Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Inspiration for something to writer or a “starter” is everywhere. Here is a simple method of finding it. Looking for something to write? Looking for a starter for the next piece to write? Go to any book shelf. Grab any book. Open to any page. Point to any line. Copy that line. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Writing is tough on any day. Things now are tough for some of us in some ways on some days. Writing is still tough and still possible. Let’s stop kidding ourselves. I have read a dozen blog posts about “writing in tough times.” These are tough times, right? Well, in some ways […]

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by Dwayne Phillips A few thoughts on an item that has been forgotten in the workplace and society in general, the Memorandum for the Record.   Question: Can you believe what just happened? We should tell somebody. Somebody needs to know this. What do we do?  Answer: Write a Memorandum for the Record or MFR.  Follow-up […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we want to clarify what we have written. Adding to the end (a few words onto a sentence, a few sentences onto a paragraph, a few paragraphs onto a chapter, etc.) works, but is merely an ugly band-aid. Rewrite instead. I did tripped again this morning. I wrote a sentence that […]

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by Dwayne Phillips According to some arbitrary scheme, we are in the year two thousand and twenty. Let’s let it be. My eight year old granddaughter told me that it was the year 20 20, “the year of perfect vision.” I can live with that as she is eight years old and was born with […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Yet another reason that writing in a weblog or a paper log is helpful. I find many benefits to writing in a log whether that be in a paper book or in an Internet thing like this one. One benefit is that whatever thought I write is now out of my head. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Jeff Bezos and Amazon have received much praise for their use of written essays at meetings instead of PowerPoint and bullet points. Great, but not new. This is a good piece about Amazon’s use of written memos at meetings. Keep the thinking focused. Don’t waste time. Think. Communicate. Excellent. Great. I love […]

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by Dwayne Phillips One of the reasons I write (there are many) is that persons simply grow weary of the sound of my voice. I like to tell stories—some true, some not so. There are a few people in my life, see, e.g., my wife of 35+ years, who have already heard most of them. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips How can we communicate better? First, let’s try to communicate better. How can I communicate better? How can I say this better? Look for a better word Look for a better word or two Look for a better phrase Look for a better arrangement of thoughts Look for a better sentence Look […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Want to write a book? Want to write another book? Okay, do it.   I am writing a book every day. Most people call it a journal. No, I won’t “publish” it. No, no one else will buy it. No, no one else will even read it. That doesn’t matter. I wrote […]

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