My Japanese friend Saiko is, for obvious reasons, an expert at cooking rice. Saiko has probably prepared enough rice in her lifetime to fill a warehouse. We were talking about this recently, and she told me that after decades of using an electric rice cooker, she’s going back to a method that involves literally fire, …
Category Archives: Strategy
Put Those Towels Back, or Writing and the Assumptive Open
Terry: [was talking privately over dinner with Tess until Terry finally shows up] I know everything that’s happening in my hotels. Danny: [sarcastically] So I should put the towels back? Terry: [while rubbing Tess’s hands] No, the towels you can keep. -From the film Ocean’s Eleven One of the great things about writing, as with …
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Happy Thanksgiving to All the Ships at Sea
Every year, at about this time, it happens. I step out of the house, or out of a store, or glance up from my phone. I look around. And for some reason, it’s unusually quiet. It seems a little odd, almost. The normal bustle and hassle of day-to-day life seems to have receded. In its …
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Cut, Cut, Cut
In what is perhaps the most revered American guide to writing, Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, the best piece of advice is distilled down to a three-word headline: “Omit Needless Words.” In a burst of logorrhea, the book explains: “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no …
A Thought About a Dying Friend
One thing about getting older is, unfortunately, that large-scale bad things start happening to you and/or people you care about. This isn’t a surprise or a tragedy, it’s life. This week has been personally awful, and then, this morning, on CareBridge, I read a post from a friend whose husband has been locked in a …
Sometimes The Idea Thinks of You
Although I write for a lot of large law firms, some of my favorite clients are the smaller ones. Rosen Hagood, of Charleston, South Carolina, has only fourteen attorneys. Yet, it’s an amazing collection of people. They’re deeply embedded in the social, business and political life of Charleston. They’re great lawyers, and surpassingly decent people. …
Thank You, David Ogilvy
There are many people I wish I hadn’t worked with. There are also some I wish I had. David Ogilvy is in the latter category. In case you haven’t heard of him, Ogilvy was the founder of the ad agency Ogilvy & Mather, which eventually morphed into simply “Ogilvy.” His agency, which started with a …
An Ease About Being Grand
One of the slipperiest, most interesting topics in copywriting is what can be generally described as “tone.” “Tone” means, basically, how what you say sounds. Or maybe how it rings in the reader’s ear. I realize this is hopelessly vague, by the way. Sorry. Tone is really the impression you create. When the reader finishes …
Sometimes, the Client Makes It Worse
I just got back revisions to a practice group description I wrote for a new client. It’s worse. It’s a lot worse. Two attorneys got to it, and now it’s full of junk. I write for a living. I have absolutely zero problem with other people revising my stuff. I truly don’t care, as long …
You Shouldn’t Write When You’re Tired
To do it well, you need to be rested, calm, focused and have a very clear idea of what you’re trying to do, and when you need to get it done.