Apologies for the lateness of this post. I was waylaid by a meal of Durian with a non-tasty red wine. Sadly, sans dark chocolate.

I’m going to change the schedule on this part of the series by introducing our writers. Writers who were so kind as to share their experiences and advice. Writers who have busy lives, yet took the time to respond to my questions.

Our writers, in alphabetic order, by first name:

Cheryl Stephens has a treasure trove of writing information at plainlanguage.com. She also has an excellent writing blog, Building Rapport (advocating plain language, clear design, sensitivity to audience concerns, and civility). It was at Building Rapport where I discovered Kenneth W. Davis’s blog, Manage Your Writing. Kenneth has written The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course in Business Writing and Communication, a course I recently ordered and intend to review on BoDo. In time, yes, in time …

Gerald M. Weinberg is the author of one of the first books on writing I read from cover to cover. Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method, breaks the research of the writing process down to manageable chunks. There’s a lot more to the book than that, but for me, that part was invaluable. You can also visit his blog of the same name - Weinberg on Writing. Gerald is an author of many books, so check them out if you have an interest. He also spends time at a second blog, The Secrets of Consulting. In preparation for this writing series, I featured Weinberg on Writing on Designers who Blog.

Judy Vorfeld’s ‘Writing Tips’ were some of the first I bookmarked ages ago when researching for writing resources. You can find her at EditingAndWritingServices.com, or her blog. I especially enjoyed her post, Danger! Exclamation Marks Ahead!!

Liz (ME Strauss) is one of BoDo’s Visiting Authors. Liz comes to my rescue, often, when I’m panicking, or need advice, or both, and more. She’s also an extremely popular blogger / writer / career coach and strategic planner. Liz can be found at Successful Blog, Letting Liz Be, Liz Strauss.com, The Blog Herald and Performancing.com. Liz has a lot to say, and I certainly have a lot of time for Liz. Last year I featured Successful Blog on Designers who Blog. Check it out. If you are a great one for community, drop in at Liz’s Tuesday Mic Night. For a sample, there’s We Talked About Art!

Louise Bolotin’s PlainText Editorial Consultancy tackles one of the hardest chores for me to get my pen around, plain writing. So when I came across Louise Bolotin’s site, I paid attention. Logically, when I needed to get professional advice for this series, I headed straight to Louise - working journalist, editor and copywriter.

If I lived anywhere near Seattle, I’d sign up for one of Lynn Gaertner-Johnston’s Business Writing Courses. As is stands, I’m limited to online courses or studying by books. If you are in the enviable position of more choice, then Lynn’s business writing courses may just be the thing for you. For timely business and business writing advice, check out her Business Writing Blog. In January of this year I featured Lynn’s Business Writing Blog on Designers who Blog. I realise I have a long way to go, but I’m blushing at my recent construction.

Matthew Stibbeis the well known author of Bad Language, a writers blog. As a well known, I’ll point you to my past and recent favs - The Devil’s marketing dictionary: Part One, Part Two, Part Three. And my top of all times, A guide to working with writers.

Nancy Friedman is the Chief Wordworker at Wordworking. I’ve enjoyed poking about Nancy’s blog, Away With Words. Filled with diversity, it’s where I came across Ben Yagoda of Slate Magazine for the first time. Check out his new book, When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It: The Parts of Speech, for Better And/Or Worse. I know I will. Away With Word was featured at Designers who Blog this past January.

Roberta Rosenberg heads MGP DIRECT, INC. It’s her blog I was originally drawn to, The Copywriting Maven (direct response marketing & SEO copywriting tips, techniques and reviews of incredibly useful resources for professional and aspiring marketing copywriters). I’m a book hound so Roberta’s Best BOOKS category was a must bookmark for me.

I’ve been a fan of Roy Jacobsen ever since I started researching for the first writing series at DWB. Roy gives consistent advice at Writing, Clear and Simple (You have a story to tell. Tell it clearly and powerfully.) I was impressed when I read in his about, “You CAN learn to write better. You don’t have to revisit high-school or college composition courses, and you don’t have to slog through hard-to-understand and harder-to-memorize rules about past-participial posessive pronouns. Writing, Clear and Simple is here to help.” Writing, Clear and Simple was featured at DWB back in 2006.

Roy Peter Clark, boy, if I could only get his writing tools inside my head! Roy is the esteemed author of the blog, Poynter Online - Writing Tools, a must read for those intending to improve their writing skills. I reviewed Roy’s Poynter Online - Writing Tools at DWB for the Writing Resolve series

Tom Chandler of The Copywriter Underground is a fun type of writer slash marketeer. Entertaining to read, The Copywriter Underground was also featured at DWB early this year.

Tom Mullen, writer & proprietor of EXIT3A.com has been around my world since early days at Creative Latitude. Whenever I receive an eyeopening marketing email, it’s bound to be from Tom!

To finish, I’d also like to thank Roger C Parker for his loan of Why Designers Should Be Writers, first published on DWB.

Note: there will be another change in the schedule. Due to the aftermath of a family crisis, the DWW series will skip a week.

until the next
Designers WW,
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