Thursday, April 17, 2008

Writing Resources: More Top 10 Writing Tools

Reduce Management Speak with Bull Fighter

Originally produced by Deloitte Consulting but now distributed as freeware, Bullfighter works with Microsoft Word, Outlook and PowerPoint to help you find and eliminate jargon in your documents.

Bullfighter includes a jargon database and an exclusive Bull Composite Index calculator that will allow you to see - in an actual window, on your PC display, live - just how bad a document can be.

Bullfighter

7. Write Faster with Texter

This doesn't really do much to improve the quality of your writing, but it sure makes it go much faster. This tool takes keywords you type in and expands it to full text. Among other things, it works extremely well with addresses, and email signatures.

Unlike software-specific text replacement features, Texter runs in the Windows system tray and works in any application you're typing in. Texter can also set return-to markers for your cursor and insert clipboard contents into your replacement text, in addition to more advanced keyboard macros. Did we mention it's free?

For the full list, go to Top 10 Writing Tools on the Writing Tips page of Moore Partners

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Writing Resources: Top 10 Writing Tools

Courtesy of Friedbeef's Tech

Here is a set of 10 tools that can be useful to any writer.

1. Improve Readability with MS-Word

The Flesch-Kincaid tests are readability tests designed to indicate how difficult a reading passage is to understand. Using simple calculations, it is able to break down text to gauge the level of education needed to grasp the writing, and how hard it is to comprehend overall.

What most people don't know is MS-Word actually comes with this test built in, so you can rate any document you produce in a few easy steps.

readability stats

2. Cut Down Cliches with Cliche Finder

Improve your writing by letting it come more from the heart rather than phrases which have been overused to the point of losing its intended force. Cliche finder helps identify common cliches in your writing so you can consider rewording them. It also comes with a handy bookmarklet so you can find them on any web page.

Paste in text, click on "find Cliches" and see clichés highlighted in embarrassing red.


For the full list, go to Top 10 Writing Tools on the Writing Tips page of Moore Partners

Monday, April 7, 2008

Writing for Style: Dr. Seuss


Dr. Seuss

It has often been said
there's so much to be read,
you never can cram
all those words in your head.

So the writer who breeds
more words than he needs
is making a chore
for the reader who reads.

That's why my belief is
the briefer the brief is,
the greater the sigh
of the reader's relief is.
-- Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel)

Known to children and parents as Dr. Seuss, Theodore Geisel wasn't only a writer of children's stories. Early in his career he published satirical articles, wrote advertising copy, and drew political cartoons. Even after gaining fame with books about Horton, the Grinch, and other comic characters, he kept older readers in mind as well. Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990) may have a reading level of ages four to eight, but it's most popular as a graduation gift for high school and college students.

He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1984.

Geisel's thoughts on writing are as quotable as his books. The key to good writing, he once said, is "meticulosity"--a peculiarly Seussian quality that takes years to learn.

For Dr. Siess's thoughts on writing and poetic meter, go to Dr. Seuss on the Writing Tips page of Moore Partners.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

My Work: Chariots of Tire 4

Act III in our 4-part series of Clint's tire exploits in the face of a looming deadline.

Act 3: Monday morning Clint drives to Kingston to buy another nozzle. Back at the farm, he turns on the compressor, fills the tank, hauls it down to the barn on a toboggan. He has plenty of air. But when he tries to fill the first tire, he finds the valve rotted and unable to hold any air. Clint is ready to shoot the tires and be done with it.

He calls Greg at the garage and asks if he has tire valves. Yes. When Clint gets there, Greg doesn’t have the right size so Clint drives to Roblin and finds one new and one used valve in the garage there.

Clint returns to the farm, replaces the valve and fills one tire. It takes all the air in the tank so Clint trudges back up the hill with the tank on a toboggan to refill it, then back down to the barn to loosen the valve caps, then starts the tractor and eases it forward until the valve is at the top, then wiggles the air hose up between the tire and inside fender to fill it.

Tires full. Clint returns the compressor. Snows all day Monday.

Tuesday: Clint spends the whole day on the tractor blowing snow as the temperature gets warmer and warmer. Finishes just as it begins to melt.

Wednesday: 10◦C, water running everywhere, snow weighs a ton. Can’t be moved but driveways are clear. Clint gazes out the window toward the barn, the tractor, and the full tires.

Music up, roll the credits.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

My Work: Chariots of Tire 3

We finally get to Act II in part 3 of 4 of the real-life screenplay about Clint's adventures with a deadline looming.

Act 2: Friday morning. Clint takes the pig back to Greg and asks to borrow it again that night full of air. He picks it up and, by the time he gets home, all the air leaks out. So that was it – a leaky pig. It snows all night Friday.

Saturday morning. Call Ben again to plow out the driveway. He tries to keep a straight face. Clint takes the leaky pig back to the garage. Greg apologizes and tries another pig. That one leaks, too. Clint calls Ben and asks if he has an air pig. Yes, Ben has a compressor with a tank at his parent’s house that could serve as a pig. He will put the hose and a tire nozzle in his shed for Clint tomorrow when he is finished plowing everyone out. Latest Forecast: Big snow again on Monday, big melt moved up to Wednesday.

Sunday morning. Clint picks up Ben’s compressor, tank, hose, and tire nozzle. He packs everything in his trunk, drives home, plugs it in, turns on the compressor and fills the tank with air. Then he decides to practise on the car tire to make sure everything works. He bends down to put air in the car tire and OMIGAWD, what happened to the nozzle that was on the end of the hose?

He looks on the floor of the garage, he takes everything out of the trunk, including the spare tire, he puts his glasses on and looks behind the stove, under the shelves, in buckets, around recycle boxes—that nozzle has disappeared. As a last resort, he thinks. He knows it was on the hose when he picked it up.

Back to Ben’s. He looks in the driveway, in the barn, outside the barn, he sifts through the straw and the snow with his fingers. Clint’s wife looks in the open bags of dog food and cat food and at Ben’s. Nothing. Movie re-rated to R because of strong language. Big storm still due Monday, melt for sure on Wednesday.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

My Work: Chariots of Tire 2

Part 2 of 4 of the real-life screenplay about a small job that grew until it reached epic proportions. Comedy, action, suspense, and horror film.

Back to Thursday evening: By this time it’s dark, so Clint and his wife go down to the barn with flashlights because the solar-powered lights in the barn just give general illumination and aren’t really strong enough for close work. Filling the front tires is easy. With about 30 pounds pressure, they’re like car tires.

But the big rear tires are a different matter. Although they hold only 12 pounds pressure on a 1958 Fordson Dexta, they also contain a mixture of air and liquid calcium chloride (CaCl). Forecast: Big storms due tomorrow and Monday. The plot thickens.

Backstory: The proper term for this mixture is liquid ballast, but most people around here just call them loaded. Liquid ballast increases the weight of the tires and provides more traction. Loading both tires adds about 340 kg to their weight and 25% to the overall weight of the Dexta.

Each tire is filled with a mixture of 60 kg. of CaCl, 110 litres of water, and 1 kg of lime to prevent acidity. This protects against freezing to -40C but makes filling them with air more complicated.

The valves of the tractor tires are on the inside. Clint crawls around underneath to loosen the valve caps with pliers, as the calcium chloride is corrosive. He loosens the first cap by touch, then looks to find he was unscrewing the valve itself. More air hisses out of the tire before he can replace the valve. He starts the tractor and eases it forward until the valve is at the top so the CaCl doesn’t squirt out, then wiggles the air hose up between the inside fender and the tire to fill it.

After some grunting and squeezing, Clint discovers that the air pig is now empty. Filling the front tires shouldn’t have taken all the air, but he can’t do more today.

Latest Forecast: Heavy snows on Friday and Monday with a melt to start Thursday that would make the accumulated snow impossible to move.