How to collaborate on your articles using MS Word 2007
Whether you’re collaborating with another writer, you’ve hired an editor or you’ve asked your VA to proofread a document for you, Microsoft Word has many useful tools to help you work together.
Here is the first of three brief videos that will walk you through MS Word’s “Track Changes” feature:
Article marketing: Should you share experience or expertise in your articles?
Many coaches and other service providers struggle with feelings of being an imposter. “Why would anyone hire me?” they wonder. “Why would anyone want to read what I write?” they ask. “I’m no expert!” they proclaim.
Part of my mission has always been to encourage my clients and readers to claim your expertise; to recognize that your unique combination of experiences, knowledge, skills and personality are exactly what someone else needs to overcome their problems and achieve their goals. Your experience has granted you expertise.
So now there are two distinct voices you can write with in your articles. The first is to focus on sharing your experience with your reader. Maybe you are a member of your own target market. Maybe you have helped many other people with these exact same problems. Or both.
Either way, by sharing your experience you help build trust as someone who really knows about and understands the situation. You build a connection by identifying your involvement in the community of people that your reader belongs to. And you provide hope and proof that others have solved this specific problem.
You can share your experience with case stories, examples or by making interesting connections between the topic and things that happen in your day-to-day life.
The other voice you can try on is that of an expert. You may have used your experiences to create theories, explanations or models. The most common expert offering is a list of tips or how-to’s. When you present a list like that, it’s not likely you would introduce each point with, “In my experience, a good way to start your spending off right in the New Year is…”
Instead, you present each recommended action using direct, active language and a clear suggested action for your reader to take (e.g., “Create a plan for your spending, not a budget”). And this is a perfect place to take an expert authoritative tone. Sharing your expertise this way increases your credibility and further reinforces your reader’s trust that you are committed to providing them with solutions now and in the future.
So should you share your experience or your expertise? The answer is YES! You need a balance between them. If you only share experience, your readers may value you as a peer but may not think of you when it comes to paying for solutions. If you only share expertise, your readers may respect and revere you, but lose touch if they start to feel lectured to.
How my garage remote control is like the serial comma
Ever since reading the book Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston, I've been on the lookout for clutter in my life.
Awhile back, I started noticing this remote control for the inner door of my building's underground garage. The remote was rusty, cracked and I feared the battery inside was probably grossly corroded. At the same time, that garage door has been permanently open for years, and we've had a whole other system installed.
So I did the same thing I've done with other clutter. I got rid of it.
Well, a few weeks ago I got a memo – guess what? They're putting that door opener system into place again and there will be a deposit cost of $50-$100 for a new remote control. Yikes!
What does this have to do with the serial comma?
The serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma), is what appears before the last item in a list (e.g., she prefers apples, pears, and bananas). I don't use a serial comma when I write or edit. I think a sentence looks cleaner – less cluttered – without it.
And yet, as I write in the Style Guide, "sometimes, for clarity, it's wise to use the serial comma." I don't have specific rules for when I include it, it's usually entirely subjective when I've noticed that a sentence just doesn't "look right" without it.
It happened in the recent December 2009 issue of VOICE, the newsletter of the International Association of Coaching, where President-Elect Bob Tschannen-Moran listed some of the accomplishments of our outgoing President, Angela Spaxman.
Our intrepid and generous proofreader (Elizabeth Nofziger of Fresh Vision Coaching) added a serial comma to the second last bullet point, commenting, "I know we don’t put commas at the end of a list but it seems appropriate here." I agreed, and I'd almost put it in there myself.
So be careful before you dismiss something as clutter – you never know when you might actually need it. Just don't use that as an excuse to bury your creativity under a mountain of clutter!
For more information about the serial comma, plus more grammar and writing tips for coaches, please check out my book, The Customizable Style Guide for Coaches Who Write.
How to use MS Word 2007 to find spacing mistakes in your writing
Did you know that there is only supposed to be one space at the end of a sentence? In this video demonstration, I’ll show you how to set up MS Word 2007 to highlight any extra spaces between your sentences, and also how to correct all of the extra spaces in a document at once.