am drudging at the writing table.” Jefferson wrote almost 20,000 letters in his lifetime, and he needed to keep copies of his letters. Fortunately, John Isaac Hawkins (1772–1855) and Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827) invented this little gadget that …
101 Synonyms for Love on Valentine’s Day
Woo your valentine with more creative words than just “I love you.”
Infographic: How to Use Trademark Symbols
Don’t embarrass yourself. Use trademark symbols the right way.
The Subversive Feminist Poets of Afghanistan
In a nation beleaguered by violence, corruption, addiction, and dozens of other ills, a network of resilient women are coming out of the shadows through writing. Embrace me in a suicide vestbut don’t say I won’t give you a kiss. A landay is a subversive, biting poetry style esteemed among the Pashtun tribes of Afghanistan. …
Productivity-Boosting Keyboard Shortcuts for Writers
Speed up your everyday writing workflow with these basic keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Word. Sometimes mouse-work can be slow and tedious. Here are a few essential PC keyboard shortcuts you can use to get more done in less time! Ctrl + A Select all Ctrl + C Copy Ctrl + V Paste Ctrl + F …
Who Writes the Messages in Chinese Fortune Cookies?
Writing and Chinese food just go together like vowels and consonants. Long hours and deadlines are made for good Hunan chicken. You know it’s true. After putting in the 17th round of changes into a 600-page report, have you ever wished that you could get the ultimate writing gig? Let’s say, something like writing the …