Every copywriter needs Herding Words:
A Brand Copywriter's Guide by David R. Woodruff.
​Aimed at those responsible for crafting brand narrative,
it elevates writers’ expertise as brand storytellers,
inspiring them to go beyond features and benefits, get
to the core truth about a brand's promise, then transform
those insights into powerful brand narrative for print,
​digital, and web marketing communications.

A smart, informative, and engaging book, Herding Words contains practical, prescriptive advice from an insider. Woodruff's personal, welcoming tone befriends the fellow copywriter and helps them boost their writing from good to great by way of diving much deeper into the discovery process about a brand.

This is a must-own for every copywriter!

4 Common Errors (Almost) Every Writer Makes

In this blog for The Hired Pens, I point out some common mistakes I see writers make as well as some gray areas that dilute strong writing.

Check it out here.

​And drop me a note with your biggest pet peeves when it comes to writing.

I'm capturing grammar goofs I see in daily life. In an effort to "make America grammatically correct again," I'm posting goofs and corrections. Please feel
​free to share the horrors you see!

How Many Dollars Dollars does this cost?

Breakfast fail

Everyone should get their daily fuit 

Grammar goofs

RECOMMENDATIONS

cute advertising goes horribly wrong

I read the amazing, funny, and spot-on 
account of working for a tech start-up as an "older" 
​employee, ​Disrupted: My Misadventure in the 
Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons. I finished it in one 
sitting, laughing and cringing at the same time. 
In multiple instances, I thought I had to contact 
the talented author and ask how he had the nerve 
​to steal my story of working as an "older" 
employee at a tech start-up. I did myself a solid 
​and Googled him and his story to verify that he, and the company he worked for, did exist. Living outside of Boston and working in publishing, I had a vague recollection of hearing about his story and HubSpot in the wayback recesses of my mind. I have since recommended this book to two former colleagues with whom I worked in my own tech start-up hell position. My recommendation consisted of this short summary: "We weren't crazy. This is happening elsewhere to others, too. If only we could take that validation to the bank and cash the check to pay our therapists." 

As someone who knows ABOUT the Beach Boys and
a little about Brian Wilson, I am not a lifelong fan
so if there wasn't much information that folks didn't
know already in I Am Brian Wilson then I wasn't
privy to it. I was interested to read Brian's take on
his life: with the band, with his family, and with
himself. 

I thought the choice to tell the story in a nonchronological way was an interesting one and kept readers engaged although it was at times confusing to follow. It did, however, accurately reflect Brian's own confusion and memory issues due to drug use, mental illness, etc. 

I wanted more insight into his first marriage and his relationship with his famous daughters, Carnie and Wendy. I wanted to know more about Dr. Landy; he wasn't fully fleshed out and just seemed like a shadow character although he had so much control over Brian for years.

I appreciated how thoughtful he was about depicting his father's good and bad sides. I loved how he so thoughtfully deconstructed other people's music and how he recounted how he made his own. I think he could be considered one of America's true musical geniuses. 

I would recommend this book for any fan of music, particularly as it relates to the American songbook.

the boston globe cuts back on proofreaders and "DIGS Its" Own grammar grave

Founded in 2013

I'm sure my "sid salad" is a Caesar! Try "side" for grammatical correctness.