Facebook has changed your email address…here’s how to fix it
Jun0
Facebook has changed your email address…yes, without your permission. Here’s how to fix it with a few easy steps.
Two very good posts have come out about how Facebook has reset everyone’s profile email address in recent days to the @facebook.com format whether the member wants it or not. Lifehacker has published Facebook Changed Everyone’s Email to @Facebook.com; Here’s How to Fix It, which contains very good information on how to change your email address back to your original address, and Forbes Magazine has published Facebook’s Lame Attempt To Force Its Email Service On You.
In short, these are the steps to reset your email address:
1. Click “About” on your profile.
2. Scroll down to your email address.
3. Click “Edit” to change them.
4. Click on the circle next to your Facebook email address and change the setting to “Hidden From Timeline.”
5. Click on the circle next to your other email address(es) and change their settings to “Shown On Timeline.”
6. Click the Save button at the bottom of the Edit popup to save the new setting.
Good luck!
Embarrassing Grammatical Errors in the Office
Jun0
According to The Wall Street Journal, managers are fighting an epidemic of grammar gaffes in the workplace. Many managers are blaming Twitter, email brevity and texting shortcuts as the roots of the problem. Such looseness with language can create bad impressions with clients, ruin marketing materials and cause communications errors, many managers say.
Read the article for examples.
89 Business Cliches That Will Get You Promoted And Make You Useless according to Forbes
Jun0
Oh, dread, 89 business cliches that we have heard and used that make us either look like geniuses or idiots. Forbes Magazine has a great list of cliches we should purge from our vocabularies as soon as possible.
Think of getting rid of these cliches from your vocabulary as a paradigm shift. Remember, if you do, it will be a win-win for everyone and the ROI will be astounding. But, of course, we may need to circle back to this.
The list goes on and on and on and on.
Enjoy
Tech Writers in Sacramento get a salary increase in 2012
Jun0
According to the Sacramento Bee’s current salary database, technical writers in the Sacramento are enjoying a little boost in their 2012 salaries.
Average Wages, 2012 $73,902
Average Wages, 2011 $72,166
Average Wages, 2010 $70,646
Salaries for technical writers from 2008 to 2012 are averaging $70,438.
Writer’s Block? Brainstorm and keep the bad ideas
Feb0
Do you have writer’s block, or do you THINK you have writer’s block? Here’s a suggestion: embrace your bad ideas and let them lead to good ones. This is playwright and screenwriter Megan Cohen’s method for overcoming writer’s block and getting her creativity back to where it should be.
She writes that when she feels as though the well is running dry on good ideas, it’s time to sit down and just start brainstorming. Brainstorming, as we are taught includes bad ideas as well as the gems in the rough that can be developed over time. But the key here is the keep the bad ideas.
Yes, write down the bad ideas as well as the good ones and see where they take you:
To keep things interesting, you need bad ideas, with their chaos and swearing, their disrespect and vulnerability. But how do you lure them? What’s the solution to good ideas?
Well… it’s more ideas. If you don’t have an idea you really like for, say, the premise of your TV spec script… then we have a lot to talk about over coffee, but also you should sit down and write 100 premises for your TV spec script. Yeah, 100. Like the famous number of Dalmatians minus one.
The “100 ideas” method is straight-up stolen from an anecdote where Judd Apatow tells someone to do it. He probably invented it, maybe? It legit works.
Of course one of the best ways to beat writer’s block is to simply keep writing.
Read Megan Cohen’s full post at Writer’s Block: The Solution to Good Ideas
Sexist 1940 Video Presents the Roles of Newspaper Staff
Dec0
Recently, Brain Pickings published a real gem of a newsreel (originally from Encyclopedia Britannica Films’ Your Life Work series) that provides a look into the history of what one might imagine as the typical newsroom in the 1940s. Explaining the need for speed and accuracy when gathering the news for the reading public, the narrator walks through the many facets of newspaper’s interworkings.
Cheerfully, the narrator explains the different roles of the reporters and desk editors that take part in moving the story toward the presses. And with the excitement that can only be found in a 1940 newsreel, the narrator adds, “…there’s a real thrill in seeing your own byline over a story when it’s in print, and there’s always the feeling that you’ll try to make the next story just a little better.”
Working through the needs of covering fires and politics, the narrator moves to the lighter side of the news industry…the society pages. This is where the movie takes an interesting twist. As he explains, these pages are, “for the most part reported by news women.” So if any woman in the 1940s were to watch this, all their hopes of entering the exciting profession as an investigative or crime reporter would have been dashed by this movie.
The narrator continues with, “Women find it difficult to compete with men in general reporting jobs, so girls who want to be successful in journalism should prepare for work in the special women’s departments.” Of course, these departments include “meal planning suggestions” and “beauty care.”
Oh, how the times have changed.
I’d Rather Cuddle Then Have Sex. Really?
Dec0
By Ron Creel
We have recently been seeing people confuse the words then and than. The word then seems to be used when the writer should use than. Of course, several blogs have made fun of this word misuse. And Yahoo! has an answer to this as well.
Here’s rule:
THEN - An adverb. Means at that time or next. Remember that then (like when) refers to time.
Example: I went to the store then I went to the park.
THAN – A conjunction introducing a dependent clause of comparison. Means that you are comparing two things.
Example: I like beer more than getting my eye poked out with a sharp stick.
So with this rule, would you rather cuddle and then have sex, or would you rather cuddle than have sex? Do you now understand the meaning of the words and how they differ?
How to Write a 500 Word Essay That Will Get You Into College
Nov1
By Ron Creel
It’s college application season. Or at least it is in our house. The current challenge seems to be how a student applying for college can work within the 500-word limit imposed by the Common Application and create an essay that covers a significant event or achievement in the student’s life and will, hopefully, set the student apart from tens of thousands of other applicants.
Keep in mind that with the college application essay, you are not writing a freelance article for a magazine where you will be getting paid by the word. Instead, you are trying to capture and keep the attention of the person reading the application essay when they only have a few minutes to read the application and move on to the next application. So your goal is to write an essay that gets you on a university’s “accepted” list, not on The New York Times Best Sellers List. Save your longer writing efforts for impressing your professors.
As with all writing projects, these essays are written with a single purpose in mind and should be attacked with a narrowly-focused plan. It’s just that most students are not used to writing within the 500-word limit. Frankly, I don’t think any of us are.
First step: select your topic wisely. Pick a topic that can appropriately answer the essay question and that can be well-developed without too much background information. Remember, you need to capture the reader’s attention and be concise. Pick a topic that represents the real you. Write about something that sets you apart from the rest of the crowd.
After picking a topic that best represents you, make hand-written notes to outline what you intend to write. Resist the urge to sit down at the keyboard and start typing away at your essay. By first outlining with a pen and paper, you will avoid typing something that you think is an instant masterpiece. Too many times, once we see our words typed on the computer screen, they look clean, tidy and ready to submit to the college admissions office. Not the case. Your essay will need to go through several revisions before you can call it complete and ready to send to college recruiters.
Once you have an outline on paper, you may start writing on the computer. But remember what Ernest Hemingway said about the first draft of anything. You will want to go through several revisions that include having others read your essay and make suggestions. Trust your reviewers, whether they are parents, teachers or friends.
After writing what you think is the second draft, draw a seriously thick line through your first sentence, and perhaps, even the whole first paragraph. Most essays don’t start getting traction until the second to fourth line, so force yourself to take a hard look at how you started and consider re-working your lead sentence with something you have already written in the middle of the essay where you really start getting your ideas formed.
Hopefully, you have created a second or third draft with more than 500 words. At this point, you need to start trimming unnecessary words to cut the fluff out of your essay. Kill the adverbs, adjectives and qualifiers. Remember: adverbs modify verbs and end with -ly; and adjectives modify nouns. Qualifiers include, but are not limited to, very, somewhat, still, almost, enough, more, less, and can be culled out of a sentence without losing any meaning.
Avoid complex sentence structure. You want to impress a reader with you succinctness rather than your literary prowess. Use fewer words to say more rather than using more words to say less.
Two articles from The New York Times will also be helpful when tackling this essay. Dealing with the trimming down of the essay to keep it in the 500-word range is Advice on Whittling Your Admissions Essay. Discussing the matter of the emotional and controversial aspect of the 500-word limit is College Application Essay as Haiku? For Some, 500 Words Aren’t Enough. This post includes a link to an essay that has been edited down to the acceptable word limit, proving that it can be done without losing too much of the meaning of the story.
Good luck.
Some of our more popular posts:
How to stop confusing Me and I. Me and Billy will explain it to you.
Honestly, every time I hear “I” and “me” used incorrectly, I’m afraid my head is going to explode, or at least start spinning the way Linda Blair’s did in the movie, The Exorcist.
How many spaces after a period? One or two?
The question of how many spaces one should place after a period when typing is a question as hotly debated as whether a roll of toilet paper should unroll from the front or the back.
I’d Rather Cuddle Then Have Sex. Really? It’s all about the grammar.
We have recently been seeing people confuse the words then and than. The word then seems to be used when the writer should use than. Of course, several sites have made fun of this word misuse.
How to Write a 500 Word Essay That Will Get You Into College
It’s college application season. Or at least it is in our house. The current challenge seems to be how a student applying for college can work within the 500-word limit imposed by the Common Application and create an essay that covers a significant event or achievement in the student’s life and will, hopefully, set the student apart from tens of thousands of other applicants.
Outsourcing vs. offshoring, and how U.S.-based technical writers can stay competitive
We have recently heard people confuse the distinction between “outsourcing” and “offshoring.” To clarify, outsourcing is when a company hires another business, such as Your Writing Dept, Inc., to do a specific task for them either because they do not have that talent in their existing labor pool, or they need to temporarily add skilled members to their existing team, but cannot justify hiring them as permanent staff.
What Are the Characteristics of a Good Technical Writer?
In my previous post, I started to address the question, “How Do I Become a Technical Writer?” I concluded that most writers do not set out to go into this field, but more likely happen into it by chance or by a series of stepping stones that naturally led them down this path. I stated that through nature and nurture, people are formed to become a writer. So, what characteristics make up your average writer?
Where To Go To Become a Tech Writer or To Find One To Hire?
Finding a single place to learn about Technical Writing is not the easiest task. Because of this, it is even trickier to find a good source for locating potential candidates for the job. Many writers seem to be just born with this ability, while others have learned it through intensive study. Meanwhile, others have gone a path in life that through training, natural abilities and fate have gravitated to this field.
18 Web Sites and Blogs That Will Improve Your Writing Skills
Writers grow as writers if they have good resources. The following sites (in no particular order or ranking) are good writing resources that we keep going back to frequently:
1. I’d Rather Be Writing
An excellent and timely collection of articles written by Tom Johnson relating to the current trends in technical communication.
2. EServer TC Library Resources>Writing>Technical Writing>Blogs
The EServer TC Library is a free, open-access, human-edited directory of online resources for people who produce, manage, archive, and distribute technical information. The community we serve includes technical communicators (such as technical writers), editors and publishers, researchers, illustrators, animators/multimedia developers, instructional designers/educators, web designers, instructional designers, user experience designers, and others who concern themselves with how to improve human communications.