Entries by Matt Wright

Love letters straight from the heart…

I was listening to the tv this morning, and a couple of authors were lamenting the decline of love letters: “I mean, in the future you’re not exactly going to be able to go up into the loft and re-read an email or WhatsApp, are you?”

Which is absolutely true. There is something about a written letter which is so much more effective at conveying the personality of the sender and hence the depth of their thoughts – the choice of paper, type of pen, ink colour, handwriting style…etc.

And that’s all before we get round to what is actually written. Since not everything can be spoken, the act of putting pen to paper and the length of time it takes makes it a far more considered medium than a dashed-off text message. read more

February 9, 2018 /2 Comments/by

If oxytocin be the food of love, play on…

“Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate.”

– Alan D. Wolfelt

Food has always gone ‘hand in hand’ with love…or perhaps ‘mouth to mouth’ would be a more appropriate description? So, it’s no surprise that throughout the ages, writing about love has inspired good food, and  writing about good food has inspired great love.

However, delve a little deeper, and there’s actually some scientific fact behind the literary fluff….

Oxycitin – the hormone of love

Food and love are inexorably linked, thanks to a complex hormonal reaction that affects our emotional attachments to loved ones — and our need for food.

“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”

-Harriet van Horne

A hormone called oxytocin is the hormone which is released during sex, childbirth and breastfeeding – it’s been variously described as the ‘hormone of love’, the ‘bonding hormone’ or the ‘cuddle hormone’, and is designed to bring us closer together as humans. read more read more

February 5, 2018 /0 Comments/by

The Valentine’s Day Personal Ad Massacre

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, you may be in need of inspiration if you’re looking to attract a partner. In which case, please read on…but it’s probably best not to take these personal adverts too literally!

In this digital age of dating apps such as Tinder and online sites such as eHarmony or Match.com, it can be difficult to find genuinely amusing well-written personal adverts anymore (so I’m told!). Indeed, everything seems to be very image-centric or geared towards instant gratification.

So, where better to look for genuinely funny personal ads than in a literary review, or more specifically, the London Review of Books, which has carved a niche for itself in the world of weird, wacky and downright obscure postings, relying upon a distinctly old-fashioned box posting system and the munificence of the Royal Mail.  read more read more

February 5, 2018 /0 Comments/by

5 tips for writing a memorable headline

When writing online, you don’t have long to capture your reader’s attention. Some ‘research’ (note the singe quotation marks!) would have it at less than 4 seconds (or shorter than the attention span of the average goldfish), to make an impression.

What makes a great (or at least, memorable) headline? 

Look to the newspapers for inspiration – their headlines need to be short, pithy, and engaging.

Consider some famous examples below:

  • Notorious (“Gotcha!” – The sinking of the General Belgrano))
  • Political (“It’s Paddy Pantsdown” – Paddy Ashdown’s affair revelations)
  • Celebrity-inspired (“Let me Go Go” – George Michael freed on bail)
  • Absurd (“Freddie Starr ate my hamster” – say no more!)
  • Funny (“Super Caley go ballistic – Celtic are atrocious” – Celtic lose to a lesser team, Inverness Caledonian, in a cup competition)

Now, there is no magic formula to great headline (or indeed sub-headline) writing but there are a few guidelines you can follow which should make it easier.

Five headline-writing hints

1. Use active verbs wherever possible

The active tense is more immediate than the passive tense. 

Also, the active tense calls for the subject (which personalises everything) whereas this can be ignored by the passive tense…all to the detriment of the headline: read more read more

January 31, 2018 /1 Comment/by

Grammarian: All about (E)

Grammar: Which word to use (E)

https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-e

1.CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

each other or one another?

each other should apply only to two people (“Iniesta and Xavi hugged each other”); one another to more than two (“all 11 Spanish players hugged one another”).

elegy or euology?

elegy poem of mourning; eulogy speech of praise.

The adjective elegiac (often misspelt “elegaic”), is very popular with writers on upmarket newspapers seeking an alternative to “sad”. read more

January 31, 2018 /0 Comments/by

BLT (*) – Opportunity Radar: Got it? Use it? Enhance it?

Opportunity Radar – Got it?

“Opportunity Radar: The ability to see or hear opportunities for yourself and for others, then to explore that opportunity and take the appropriate actions for something to happen.”

Source: 50 Quick Wins in Sales & Marketing, Jackie Jarvis

The truth is, we can become obsessed with selling our products and services to our end-customers. However, this often comes at the expense of promoting ourselves to the intermediaries who exist all around us, be they contacts or friends.

Use it

Business development opportunities are everywhere – in fact, you never know where your next one might be lurking!

Here are three things you can do to ensure your Opportunity Radar is functioning well to unearth business opportunities: read more read more

January 20, 2018 /0 Comments/by

Grammarian: All about (D)

Letter (D)Grammar: Which word to use (D)

https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-d

CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

decry or descry?

decry condemn; descry discover

“You only ever see descry when someone uses it wrongly to mean decry.”

defuse or diffuse?

defuse render harmless; diffuse spread about.

deprecate or depreciate?

deprecate express disapproval; depreciate reduce in value.

Hence “a self-deprecating remark”, not “self-depreciating”.

derisive or derisory?

derisive contemptuous; derisory unworthy of serious discussion. read more

January 15, 2018 /0 Comments/by
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BLT: New Year, new goals…or just old ones repackaged? 

It’s no easy thing to stick to a New Year resolution – in fact, it’s a real challenge with the best will in the world. What is your will for 2018, what goals do you regularly set yourself, are you a goal-setter or a goal-avoider?

These were some of the key questions we discussed at the opening BLT meeting of 2018.

1. Quotes from around the table – Goal or No Goal?

The room split into three types of people:

a. Those who swore by setting themselves hard & fast goals:

  • Goals are great – they are habit-forming
  • Fear of failure is exactly why I have to have goals!
  • Articulated goals hold me accountable…to myself and others

b. Those who only had ‘loose’ goals:

  • My goals are flexible. They are based on age and expectation; when those change, so do my goals.
  • I like to be flexible, rather like a half-time team talk in a football match; I like to reserve the ability to change tactics.
  • I write a list of all the things I want to do, halve it, then knock off another 10% and I’m usually about there.

c. …and those who never set themselves goals:

  • I never set goals – people simply measure each other by them
  • I’m put off goals by a fear of failure – I need to use other things to get me going (fear of being late)
  • Goals seem to be all about winning…I’m more than happy to settle for a draw

2. Goal mapping “Follow the 7 simple steps to create the life of your dreams”

A business coach provided a mind map and a structure to facilitate the discussion (for those BLT members who believed in goals!)

The 7 steps towards better goal-setting:

  • DREAM – What do you want to achieve? Try to visualise your goals in pictures and emotions.
  • ORDER – Which goals take priority? Have a Main Goal and 4 sub-goals.
  • DRAW – Communicate your goals to the subconscious. Use colour and images to mind-map your goals
  • WHY – Identify your emotional drivers. We are motivated more by emotion than logic – identify your emotional drivers.
  • WHEN – Define your timeline. “Goals without deadlines are just wishes.”
  • HOW – What are the actions you will need to take? Be specific.
  • WHO – Choose the people or organisations that can support you. Place their names on the mind map.

3. Group conclusions on goals

About half the BLT group had or believed in goals

  • Pick out what works for you – the 7 steps from the ‘Goal Mapping’ exercise were useful, but shouldn’t  necessarily be approached in a linear fashion.
  • SMART goals – ‘R’ is the most important = relevant
  • Don’t get hung up on definitions – goals, objectives, desires…they’re all the same thing.
  • Be specific – the more detail you can add the better; e.g. rather than simply aiming to “grow your business”, why not specify growing it in a particular geographical area or niche?
  • Having goals can enhance your ‘opportunity radar’ – by setting yourself a specific target, say diversifying your income stream, you will become more aware of opportunities as they appear and hunt them down rather than waiting passively.

(*) BLT is a free fortnightly networking group that meets from 7:15-8:45, every other Thursday at The George & Dragon, Marlow.

For more details, please leave me a message at mattnoble@nobleword.co.uk – new networkers are always welcome. read more read more

January 6, 2018 /1 Comment/by

Grammarian: All about (C)

Grammar (C)Grammar: Which word to use (C)

https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-c

1.CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

caddie or caddy?

caddie golf; caddy tea.

canvas or canvass?

canvas tent, painting; canvass solicit votes

careen or career?

careen to sway or keel over to one side; often confused with career, to rush along.

can not or cannot

can not is optional “you can not eat if you don’t want to”; cannot is compulsory “you cannot eat porridge with a knife”.

censor, censure, censer?

censor prevent publication; censure criticise severely; censer container in which incense is burned. read more read more

January 1, 2018 /0 Comments/by

GRAMMARIAN: All about (B)

Grammar (B)Grammar: Which word to use (B)

https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-b

1. CORRECT USAGE

1.1. Similar words mean different things…

benefactor or beneficiary?

A benefactor gives something; the beneficiary gets it.

born out or borne out?

Born out of necessity BUT borne out by the facts; borne back ceaselessly into the past.

birthdays or anniversaries?

Birthdays are for people. Institutions, events etc have anniversaries.

balk or baulk?

Balk to obstruct, pull up, stop short; baulk area of a snooker table

1.2 Use the right word in context…

burgeon

means to bud or sprout, so you can have someone with burgeoning talent; often misused to describe anything that is growing or expanding, especially population read more read more

December 15, 2017 /0 Comments/by