Try translating your meaning instead of transcribing it

Many client conversations start with a complaint about some aspect of the writing process. I hear statements like these:

“I just can’t seem to find the right words.”

“My grammar is terrible.”

“I want to know how to express myself more concisely.”

On the surface, such statements can seem to point to mechanical issues:

• Fumbling for the right words could indicate a usage issue (problem with accurately using vocabulary).
• Feeling ashame…

The transition from academic writing to business writing can feel a bit like leaving the highway to go off-roading.

In the academy, the communication path is paved with clear expectations. The goal is usually to inform, explain, or teach. That means, the focus is on the subject matter, and the approach is to explore the subject systematically and thoroughly.

In the business world, however, the road to successfully communicating your ideas tends to be rockier. When you're writing for an industr…

Generative AI and I are just getting to know each other. Right now, I'd describe our relationship as hesitant dating. I'm still a bit too wary to invest a lot of time or cash in getting to know AI at a deep level. But I have become curious enough to have the equivalent of a few coffee chats.

For years, I've put off even shaking hands with this new technology, thinking (arrogantly) that I, a "professional writer," didn't need any new-fangled help. Back in the early 2000s, when I was a full-time …

Flash forward four or five hundred years, and today’s scientific community is still looking for a version of the Philosopher’s Stone. The hunt now is for an element to f…