Julie Bestry
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Wow, thanks for posting this, Susan. It gave me a lot to think about.
For example, I struggle with the length of my posts. Quipp thinks blog posts should be no more than 800 words, and mine are generally 1200-1500. However, one of my favorite bloggers is blogging expert Darren Rowse of ProBlogger (check out his post today on 24 Things To Do When Stuck For A Topic To Blog About), and his posts tend to be awfully long...longer than mine! :-)
I don't entirely agree with the author's contention that people don't want to read (whine, whine), but they don't want to read substandard writing that doesn't grab them and shake them about. Formatting is important--it's much harder to read a vertical, distraction-filled web page than a clean page of printed text--so shorter paragraphs, lists and bolding help the mechanics of reading. People DO want to read, just like they want to eat healthy meals; they just don't want to exert themselves to do so!
One of the comments on that blog post took Quipp to task for misusing "loose" for "lose", and it does bring to mind a 13th rule--Know how to spell! Every day, I am brought to frustration, sometimes full-blown anger, at the illiteracy illustrated by blog posts (and Ryze posts, though thankfully not in TBC). Sometimes I think I'm going to pull a Jerry Maguire and write a whole treatise on being a mensch in modern society and knowing the meanings of to/too/two, your/you're and there/they're/their! Typos are one thing; we're not robots. But for those for whom English is a first language, not knowing how to spell first- and second-grade vocabulary is unpardonable. Spell-check. Grammar-check. Proofread. Harrumph.
(Of course, I'm generally preaching to the choir here. Though, as long as I'm on a rant...folks, the word is DEFINITELY, not "definAtely". The key is that the word focuses on that which is "finite". You wouldn't say there's a "finate" number, so don't say "definitAtely".)
Obviously, Susan, you'll be sorry you asked if we had any mistakes to add. :-)
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Julie Bestry, Certified Professional Organizer®
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"Don't apologize. Organize!"
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