Welcome to the latest issue of Write for You
News & Notes
with some words of wisdom on
writing, business, and life. If you'd like to
share any books or favorite links with our
readers,
send us an
e-mail. And be sure to check
our web site for ways that we can help you
with your
business.
Interested in
trying Constant Contact for
your business? Click
here to learn more. If you open a
Constant Contact account, using this referral
link, we both receive credits to our
accounts.
Nancy Passow
Happy Birthday, Mr. Webster! |
|
Anu Garg, founder of A.Word.A.Day,
told
us in his e-mail last
week: "Oct 16 marks the 250th birth
anniversary of Noah Webster
(1758-1843), lexicographer extraordinaire,
who compiled the American
Dictionary of the English Language (1828),
the first authoritative
lexicon of American English. . . . Webster
believed in establishing
cultural independence from Britain and as
such he emphasized a distinct
American spelling and pronunciation." Word
lovers celebrate October 16
as Dictionary Day in Noah Webster's honor.
I keep the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate
Dictionary on my bookshelf for
looking up those words that I'm not sure how
to spell. For those who
prefer to do it on-line, there is Merriam-
Webster
On-line
which includes a dictionary, thesaurus, word
for the day, and various
word games (good for increasing your
vocabulary and helping your
spelling.) Another on-line dictionary is Dictionary.com.
This site
also has multiple dictionaries and word
games. And then there is Anu
Garg's site, the
Word.A.Day homepage where you can sign-up
for the Word.A.Day
e-mail.
What if you're having trouble
finding
the word in the
dictionary because you don't know how to
spell it? My college students
taught me to enter the word in Google Search
-- you will get a page
saying "Did you mean . . ." with a list of
possible words. Hopefully
the one you're looking for is on it.
|
Time for Web 2.0 |
|
I use the web -- I have a web site and I send
out an e-
letter. I even belong to Linked-In (send me an e-mail if
you'd like to connect!) But Web 2.0 has raised the bar --
there's so much more that can be done. In the next
issue of this newsletter, we'll look in more detail at
some of the new communication tools out
there.
In the meantime, here's what I'm
looking at: Blog -- yes, coming soon; Updated web
site -- yes, coming soon; Facebook -- probably yes,
but only for my business; Tweeting on Twitter --
probably no for now. Don't worry if not all of that made
sense -- I'll explain what I'm doing as I do it and we'll
learn together.
|
From Generation to Generation |
|
L'Dor V'Dor, meaning "from Generation to
Generation", is a part of
Hebrew prayers. These past few months, I've
had some true "L'Dor V'Dor"
moments.
My daughter Kate attended a
conference for Hebrew School
teachers in Burlington, VT, in August. Her
travel route took her
through Westport, NY to Essex, NY to take the
ferry across Lake
Champlain. We've been vacationing in that
area for many years and going
to Essex to buy ice cream and either take the
ferry or watch
the ferries on the lake was
something we always did. On her way home,
Kate called to tell me she
had done something she'd never done in thirty
years -- bought her own
ice cream cone at the Essex Ice Cream Shop.
So, there she was, taking
on what had always been a family thing, and
making it her own.
In September, Kate, who is a paramedic in
Virginia, attended a full-day
workshop on leadership for women in the
emergency services (police,
fire, EMS) presented by Lead Star cofounders
Angie Morgan and Courtney
Lynch (see the Book Review for a review of
their new book Leading from the
Front: No Excuse
Leadership Tactics for Women.) Kate
called me at lunch time to
tell me how much she was enjoying the
workshop. One of the activities
was to break into groups and discuss their
issues. "It was really
great" Kate said, "we all thought we were the
only ones dealing with
those problems, but it turned out everyone
else had them too." To which I responded,
"Welcome to the sisterhood!" (as I passed the baton.)
|
|
Book of the Month . . . Leading from the Front: No Excuse Leadership Tactics for Women |
|
In addition to writing Leading
from the Front, Angie Morgan and
Courtney Lynch are the cofounders of Lead Star,
a consulting firm focused on leadership
development for women, and former captains in
the US Marine Corp.
Based on their experience in
the Marines and in the business world, they
present ten key practices
designed to improve women's leadership
skills. These practices, covered
in individual chapters, are: Meet and Exceed
the Standards You Ask of
Others -- Lead from the Front; Make Timely
Decisions -- Find the 80 Percent
Solution; Seek to Take Responsibility Before
You Begin to Place Blame;
True Leaders Dedicate Themselves to
Service -- Take Care of Those You
Lead; Think Before You Act -- Especially Before
You Overreact; When Faced
With a Crisis -- Aviate, Navigate, Communicate;
Courage + Initiative +
Perseverance + Integrity = Success; Don't Cry
Over Something That Won't
Cry Over You; Say You're Sorry Only When
You're At Fault; and Always
Lead as You Are. Although many of these ideas
are common sense or
things we've heard before, it's always good
to hear them again,
particularly in the way that Angie and
Courtney present them. And
Courtney and Angie use personal stories (both
from the Marines and the
business world) to illustrate their points. I
really like the book and
have already started to implement some of the
ideas. My only regret is that this book wasn't around
20 years ago when I was trying to find my way in the
corporate world. One of my favorite
quotes (from Courtney) is "I learned in the
Marine Corps that while I
can do anything, I can't do everything."
Quote of the Month: "If you are
never scared, embarrassed, or hurt, it means
you never take chances." (fortune cookie)
|
|