Resources

Why I have never used their site I do not know – I stumbled upon it quite by accident and spent several hours tracing through the links and resources they have.

You can find the site here.

The link is to the media resources for the London freelancers part of the site, but this itself is only a small taste of what is on offer.

As a research resource it is brilliant and I particularly liked the help it gave on how to handle using translation engines. I frequently use Babelfish (Babel from the biblical tower where different languages were spoken and Babel Fish from the Douglas Adams invention in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy). I speak rusty French and Jurassic Russian, and use the site when I’m writing or reading material in either language as a check on my own understanding. The advice the NUJ site gives is to use more than one translation engine so you are able to comprehend better the “shadow of meaning” that the words convey. I like that phrase “shadow of meaning” and the advice is sound.
[Read more…] about National Union of Journalists

Periodically I research for myself on the subject of “writing”; that is a bit of a shocker as it is my chosen means of earning a crust.

I came across a site which you can find here – www.grammarbook.com – an American site again but informative and helpful if you just watch for those Americanized spellings.

One recommendation I found useful is avoiding the overuse of “there is”, “there are” and “it was”; something I am perennially guilty of.

Remember one of the Supaproofread writing tips – if you can dispose of a word in your piece then remove it as long as your message is not affected. This is simply good practice to impart your ideas with economy so the message is not lost in an overgrown bramble of words.
[Read more…] about Blue Grammar

I worked as a salesman for many years and I was good at it – good enough to build my own company and flog it for enough beer tokens to keep me happy for the rest of my days. I know what I’m talking about when it comes to selling.

Writing good copy is something I have never mastered and I have a constant battle within myself when it comes to expressing the emotional nature of intellectual facts and features. I am by nature an analytical individual, I like facts and figures when it comes to making a buying decision and rarely does the emotional aspect of a purchase strike my consciousness. That flies against the general doctrine of advertisers and copywriters who believe that facts and figures only help to justify a purchase and the real decision is based upon emotions and feelings.

You can see this dichotomy all over the place – how many times have you come across web copy such as this for Sean Nalewanyj and his bodybuilding course. Very emotionally based, playing to the desire to be ripped and muscled, referring to “getting the girl” and a reader’s feelings of self-esteem and perception.
[Read more…] about Copywriting: Emotional or Intellectual Approach?

Have you ever had to reach for the dictionary with word block and felt like kicking yourself when you found the result?

I had this with “could” last week; for the life of me I “cud” not remember how to spell it and looked it up and booked an appointment for an Alzheimer’s test.

It happens to all of us but the following are the ones I frequently come across:

DIARRHEA

Dash In A Real Rush, Hurry or Else Accident

CONSCIENCE

Remember it as Science with a Con

DESERT or DESSERT

The Sahara only has one S in it – Desserts have SugarS

ECZEMA

Even Clean ZEalots MAy get spots

There is no X in this word – Simon Cowell has no Zits!

HAEMORRHAGE

[Read more…] about Difficulty with Words and Spellings – All for Fun

Sunday morning, early awake but still in bed with the electric blanket warming the tootsies, birds twittering and some joker with a shotgun blasting away since 5am on the estate. Why some people think rabbits, pheasants and grouse deserve to be shot at defies any explanation, but I can think of at least one person who I dearly would like to take a pot shot at … whoever the bugger is blasting away right now!

Today is supposed to be a day of rest but I have a writing test to submit for a project, or rather a contract for country profiles for an insurance directory. I posted last week about going in for a meeting with the company in London. I’m happy to report that I’ve made it to the last two writers, though I’m the underdog as my competitor has more relevant experience than I do. At least the project principal is straight forward and completely open with me about the state of play.

After the writing test is submitted, which is really a combination of research and summarising rather than whether Shelley is going to get a run for his money, it just comes down to waiting… and waiting … and of course, more waiting.

This is the largest project I’ve bid on in my brief writing career and though it will not make me rich, it certainly will significantly boost my income to the tune of £30,000 every 18 months. As a writing friend of mine who is also on their panel said very succinctly, “I do this because I need the money!”, and I agree with him 100%.
[Read more…] about The Interminable Wait After Pitching for a Project

I’m late posting, mea culpa, so here’s something light to think about.

Michael has already written about the “history” of words and the use of language. It’s important to always remember that every single word we speak, read and write has a history not only because the history of words is very interesting, but also to remind ourselves of how words can change their meaning depending on the social context and often implicit, common usage.

As an example, think of the word “gay” – to my grandparents, being gay meant being happy and the life of the party. Today it means being homosexual. A span of a couple of decades or so, or two or three generations and “WHAM!” – all meaning has changed.

I’m getting ready to head back to the United States, to my second adopted home of Florida (which is why I am late in posting) – as a Brit with a passion for history, I have always centered my spiritual leanings towards the US of A on the North Eastern seaboard and played in the “colonies” of Massachussetts, Vermont and Maine. Florida was a destination that has only attracted me because I first ended up in hospital after an accident in Central America over 20 years ago and thereafter, because of an unusual set of family circumstances.

Florida has a vivid colonial history. Forget Disney and the theme parks; it is the home of the oldest private university in the US (Stetson – he of the big hat) and the home of the very first settlements that actually survived (St Augustine) and has affected the use of English in own right. The hordes of tourists treating Florida as a surrogate Blackpool in the States simply miss out on what Florida really has to offer – so be it.
[Read more…] about Just for Fun – Florida Cracker Etymology