Technical writing and instructional design have long been regarded as separate disciplines. However, there are many technical writers and many instructional designers doing overlapping tasks and covering a gamut of sub-specialties. Both seek a common end-result—a learning product that explains how to use a thing, how to do a job, how to build a widget, …
Read moreTechnical Writing & Instructional Design: A Convergence
April is national poetry month. When was the last time you read, wrote or remembered the words to a poem? Like Mark Twain’s, poetry’s death has been greatly exaggerated. In fact, it is alive and well in print and online journals, open mics and poetry slams all over the world. Few poets dedicate their lives …
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 …
Woo your valentine with more creative words than just “I love you.”
Don’t embarrass yourself. Use trademark symbols the right way.
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. …
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 …
Read moreProductivity-Boosting Keyboard Shortcuts for Writers
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 …
Read moreWho Writes the Messages in Chinese Fortune Cookies?
Disclaimer: You won’t find any of these definitions in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary: Arbitrator: n. A cook that leaves Arby’s to work at McDonalds Avoidable: v. What a bullfighter tried to do Burglarize: n. What a crook sees with Counterfeiters: npl. Workers who install kitchen cabinets Eclipse: v. What an Cockney barber does for a living Eyedropper: …
A while back, we wrote an article about retronyms. Now it’s time for more Word People whimsy! Do you know what a “backronym” is? If not, you soon shall. A backronym is a reverse acronym. (Alternative spelling: bacronym) It’s an expression that has been formed from the letters of an existing word or name. Examples …