Where I write words — and help you with yours

How COVID Is Actually Spread

It’s Lucky You Clicked — This Is the Real Deal

Although the CDC and WHO have been keeping this a secret, here are the ways the coronavirus is actually spread — according to local officials and a few private businesses that have shut the following down since last March:

Water fountains

Duh: We all gather some infected friends to mouth the spout and then hock loogies into the basin —…

Self-Anointed Titles: Please Don't

Self-Anointed Titles: Please Don’t

Callings all optimizers, wonks, consultants, problem solvers, gods, nerds, initiators, empowerers, champions, divas, and all other self-titled folks on social media.

You know who you are. (And so do we since it’s right there in your headline.)

You think you’re being unique, breaking through to all the best recruiters’ feeds, winning the…

9 Ways Using Numbers for Marketing Is $#%@*%!#

Yes, marketing & numbers can be pals—if used correctly

I’m sure we’ve all been told to use more numbers on our resumes, in our white papers or case studies, on our social media pages, in our article and blog headlines, or in our ads. Numbers are an all-around good marketing technique (in addition to lists, graphics, and short paragraphs, among others).

Check out the infographic below. Your eye…

If you’ve done both — like me — maybe you can relate:

👩‍💻 Freelancing: Work won’t just fall in your lap.

🏢 Job: Work ALWAYS falls in your lap. Even when you just got to a friend’s house for dinner. Or when you’re on a beach getaway. Or at your kid’s birthday party. 

👩‍💻 Freelancing: Income fluctuates.

🏢 Job:Income doesn’t fluctuate. Even that one time you screwed up enough courage…

#Hustle: The Truth Behind the Buzzword

More heart, less hustle.

How to use focused hustle to build your (fill in the blank).

#HustleHard

Keep hustling till you reach your destination. 

The King of Hustle.

Hustling until you drop isn’t heroic.

This post is for the young LinkedIn hustlers out there. 

Hope you are all hustling away and building towards your dreams.

It feels like I can’t read any marketing-related anything—or…

You’re probably thinking, “I’ve got this—one thing/person gets an apostrophe before the S, and forming contractions = a piece of cake.” Turns out that’s true—some of the time. Let’s test your skills. 

Add an apostrophe and/or an S or ES in the correct place, as needed:

(One student) The student pencil case isn’t open.

(Five dogs) The collie water bowl spilled all over the floor.

The new store…

Pop quiz!

Who/whom can I ask about booking a room?

You can leave the alpaca with whoever/whomever answers the door.

But who/whom will ride the old mare?

Give the spelt to whoever/whomever it belongs to.

(answers at bottom)

Feeling flummoxed? The first step is to review pronouns:

Subject PronounsObject PronounsIMeYouYouHeHimSheHerItItWeUsTheyThemWhoWhomWhoeverWhomever

As you can see–and…

Job Titles: To Cap or Not to Cap

I’m sure we’ve all seen the following:

I’m a Social Media Manager.

My Proofreader, Jonquil Williams, catches every error.

We’re hiring a Customer Fulfillment Rockstar!

We love Assistant Manager Petra Bukhari’s perspective on limes versus lemons.

Any copy editor worth their salt looks at the above and thinks,

“Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.”

Yes, when people write job posts—looking at you,…

When you experience non-constructive criticism, you don’t forget it: You’re left feeling defensive (“But their story was so much worse than mine!”) and frustrated (“Whelp, looks like my writing sucks—just have no idea how to fix it”).

Constructive criticism, often used in creative writing workshops, is an entirely different animal. A helpful animal. Like a service dog. Or a mule.

And this…

Some AP Style Basics

In a nutshell: The Associated Press (AP) stylebook has been around since the 1950s and is the definitive guide for journalists in the U.S. In addition to journalists, it’s used by marketing agencies, PR firms, and educational institutions, among others.

Whether you’re looking for a company-wide or blog style, you have a job that requires writing or editing in AP, or you just need a refresher,…

Editing Pet Peeve: Seasons

This will either be a reminder or a huge aha moment: Seasons aren’t proper names, which means they begin with a lowercase letter. Months, on the other hand, are names (i.e., proper nouns) and begin with a capital letter.

Keep it straight, wannabe grammar nerds.

Let’s review: ★  spring, summer, winter, fall, autumn ★ January, February, March, April, May, etc., etc., I hope you get the idea