Manage Your Writing

This week: Follow SEC guidelines

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has led the U.S. government in pushing for plain language. SEC guidelines advise:

Surround complex ideas with short, common words. For example, use end instead of terminate, explain rather than elucidate, and use instead of utilize. When a shorter, simpler synonym exists, use it.

For example, the SEC recommends revising

No consideration or surrender of Beco Stock will be required of shareholders of Beco in return for the shares of Unis Common Stock issued pursuant to the Distribution.

into

You will not have to turn in your shares of Beco stock or pay any money to receive your shares of Unis Common Stock from the spin-off.

This week, as you revise, look for ways to replace long, uncommon words with short, common ones.

This week: Take the flab out of your end

The ending of your letters and e-mail messages may be the last thing your reader reads, so you'll want it to leave a good impression. Avoid flowery, "rubber stamp" endings like "Thank you in advance" and "Begging to remain yours truly." Such endings only sound stilted and insincere.

The best endings are focused and personal. If you know your reader well enough to close with a personal reference, by all means do so:

Thanks for your help with the Oswald project, Carmen; I'm glad we're working together again on this one.

Otherwise, a simple "Thanks" or "Thank you" is usually better than a longer, more formal close.

This week, as you revise, give special attention to how your messages end. Make sure they end effectively.

This week: Lose the powdered wig

An amazing fact about modern business is that some of the same people who like to think of themselves as on the cutting edge of technology still write the way people talked 200 years ago. They choose words that people haven't said to each other since they stopped wearing powdered wigs. When was the last time you heard a coworker say, "Pursuant to your recent inquiry"?

Malcolm Forbes called it as he saw it:

Business jargon too often is cold, stiff, unnatural. Suppose I came up to you and said, "I acknowledge receipt of your letter, and I beg to thank you." You'd think, "Huh?"

This week, as you revise, ask yourself, "Is this something people would actually say to each other?" If not, lose the powdered wig and bring your writing up to date.

This week: Take time to plan

I spent this past weekend in the Chicago area, at a meeting of the board of directors of the Association of Professional Communication Consultants. Among those present was my long-time friend Lee Clark Johns, Tulsa-based communication consultant and author of The Writing Coach (you can find it toward the bottom of the right column of this blog).

So I'm reminded of one of my favorite observations from Lee: "People often say, 'I don't have time to plan.'" "But," says Lee, "if you want to become a reader-friendly writer, you don't have time not to plan."

This week, as you write, take time to plan. A few minutes spent planning each piece of writing will pay off big-time.