Whether you and your team are working remotely a couple of days per week or you’re remote all day, every day, you’ve probably found that being remote has made you better at some tasks than you were when you worked in an office. Maybe you’re better at actively...
Coaching
What to Write When You Must Tell a Customer “No”
While it’s never easy or much fun to tell a customer “no,” you can write it the wrong way—causing write-backs, harming satisfaction, destroying rapport—or the better way. The better way doesn’t mean saying “yes” or making exceptions for super-persistent customers. The...
How to Write Email Templates That Build Rapport
If you can serve a bakery-bought birthday cake at the party you’re hosting for your mother, you can use email templates for customer service without destroying your relationship with your customers. Yes, the words “template,” “script,” and “form letter,” have...
This 1973-Vintage Feminist Isn’t Giving Up
This is me in 1973 when the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision. I was 13 years old. I'd been menstruating for less than a year. To me, Roe was just another reason to believe grownups were making the US a better place to grow up female. Title IX had...
Writing Digital Content People Will Want to Consume: Syracuse University
1. American Association of University Women: Broken Ladders: Barriers to Women’s Representation in Nonprofit Leadership 2. Metropolitan Museum of Art: Met Stories landing page. Choose a story and watch a couple of minutes 3. American Bankers Association:...
Trying, Failing, and Trying Again to Balance Parenthood and Your Career
If everything had gone as I’ve always planned, I’d be writing this article on a quiet workday in my pleasant home office. I’d have gone on a long walk in the woods before starting work sharply at 7 am (I'm definitely a morning person). I’d have made progress on a big...
Email Writing Resources
My articles on email writing: Set the Tone in Email: How You Sat It Is As Important As What You Say Five Email Bad Habits That Make People Dislike You How to Write an “I’m leaving my job” Email That Won’t Burn Bridges Video Interview: How to Improve Email Response...
Join our Plain Language Weekly Club on Clubhouse
On Fridays at 12 pm Eastern, Deborah Bosley, owner of The Plain Language Group, and I are hosting the Plain Language Weekly Club on Clubhouse. Please join us! Our casual, candid conversations include people from all corners of the plain language world: consultants,...
Set the Tone in Email: How You Say It Is as Important as What You Say
Setting the right tone in email writing is more than just choosing the right wine to go with the meal. Tone in email – how you say what you say – is so important that an inappropriate tone can cause a reader to ignore, delete, or overreact to your message. A versatile...
“I’m tired of stupid comments”: How NOT To Respond to Social Media Followers Who Wear You Out
If you’ve ever had to endure customers’ negative comments about your company or products on social media, you may be giving Larry Hogan, Governor of Maryland, a round of applause for his response to Heather, a follower of his official Facebook page. She wrote, “We’re...
