Good With Words

Every now and again a client tells me that the last writer they hired got it all wrong. I can’t help feeling sorry for the writer. We’re a tribe, even if we’re mostly invisible to each other, and I can imagine another writer’s pain all too easily. I’m sure there are freelance writers out there […] Continue Reading

This month my business partner Wilder Gutterson and I were chatting about what happens to people’s writing in charities that are strongly “founder driven” — meaning a visionary founder is still at the helm. (Wilder’s just completed a Master’s degree in organisational psychology.) We identified three particular challenges writers face in founder driven charities. Here […] Continue Reading

By the time you read this, the EU referendum will be over and all the difficult emotions it’s aroused will, let’s hope, be calming down. Today, it’s 24 hours away and I – like you, I bet – would rather think about anything else. It’s story time. About twenty years ago I was working as […] Continue Reading

This month, it’s all about looks. Because the look of a page counts – more, if some research is to be believed, than anything we write. Maybe you, like me, spend hours recasting a document first in a serif font (Didot’s a current favourite) and then in a sans serif (I’d vote for the bold […] Continue Reading

Breaking news: scientists have found a cure for cancer! Well, sort of. Some scientists, some cancers, for some people, some of the time. Not such a sexy headline. So how do you write for the public about scientific research? I thought I’d have a go at answering that question this month. I’m focussing on medical […] Continue Reading

I taught some workshops last week on writing thank you letters. The charity in question had been using the same templates for years, and bit by bit the life had drained out of them. Here’s a sentence from one of the letters they were sending out: “We need to continue our efforts to raise over […] Continue Reading

Anything about charities and financial wrongdoing catches my eye these days. Here’s an example, which I spotted in an article about the financial crisis by the ferociously energetic James Meek: When, in 2007, Northern Rock had to be rescued by the Labour government… it turned out that the bank’s management had bundled together much of […] Continue Reading

The British have all kinds of strange ideas about themselves. One is that British people don’t like talking about money. What strikes me, after living in a very polite corner of the U.S., is that the British love talking about money – as long as it’s a grumble. What’s more satisfying than complaining about property […] Continue Reading

Last month, I promised that I’d let you know what should be on every great writer’s gift list. I’d no sooner hit “Publish” on that blog post than I thought of about ten very expensive things. A room of your own. A Mont Blanc pen. One of those Italian coffee machines that make the strongest […] Continue Reading

When I lived in the US, I loved Thanksgiving. No presents, decorations, or religion – just eating together and gratitude. Now I’m back in London, I’m grateful that I still get invited to a Thanksgiving dinner. Every November about twenty of us, some Americans, some not, clear a space in a friend’s living-room, shove trestle tables […] Continue Reading