Business Writing

What Multitasking Costs Us as Writers

Yesterday I was teaching a writing class in Sunnyvale, California. In the morning, an executive car picked me up at my hotel to take me to the client company. At the start of the trip, the driver and I talked for a couple of minutes, and he offered to pick... Read more →

"Thanks" as a Close Has Gone Too Far!

Last week I was teaching Better Business Writing when a project manager showed me an email he had written to his boss. The message ended with this complimentary close: Thank you for the opportunity to attend, That is not a complimentary close. It's a sentence. Closes are getting out of... Read more →

Don't Send Your Thank-You Too Soon!

Yesterday I visited a professional-service company I’ll call Glow and bought one of Glow’s services. I filled out the new-customer form, gave it to the receptionist, and sat in the waiting room to be called by the Glow consultant assigned to me. As I waited, I checked my email on... Read more →