English Rules!
I had a brilliant Christmas Day with my family! I spent the day at my ex-wife's with our children and stuffed myself silly with ham and turkey. Yes, I do have a happy divorce from my ex-wife which is why we are like brother and sister today 
One of my son's presents was "i before e (except after c)" by Judy Parkinson and is a throw back to "old-school ways to remember stuff" - I just loved reading it, not least for the nostalgia and also to give me something to post about and "Yes, yes, yes!" - I'm scraping the barrel but give me a break, it is Christmas!
One of the verses used to educate the little darlings of 1855 was written by David Tower and Benjamin Tweed and it goes like this:
"Three little words you often see
Are articles: a,an and the.A noun's the name of anything,
As: school or garden, toy or swing.
Rewrites: Easy Money or a Waste of Your Time?
I'm frequently offered writing projects that involve "minimal research" or "most of the work has been done" and by the time I've waded through the hype, it simply boils down to a buyer looking for a rewrite of existing material. The money tends to be low because you do not need to do so much work and a speedy $100 is something we all look for but writer beware - there is a frequent sting in the tail!
I have a basic rule - I do not take on rewrite commissions.
The reasoning is simple and the factors in my refusals are numerous.
Rewriting is a sugar coated form of plagiarism designed to trick search engines and readers that what is being presented is original because "neither" has been substituted for "nor" enough times where necessary or similar. If you are going to create compelling and interesting work, you need to inject a degree of passion into the piece and unfortunately, I have never been able to get passionate about copying someone else's work.
Getting the Ideas to Start Rolling
Plenty of ideas floating around in the air, how in the world are we expected to reach up and grab any? It’s not really that difficult. But, you have to be focused. You have to be in tune. But, be in tune with what?
There is a conscience that seems to subtly drift from thought to thought until finally we are faced with an issue. Tap into what people are discussing. When they mention their concerns, offer your opinion or expertise. Write a blog, article, a screenplay or even a book to put your thoughts into the mix. It’s fun and it’s community.
I often get my thoughts from some of the most adverse places. I could watch an episode of The People’s Court and get an idea about a screenplay. Possibly, the idea fits other ideas I’ve had and I’m ready to put them together. For me, at times it’s that easy.
In fact, I’ll give you an example. Looking back at The People’s Court, that guy that stands outside the courtroom -- I’m only kidding -- Curt Chaplin always seems to want to stir things up even when the plaintiff and the defendant are fine with the outcome. His remarks seem to intend to incite people to voice their opinion when they were trying to be nice about everything.
The Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of Great Article Writing
I know I covered the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How the last time. But, haven’t you got it yet? There is always more involved than what I let on in my first post on any topic. In fact, entire books have been written about article writing. Entire college courses teach it. So, one simple post isn’t going to cover everything.
Articles that get in depth are what people want to read. Don’t simply answer the questions and move on to other questions. Get in depth information that goes deeper than anyone else writing on that topic. Otherwise, you are simply telling people what they already know.
Example:
Frederick Dominguez and his kids were lost for three days in the mountains of Northern California because they ventured out there to cut down a Christmas tree. They were found on Wednesday by a California Highway Patrol helicopter crew.
If you visit any news site or look in any newspaper where this story is told, you will find this information. Does it answer the six critical questions? Yes.
Who – Frederick Dominguez and his kids.
What – were lost and have been found.
When – Wednesday.
Where – mountains of Northern California.
Why – looking for a Christmas tree.
How – California Highway Patrol helicopter crew.
But if you can find this story anywhere, why would anyone read yours? It makes all the difference in the world that the mother of the children had no idea they were missing until she realized her youngest child didn’t go to school on Monday. It makes all the difference in the world that a new snow storm was about to come and the search was about to be aborted. It makes all the difference in the world that people like Cory Stahl who owns a pest control business shut his business down so that all the employees could help with the search.
There are plenty of answers to those six basic questions. Keep digging. Dig deeper. Make sure you have as much information as you can and discount nothing. Any bit of information can make your article more interesting than the others. That’s the essence of great article writing.
It’s About Your Client, Not You
When you are talking to someone about what you want, what do you want to hear? You most likely want to hear that they know what you’re saying and they know how to get it accomplished. Doesn’t it make you feel better when someone can communicate those things to you?
When you have asked for a very technical process or you think it’s a very technical process, what do you want to hear?
“I no the job you ask and I can do. Luk at my resume. Give me a call.”
Note: Spelling errors were added for effect.
Or:
“I have worked as a business consultant for several companies and I understand that you need an expert in online promotion. There are several techniques I have mastered that will enhance your online promotion efforts. The first thing I would like to do is…”
Exactly! The second project proposal makes me feel like I’m in good hands. But, like I’ve said before that the hardest part of writing a project proposal is changing your mind around. When you wrap your brain around what the client wants and you learn to address those needs, now you are writing an effective proposal.
Passive-v-Active Voice
I have the habit of writing in the passive voice, a hangover from my school days when the difference between the two was never mentioned. I must consciously think of writing in the active voice all of the time and it is not easy. Indeed many writers, new and experienced find writing in the active voice tiring, not least as it requires mental effort from most to keep writing with it.
So what is the difference between an Active Voice and the Passive Voice?
A grammatical definition will go something like this:
"The active voice uses the subject of a sentence to act upon something, whereas the passive voice has the subject itself acted upon."
In plain English, the subject of a sentence is doing something to something else so;
"ERH wrote this using his computer."
The subject is ERH and he is writing, in other words ERH is doing something and this makes it the active voice.
Compare this sentence with;
"This was written on a computer by ERH."
This is written in the passive voice where ERH is still the subject but instead of ERH "doing something" he has "something done" by him - the verb "written" is acting upon the subject "ERH".
When to Use Who and Whom
I thought it time to nobble this particular English language conundrum - when to use Who and when to use Whom.
Supaproofread has a section that goes into far more detail than I will here on this post and you can find it in the writing tips section here.
Who is a subjective pronoun that describes what or which person.
Whom is a pronoun that acts as an object for a verb or preceding preposition.
Phew!
In plain English please!!
A subjective pronoun is a word that is used when the person is a subject of the sentence. So, "I like fast cars but he doesn't" - "I" and "he" are subjective pronouns. We would ask "Who likes fast cars?" but not "Whom likes fast cars?"
A verb object is the person or thing the verb is acting on. So, "ERH flew the plane" has ERH as the subject, the verb is flying and the object is the plane. Except we would never refer to a plane as "whom" so how about "ERH flew her to Paris." In the latter case, "her" would be the object and so we would ask "With whom did ERH fly to Paris?"
Got that?
Here's a cheat tip then.
If you have a sentence using he/she then use "Who" and if it is him/her use "Whom".