This morning, The Content Wrangler Scott Abel chatted with me in a recorded webinar. See it here: “Language Matters: How to Write Powerful Sentences & Paragraphs.”
“Language Matters” Recorded Webinar
Author Archives: Marcia Riefer Johnston
Word Up! Gets APE’d by Guy Kawasaki (That’s a Good Thing)
The write-up below appeared earlier today as a guest post for The Content Wrangler blog. Many thanks to The Content Wrangler himself, Scott Abel, for introducing me to Guy Kawasaki’s inspiring work and for encouraging me to tell this story. —Marcia
Recently, I had an experience that any writer would give an arm for. I had my book APE’d by Guy Kawasaki.
New Trailer for Word Up!
Thanks to the skills and dedication of videographer Asia Brown and to the generosity of all who participated, Word Up! now has a trailer.
Once Upon a Time at Powell’s Books: A Fairy Tale in Pictures
Once upon a time, Powell’s Books had no copies of Word Up! on its shelves. One day (yesterday to be exact), they bought three copies. Today…
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Video Interview: Marcia and Darin Hammond
Today, writer, teacher, and blogger Darin Hammond, owner of the website Zipminis.com, interviewed Marcia about the power and pleasure of words.
A Book Birthday
Today—my “book birthday” (as publicist extraordinaire Jessica Glenn calls it)—is almost over. April 27, National Tell a Story Day, is the official release day for Word Up! How has it gone?
Word Up! Lifts Off with a Caption Contest
“That” Doesn’t Go Without Saying
I’ve been thinking about that. T-h-a-t. A handier word you’ll never find. Yet English speakers often omit it. That is left out. Suppressed, grammarians say. Implied.
Suppressing that doesn’t necessarily get you in trouble. Sometimes you can safely omit that when it follows a noun. Take shoes. Few misunderstand when you say the shoes you’re wearing instead of the shoes that you’re wearing.
Still, even following nouns, consider keeping your thats out in the open, especially if you write for those wonder workers we call translators or for people who struggle with English. Our language poses enough challenges when all the words are visible.
When it comes to verbs, though, don’t let that go without saying.
Marcia Talks Up Writing on AM Northwest
When did you last hear people talking on TV about the importance of writing skills? If it’s been too long, today is your lucky day. AM Northwest hosts Helen Raptis and Dave Anderson interviewed Marcia Riefer Johnston about Word Up! this morning.
