Observed

Today’s “AFTER DEADLINE” post offered the following example of the misuse of the word “like” along with a suggested fix:

At times it seems like the mayoral race here between the two front-runners — Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who is seeking a second term, and Vincent C. Gray, the City Council chairman — is boiling down to a personality contest.

Make it “seems as though,” “seems as if,” or simply “seems that …”

I’ll go one better.

At times, the mayoral race here between the two front-runners — Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who is seeking a second term, and Vincent C. Gray, the City Council chairman — seems to boil down to a personality contest.

I call this editing by subtraction.

It’s not that crowdsourcing news doesn’t have its benefits.  Before it released its Afghan War Diary, however, Wikileaks first shoveled the unfiltered secret documents to three mainstream media — The New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel.

Was it because the three papers have a reputation for leaning to the left and might, therefore, use the leaks to bash the war effort?  Maybe, though I hardly think opponents of the war need much help in that regard.

A more plausible explanation is that Wikileaks went to the MSM because that’s where the reporters are.  The ones who, by and large, make a living out of gathering, processing and synthesizing lots of information.

Here’s a clip offering six best practices for proposal writing. Let me know (doug@doug-stern.com) if you’d like a sample proposal I wrote.

For more info, go to http://xrl.us/WritingGreatProposals to read the article on which this clip was based.

Want to be better remembered?  Interested in getting the most out of your advertising dollars or the other ways you invest in communicating with your markets?

Then think about two words:

Consistency

and

Repetition

The former is one of the keys to effective branding.  The Marlboro Man, UPS, Apple…ad infinitum.

The latter has been around since the ancient Greeks.  In fact, the title of this post represents one of at least nine ways Greek rhetoriticians codified the repetition of words for emphasis.  (I used epizeuxis — also known as palilogia — literally the fastening together of words.)

So what?  (more…)

Here’s a clear, practical, before-and-after tip that addresses a common content issue on a lot of law firm Web sites. It offers a way to present lists of representative engagements without sounding self-centered and monotonous.

There’s a companion post.

My heart stopped briefly this morning.  It resumed beating when I realized I had NOT written the Web copy pilloried by Seth at 6:28  a.m., Eastern.

My sympathies go to Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin, an otherwise fine law firm in need of better editing.  (A testament to the power of Google that I found the firm merely by pasting in the offending copy.)

So what?  (more…)

Seth reminded me this morning of the creative tension I see in myself.  Part of me is in a hurry to ship.  I’ve been given a deadline, I want to please and impress my client and so on.  Another part of me  understands that I need to slow down and just be with myself in order to create.

I would be wise to remember that most readers experience the same tension.  They, too, are being pulled in a million directions and are seeking balance — consciously or not.

So, what can I do to facilitate what they need to have happen?  How do I make life/work easier for others?  Others who have way too much on their plates.

The ones interested in a life with fewer traffic jams.

The author of this week’s “After Deadline” column may have been a little too hard on the lowly cliche.  At least its use in journalism.

Idiomatic writing can be engaging.  It’s down to earth and can help grab and keep a reader’s attention.

It takes a very good writer-editor, however, to know when enough is enough.  Someone who knows the value of a cliche when used in the right place at the right time and in the right dosage.  And who, by the same token, isn’t such a schoolmarm that every cliche gets deleted.

Since none of us are perfect, this underscores the importance of good, second-party editing.  Someone more likely to spot Just Right.

“It took 70 years for the U.S. flag to accumulate 28 stars. John Calipari has done it in seven weeks at the University of Kentucky.”

–The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal, May 19, 2009

Selling intangibles is hard work. A lot of architects, lawyers and other professional service providers have Web sites that make it even harder.

This clip outlines seven common weaknesses of such sites and offers suggested remedies. It’s based on an article originally published by MarketingProfs.com.