Marketing Monday: Grammarly

Working for yourself as a marketer and copywriter means also being your own editor (and accountant and HR department and...). I touched on this lightly in a recent post, but I think editing woes are far from uncommon. I'm always looking for new tips and tricks to better edit myself. If I can print something out and edit with a pen, I will. If I can look at something in a different medium, I will. If I can sleep on something I've written and then return to it a day or two later with fresh eyes, I will. Even sitting in a different chair or a different room helps shift my perspective and see things I otherwise missed. Reading aloud helps me as well.

All of that said, of course, I'm not perfect. I cringe when I spot an error in a published piece. I'm always looking for ways to better my writing and recently discovered Grammarly. It's an app and desktop plugin that highlights mistakes you've made and makes suggestions for correcting them. It's a little like having your English teacher looking over your shoulder and clucking her tongue as needed. A red line pops up under a mistake, and you can then view suggestions for fixing it. Sometimes the rule doesn't work and I use my judgement to override it, other times I'm grateful for the direction. As with spellcheck, you're still responsible for your writing, but it will help you catch some errors and think more carefully about what you're saying, and how.

Grammarly will also send you a weekly progress report with tips and stats that highlights what you're doing well and where there's room for improvement. I'm currently struggling with the incorrect usage of the progressive tense, but my vocabulary is more dynamic (unique/total) than 72% of Grammarly users.

The basic version of Grammarly is free, but you can pay for an upgraded version that identifies more complex issues as well.

Sorry, Ms. Webster. I'm working on it.

Marketing Monday: Evolving Language

I was recently having a conversation with someone about one of my favorite topics: the evolution of language. I am not a prescriptive language purist, but I think rules and standards are necessary, to an extent. On the other hand, language is human. It's a living thing that evolves and changes, as it should. I'm guessing few people would make the argument that we should still be speaking as we did 200 years ago, or 1,000 years ago: yet you will definitely find people who argue that rules are rules and we can't change them.

Bullhockey! (I'm a hypocrite.)

The road from English 200 years ago to today is a windy, gradual, and never-ending one. Language is constantly changing. It isn't just new words or new inventions that need new words: it's turns of phrase and changes in spelling and other things, too.

For instance, off the top of my head, changes from my childhood in the 80s to now:

New or modified-usage words: texting, selfie, glam, mobile/cell.

Words we use differently now than we did then: amazing (again, I'm a hypocrite in re: prescriptive language).

Turns of phrase I rarely hear and don't use any more: "calling on someone" to signify paying them a visit. I remember as a kid saying "let's go call on Katie" to see if Katie was home and could come out and play. I also remember using "what are you called?" to inquire about someone's name. I can't tell you the last time I heard that, and I definitely don't use it any more.

Language is obviously important to what I do, and staying in tune with trends, modern speech patterns, and turns of phrase is a vital part of copywriting and marketing.

What are some phrases you used to hear or use that you don't any more? What are some you've picked up recently?

This post was prompted by someone sharing this article on Facebook: Where's Me a Dog? Here's You a Dog: The South's Most Unusual Regionalism. It's fascinating. Enjoy!

Marketing Monday: Edit Yourself

Writing has always come naturally to me. Editing myself hasn't.

Growing up, I used a lot of big words. And a lot of small words. I used all the words, all the time. I got good grades, but it wasn't until my senior year of High School that I started to learn how to write. How to really write: it was the first time I got papers back that were swimming in a sea of red ink. My AP English teacher, Ms. Webster, was kind of my hero, and she's the one who taught me the power of saying more with fewer words. The power of the red pen!

She taught me to cross out every single unnecessary word in a sentence. She gave me a pen and had my physically cross out words on my physically printed out paper. I was 17: I thought they were all necessary - until I started looking at them with a critical eye, red pen in hand, Ms. Webster's voice in my head. This is how I learned the power of words, the power of saying more with less. She's still the one I think of when I edit my own work. She's the one who taught me about word economy, even if I didn't then know that that's what it was called. She's also the one that first taught me to edit my work in a different medium than I wrote it in, in order to help see it differently.

Editing can be tough. I don't know that I've ever felt a piece of mine was complete. Whether it's a blog post, work email, or thank you note, I will almost always find something to change, cut, or better if I come across it again. Even if I felt in the moment that the piece was as good as it gets, something usually surfaces later that I wish I'd done differently. But you know, that's the nature of writing: it's a miniature time capsule of who you are in the moment. As we grow, age, and continue learning, so will our writing change.

All of which is to say that when I came across the Talking Shrimp's (Laura Belgray's) Guide to Non-Sucky Copy (it's free!), I thought of Ms. Webster over and over again. I've learned a lot from it, and I go back to it often to digest and absorb something new. Words are powerful, but their power diminishes as their number grows. Belgray's comments on the passive voice and her examples of how to use fewer words for maximum impact are powerful. I learn something every day in my line of work, but the work of learning to edit myself will never be done. I'm always grateful for another perspective, and if you are too don't hesitate to download this free guide.

Image from pedagoo.com.

(I'm a bit sick of these Keep Calm signs myself, but this one made me chuckle. What is it about editing that feels so threatening?! Friends! Do not fear the red pen!)