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Help With Your Holiday Writing

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Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Updated on

Update on December 27, 2011: For current new year's greetings, read this post.

With the holiday season upon us and the end of 2007 approaching, I want to share some resources and templates for your holiday business writing. Here are past blog entries that people have found helpful:

Sending Holiday Greetings includes seven examples of short holiday messages. It also refers you to the University of Kansas Medical Center's excellent list of religious and ethnic holidays. And visit Omniglot for the correct rendering of "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year" in many languages.

Tips for Writing a Holiday Letter offers guidelines for longer holiday messages that review the previous year. People typically send these to friends and family rather than business associates, but this blog post may give you ideas on communicating about your successes and obstacles.

Holiday Greetings–By Email? offers my detailed thoughts on email greetings vs. cards sent through the mail. I still vote for tangible cards–I like to decorate my office with them. But I enjoy the tasteful and sometimes hilarious email greetings I receive.

I wrote Saying Thank You to Customers last Thanksgiving to share ideas on Thanksgiving messages. However, the content works well anytime you want to thank customers and others. When you read the post, just replace Thanksgiving with the holiday of your choice.

When you are ready to write "Happy New Year!" read Happy New Year Sentiments and Sentences. In it I share sample New Year messages for customers, clients, patrons, and employees. On to New Year's Wishes tells how to write "Happy New Year" and related phrases with correct capitalization and punctuation.

Post-Holiday Writing Etiquette covers how to acknowledge holiday cards and gifts you receive in your business.

When you aren't thinking about the end-of-year holidays, you may be writing your end-of-year review. Here are suggestions to make that task easier.

Do you have thoughts or resources on holiday writing? Please share them. And if I have not covered your question about holiday communication, please send it to me or ask it here. But please check out the posts above first.

Happy holidays!

Lynn

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By Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

Lynn Gaertner-Johnston has helped thousands of employees and managers improve their business writing skills and confidence through her company, Syntax Training. In her corporate training career of more than 20 years, she has worked with executives, engineers, scientists, sales staff, and many other professionals, helping them get their messages across with clarity and tact.

A gifted teacher, Lynn has led writing classes at more than 100 companies and organizations such as MasterCard, Microsoft, Boeing, Nintendo, REI, AARP, Ledcor, and Kaiser Permanente. Near her home in Seattle, Washington, she has taught managerial communications in the MBA programs of the University of Washington and UW Bothell. She has created a communications course, Business Writing That Builds Relationships, and provides the curriculum at no cost to college instructors.

A recognized expert in business writing etiquette, Lynn has been quoted in "The Wall Street Journal," "The Atlantic," "Vanity Fair," and other media.

Lynn sharpened her business writing skills at the University of Notre Dame, where she earned a master's degree in communication, and at Bradley University, with a bachelor's degree in English.

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