by Sharon Ernst | Feb 5, 2024 | Business Writing Skills
Someone suggested I should go beyond helping people be better writers at work to teach them how to use ChatGPT. But I don’t want to talk about ChatGPT let alone teach how to use it. Why? In large part, because this is so reminiscent of the early days of content marketing and the effect that had on writing. Quality plummeted in many cases, as did pay. What clients wanted and what they were willing to pay for it both took nose dives. Suddenly quality didn’t matter, only quantity. Me when someone says I should teach ChatGPT skills, via...
by Sharon Ernst | Feb 5, 2024 | Business Writing Skills
Updated February 2024. Professional business writing tips should include “be wary of trends” because every few years it seems we have some kind of odd language trend that dumbs down our communications. In the recent past, we’ve experienced the persistent “you know” inserted into almost every sentence and now we have the annoying “no worries” that’s currently used in place of “you’re welcome.” Sometimes these phrasings are used in verbal speech only, and are not crossing over into business writing, so that’s a relief. I can’t see any...
by Sharon Ernst | Jan 24, 2024 | Business Writing Skills
Originally published November 2017, Updated January 2024 When I tell people I’ve started BetterFasterWriter.com, they all nod knowingly, because they either work with poor writers or they sense their own writing could use improvement. How about you? Are you nodding along, knowing that poor writing is pandemic in today’s business world? Do you see the same lack of effective business writing skills that I see? Putting up with poor writing is annoying, but there’s a longer term negative impact that results: loss of credibility, for the...
by Sharon Ernst | Jan 22, 2024 | Business Writing Skills
Originally Published October 2017, Updated January 2024 Today’s topic is kind of technical: misrelated constructions. Ugly name, I know. It sounds like some kind of grammar geek speak. But if you want to improve your business writing skills, this is one mistake you don’t want to make. (Although it can be funny when it happens, as you’ll see…) What’s a misrelated construction? A misrelated construction happens when a word or phrase that’s supposed to be connected to a certain word or phrase isn’t and ends up connected to another word...
by Sharon Ernst | Jan 9, 2024 | Business Writing Skills
Originally published September 2017. Updated January 8, 2024. To write better and faster, you must minimize distractions and interruptions, and avoid them as much as you can. Obviously, you’re going to react if the smoke alarm starts squealing loudly. If that happens, get out! But I’m not talking about interruptions that matter. I’m talking about interruptions that don’t. And you can take steps to keep those at bay. Interruptions slow us down and make us stupid Did you know it takes 25 minutes to get back on task after an...
by Sharon Ernst | Jan 2, 2024 | Business Writing Skills
What if I could give you just one tip for the new year that would improve not only your writing at work but your entire life? I can. That tip? Ditch digital. By that, I mean ditch the smart phone as that’s how much of our digital interaction happens. OK, I realize few of us can totally ditch the smart phone. But we can spend a lot less time on it and improve both our writing at work and our quality of life. The writing part might be obvious, and I have outlined the ways your smart phone dumbs down your writing at work here. And...
