If you want the media to help spread the news about your big event, discovery, or product, you have to start with a good press release.
Photo by George Kelly (Flickr)

During the course of your writing career, you might find yourself needing to share news about a company, product, or event. One great place to get some potential free publicity is from the news media — write a good press release, send it out, and you might find that they’ll publish or broadcast your announcement or even cover it themselves as a full-on news story.

The first thing you’ll want to consider when you’re thinking about writing a press release is your audience. Is this something that would fit in nicely in your local newspaper or on a local radio or TV station broadcast? Or would your news be more welcome to a niche audience covered by a magazine or trade publication? Who’s going to want to know about what you have to say? Keep this in mind when deciding whether to write a press release and where to send it.  Read more ›

No, not THESE clauses…
Photo by Rick Phillips

Sometimes, the world of grammar can be as clear as mud. To some extent, once you get past a certain age, your use of the English language becomes largely instinctive, and then, all of a sudden, some teacher is trying to slap labels on parts of sentences and make you remember them all.

To make it worse, sometimes, people use different terms to refer to the same thing. Subordinate clause? Restrictive clause? Independent clause? Santa Claus? It can all be a jumble. Luckily, I’m here to help.

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In a pickle about comma usage? See what I did there?
Photo by: Michael Hiemstra

Ah, the comma. There is, perhaps, no other piece of punctuation so widely misused. We get it — the comma is a seductive mistress. As an editor, I inevitably see writers get swept away by the charming comma far too often. A common side effect of the comma craze is to sprinkle them around like they’re confetti. Perhaps you, too, are bothered by unnecessary commas. Maybe you’re a concerned writer who fears you commit random acts of comma. Worry not, dear reader, for I have the solution. I present to you…

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