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• The worst “Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus” headlines of 2011

  6480 readersToday’s post is a bit out of the site’s wheelhouse, but if there’s any day to deviate from your schtick, it’s Christmas. John McIntyre has been tracking some of the hackneyed Christmas constructions that show up in newspaper headlines, like tis the season or allusions to Dickens. I’d been thinking that he was being perhaps

• Is speaking the language all it takes to be an expert?

  10299 readersAt Lynne Murphy’s long-ago tweeted suggestion, I listened to a debate between Grant Barrett, of A Way with Words, and Matthew Engel, of the BBC article from a few months ago that complained about American usages infecting British English. Through the first 15 minutes, both men were being quite reasonable, saying things that barely

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  Are You Getting Off Track With Your Readers?

  3270 readersI’ve been seeing something happen frequently among my fellow bloggers lately, but it’s most obvious to me when I receive offers to guest post on my blog. Someone pitches me a great idea. Brilliant, in fact. An idea that interests me and one I feel will interest my readers as well. So I say yes.

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  Creating an Outline that Works for You

  1555 readersWhile creating an outline is an important part of the article writing process, it doesn’t have to be your 6th grade English version of an outline. Outlines can be made to fit your style including as many details as you’d like, however there are some parts of an outline that you must include in order

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  Blog Posts vs. Articles: Length and Point of View

  2438 readersWe’re going to take a break from the 5 days, 5 Ways to Enhance Your Writing Skills series and answer a freelance writing question I receive pretty regularly. “What’s the difference between a blog post and an article?” In many ways they are the same and much of the information featured here can apply to

• The Art of Balance

  1652 readersPlease welcome author Lynne Griffin to WU. Lynne’s second novel, Sea Escape, about a woman’s journey to healing her family through old love letters between her parents (and based on Lynne’s real-life family history) releases today. Already the reviews have been resoundingly positive, and Sea Escape has been chosen as an Indie Next List Notable

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  Blog Posts vs. Articles: Format

  1799 readersToday we complete the blog versus article comparison. Previous posts covered length and POV,  audience expectation and today we are going to look at formatting differences. Articles have a pretty standard format. There’s the lede (lead) paragraph, some quotes, source citing, each new idea is in a new paragraph and there is a conclusion paragraph to

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  Trying to Learn to be a Better Blogger is a Waste of Time

  2244 readersPhoto courtesy of ebruli Note: This is a guest post written by Jonathan from the blog Illuminated Mind. Chances are, if you’re a beginner blogger, you read a lot of articles on how to be a better blogger. Even experienced bloggers read articles like this on a regular basis. You’ll probably see stuff like this a lot: How to

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  The Art of Seductive Writing: A Conversation with Robert Greene

  11013 readers Robert Greene is the bestselling writer of some of the most legendary nonfiction books of his generation. The 48 Laws of Power, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law (with rapper 50 Cent), and … The Art of Seduction. Though much of his work can be applied directly to good writing, business, and marketing online, it’s the

• But What about the Quiet Ones?

  3605 readersAn amazing book by Yannick Murphy was the impetus to pull this post together, and I’ll gush about it in a minute. First, the question I hope we can work on today: How does a quiet book, likely written by a quiet writer, become known in a world increasingly dominated by the loud? The background During the