AWC Des Moines

Webcast: Cookbook Editor Judith Jones

Celebrated food writer and cookbook editor Judith Jones recently spoke at the Library of Congress. In this webcast she discusses America's love-hat relationship with food, learning at the hands of Julia Childs, and her experiences as a writer and editor.

Jones is described as "the first to espouse the kind of cookbook in which the author encourages and enables the ordinary home cook to create the extraordinary by defining culinary terms, demonstrating techniques, whether it be boning or braising, and by providing explicit directions and detailed explanations. Jones also asked cookbook authors to provide clues to the texture, feel, smell and appearance of the dish as the recipe progresses."

Speaker Biography: Judith Jones, vice president and senior editor at Alfred A. Knopf, is the winner of the coveted James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award and editor of culinary luminaries such as Julia Child, James Beard, Madhur Jaffrey, Marcella Hazan, Edna Lewis and Joan Nathan.   

RUNNING TIME: 54 minutes

Maintaining focus

It's a problem almost every communicator struggles with: maintaining concentration, especially while writing. Dustin M. Wax, a contributing editor and project manager at lifehack.org, understands the challenge:

"If you do a lot of writing, you already know the benefits of a distraction-free writing environment. It’s hard to keep yourself on-task when there are noise, people interrupting you, or the ever-present temptation of Desktop Tower Defense only a click or two away on your PC. It’s especially hard when you reach a rough patch and it’s so much easier to do something else than think your way through and out of your problem spot. And if you’re not a writer by vocation, it can be even harder!"

Wax offers a number of suggestions on how to improve focus, including:

• De-cluttering your workspace
• Setting a timer
• Using the right software
• Listening to white and pink noise

For more suggestions on remain distraction-free, read Wax's full article here.

On Storytelling

“The magic words 'once upon a time' transport us to other worlds and other times. Storytelling is the primary technology of a preliterate age and has traveled through time to make its mark on history.”

So begins the introduction to a public radio program's examination storytelling. The audio show, which began airing on The Infinite Mind in December, includes stories from two prominent storytellers –- Diane Wolkstein and Donald Davis --  and commentary on the role of the story (and it's teller) by Dr. Fred Goodwin and Dr. Joseph Sobol.

The hour-long program highlights storytelling as one of the first means of recording history and how it continues to help us connect with our selves and communicate through the generations. The revival of storytelling in America and the importance of programs like the Mothers' Living Stories Project are also explored.

Listen to “Storytelling” for yourself and check out the tales behind these show contributors:

Diane Wolkstein
Donald Davis
Mothers' Living Stories Project

Copyright Basics

“Freelance writers love being freelance writers because they work for themselves and their work isn't always beholden to a certain magazine or newspaper,” notes Jeremy Schnitker of SoloGigNews. “With this autonomy, however, also comes the responsibility of knowing when and how to copyright your material.”
To that end, SoloGigNews sat down for some pointers from Sharon Hurley Hall, a freelance writer, copyright expert and author of GetPaidtoWriteOnline.com.

Make sure you're well informed when it comes to copyright. Read the the full article here.

Letting Go of the Words

“People don’t come to the web to linger over the words,” says Janice (Ginny) Redish. Except for news sites, blogs, or sites with topics they're interested in, web users just want basic information, and they want to get it quickly and easily.

In her new book, Letting Go of the Words; Writing Web Content that Works, Redish asserts that “most uses of the web are for gathering information or doing tasks, not for the pleasure of reading...  If [visitors] can’t find what they need quickly enough, they’ll leave your site and go elsewhere.

For professional communicators, this isn't breaking news. But Redish's take on what constitutes good web writing may be. And her strategies and tactics are sorely needed by online authors. Tips for writing conversational content. Hints for extracting “usable, manageable pieces” of information from documents. And suggestions for breaking content down by topic.

Best of all, Redish's book is as user-friendly as the web site models she wants us to emulate. Her common-sense guidelines are presented with real life examples, before and after depictions, and case studies. Letting Go ... it's a great start to improved web communications.

For more information, visit the book's web site at www.redish.net/writingfortheweb

Letting Go of the Words; Writing Web Content that Works
Morgan Kaufmann / Elsevier
2007
365 pages
Soft cover
978-0-12-369486

-- Brenda Friedrich, Independent Communications Consultant and Des Moines Alliance Co-Webmaster

Another Set of Eyes

What's the best tool a communicator can have? I was asking myself that question the other day when a typo leapt from the page.

I had been proofreading a commissioned article when I spotted my error. Immediately I froze in panic. Not because I never make mistakes. But because of a deep realization that I'd made this mistake before. In writing a series of posts for a wine blog, I'd frequently used the word “pallette” (as in color selection) when I'd meant to say “palate” (referring to the sense of taste).

I'm a designer as well as a writer so perhaps my error was inevitable. That didn't, however, make it forgivable. How did this misspelling get past me? And why does it take multiple proofs before I catch every double “the” and omitted “of.”

I knew the answer. Authors become so intimate with their message that, ultimately, they see what they expect to see.

Luckily for me, Des Moines Alliance member Kim Coulter had warned me of this phenomenon years earlier. Which is why I almost always have a second set of eyes review my work. In this case another AWC member, Sandy Renshaw, was my safety net. I shot off an email alerting her to my mistake only to learn that she had caught it a week earlier along with an odd assortment of other errors.

Which is why I've come to prize proofreaders as the best asset a communicator can have. And why Sandy is also proofing this posting.

What do you think? What's the best tool a communicator can have?

-- Brenda Friedrich, Independent Communications Consultant and Des Moines Alliance Co-Webmaster

Playing by New Rules

I threw my old textbooks out years ago. As much as I'd like to please my high school English teacher (the one who taught that my very life depended upon a correctly placed semi-colon), I've had to face facts: the rules have changed. The world has changed.

Today the reality is quick communication. We need to deliver messages rapidly. Directly. And that's true whether we're writing for direct mail or multi-page brochures. Why? We're a society pressed for time.

So when I'm asked why I don't always write in complete sentences, my answer is simple, “Succinct copy scores. Wordiness snores.” When I take up my pen, I can't afford to ask, “What would Shakespeare do?” And neither can you.

What are your thoughts? Can the old rules still apply in a busy world?

-- Brenda Friedrich, Independent Communications Consultant and Des Moines Alliance Co-Webmaster

Announcing the Des Moines Alliance Blog

Web co-chairs Brenda Friedrich and Sandy Renshaw are in the final stages of rolling out The Association for Women in Communications (AWC) Des Moines Alliance blog.

This is your site, a place where members/communicators can share news and information.

We are currently soliciting you to contribute content for the site. This is a chance to share your areas of expertise and your thoughts with your fellow communicators.

If you are interested in contributing on an ongoing basis, contact us at awcweb@mchsi.com.

We encourage everyone's feedback in establishing topic categories.