language

About seven years ago, I wrote some web site copy for a really cool little gourmet wholesale coffee roaster. The guys who owned it had a great story. But I can’t quite remember it. Because mostly what I remember is that I wasn’t allowed to use…

A few weeks ago, my daughter, Georgia, started crying from the basement playroom. My husband went down there, and found her pointing up at the windowsill, where a copper folk-art style cat was sitting. It had been sitting there since the day she was born…

I have two things to tell you about editing, and the first one I learned from my rose bushes. They are rambling fairy roses and although I love my garden something crazy, I don’t love these roses (we inherited them with the house—of which this is not…

I doubt poet William Carlos Williams was thinking about what was the right amount of copy when he wrote: “So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow, glazed with rain water beside the white chickens.” One sentence and done. The Google home page of…

In no particular order. (Except number one: it is, in fact, number one). 1. Every business, brand, freelancer, consultant, job candidate, or presenter needs to bring a voice to their message. 2. The best brand voices evolve: they’re not just…