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| Bette Frick
The Text Doctor®
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| Quote of the Month | I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.
Oscar Wilde
1854-1900
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The Text Doctor's Diagnosis
May 2010
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Greetings!
I hope spring has reached you...we had snow in the Rockies last week!
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Don't be spacey!
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| Using white space in a document or webpage is good, because solid text, margin to margin, may overwhelm the serious reader and turn off the casual reader.
However, in my editing practice, I see an epidemic of white space in all the wrong places. Here's where writers insert "needless space":
- Hyphen: There is no need to insert space on either side of the hyphen; do not write "mother - in - law."
- Slash: Do not insert space before or after the slash: "on/off switch" is right, but "on / off " switch is wrong.
- Dash: Do not insert space before or after the dash (and I'd give you an example, but this newsletter platform turns dashes into hyphens).
- End punctuation: Always controversial, but the new best practice is to use ONE SPACE after all end punctuation like the period, colon, question mark, or exclamation point.
Unnecessary spaces in text draw your readers' eyes to the space itself but provide no payoff or benefit for lingering on the space. In addition, extra spaces may extend a long document by a page or more. Finally, the writer has to expend extra energy to hit the space bar to create all those spaces.
Just say "No" to these extra spaces.
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Tour de style guides: Microsoft Manual of Style, 3rd edition
| | If you are a technical writer who writes about computer technology, this style guide would help you learn up-to-d ate standards and best practices for documenting a user experience, for example, or creating online help and web content.
It will also help you learn standards for creating accessible communications and for optimizing your indexes, cross-references, and keyword lists.
However, with a publication date of 2004, it seems really outdated; I'm surprised that Microsoft hasn't updated it for technical writers who document computer functions.
Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, 3rd edition, 2004.
Microsoft Press
ISBN: 978-0-7356-1746-9
List price: $29.99
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Your solutions for writer's block
| | Several of you responded to April's survey with excellent tactics for dealing with writer's block:
- I search Amazon.com for books to add to my Wish List. It helps take my mind completely off of what's blocking me and refreshes me to think more about what I'm needing to know. I also do Google searches for the thing that's bugging me to read what others have done. It helps stir the flow.
- I write down my thoughts at the time even if they aren't complete sentences, then walk away and come back later.
- I move on to another section of the project. If I can get flowing on that part, it's easier to come back to the place where I was "stuck."
- I set aside a specific time to clear my mind of minute details that may be nagging (call for a doctor's appointment, tidy my desk). In my experience, accomplishing these (hopefully) simple tasks provides energy and forward motion. Then I plunge into the writing task with a promise NOT to revert to the minutia for a set time (30 minutes, 1.5 hours, whatever).
Thank you to all who submitted your excellent suggestions!
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For fun: The Oatmeal.com
| | The Oatmeal semicolon  | A friend (he calls himself Johnny Sunshine, which is funny enough) sent a link to a hipster cartoonist who occasionally illuminates punctuation, grammar, and spelling with funny cartoons. This blogger is clever, whimsical, and correct most of the time. For some fun and learning at the same time, look at these offerings: SemicolonMisspellingApostrophe(Some of the cartoons may be a bit outside good taste, but certainly no more than current TV standards...) |
These are a few of my favorite things: More than a bandage for your ailing text
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Here's my latest marketing promotion. Send me your physical address, and I'll send you this handy bag, loaded with first-aid tools that are "more than a bandage" (including handy scissors and tweezers...great for the car or backpack). I'm sending these out to current and prospective editing and training clients, and I'd love to share one with you, my loyal reader. |
Thanks for reading! I'm looking for a few good supporters to pledge me for the MS 150 in June. I'll be riding my tenth ride, all 10 years with the same team! We'll ride 150 miles from Duluth to the Twin Cities to raise money to fight multiple sclerosis.
If you have a loved one with MS and want to support my ride, or if you just believe in the cause, you may also contact me at efrick@textdoctor.com; I'll gladly accept more pledges. You can also pledge online.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth (Bette) Frick
The Text Doctor®
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