# What sort of articles would you like to see?



## Capulet

Hi everyone,

I've been on vacation for the last bit, but I'm (almost) back and really looking forward to post and interact with you all in this thread. I have ideas on what I want to write about, but I'm curious about a couple things:


What do you really want to read about here?
What are you looking to write about here?
My historical areas of focus are:


data visualization
procedures and processes (written and visual mapping)
On-boarding materials
support documentation, paper and Web
content writing for the Web, including SEO
PR/Marketing writing, print and web
My first post is likely going to talk about writing copy for Marketing. Looking forward to seeing posts from others with either questions or sharing their insights on their own work.

Cheers,
Cap


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## moderan

Content writing/SEO would be interesting to me. As would marketing writing for the web...as I'm going to be embarking on an ad campaign in the reasonably near future I'd certainly like to see what others do and how they think about such ventures.


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## dolphinlee

After that a discussion on visual mapping - it's one of my things - I think - if we are talking about the same thing.


Welcome back!


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## dolphinlee

Capulet had a thought after I posted. 

If a writer send a proposal into a published then can that proposal - factual description of self, description of work etc - be classified as writing copy? 

If so then maybe that could be the topic of a post.


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## Lewdog

Any writing that sounds like I'm at work, doesn't sound like anything I want to read.  The question you posed might as well have been, how would you like to die?  Regardless of what you write, as long as it pertains to business writing, it will put me to sleep.  Can you make sure to post them at about 1 am est.?  

Ok I'm just kidding.  Feel free to write PR and marketing stuff, I might need some of that soon.


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## Capulet

dolphinlee said:


> Capulet had a thought after I posted.
> 
> If a writer send a proposal into a published then can that proposal - factual description of self, description of work etc - be classified as writing copy?
> 
> If so then maybe that could be the topic of a post.



Copy being used in journalism or marketing generally means writing being used in articles, stories, etc. Not sure how a proposal would fit into that scheme. When I think of proposals my tech writer hat goes on and I start thinking about form and structure, business needs (what the publisher wants to see) and the like. 

My experience with "copy" has been writing support articles, product descriptions, and marketing and sales materials like banners, product descriptions, promotional pages, customer offer/support emails, etc. I'm sure journalists have their own inverted-pyramid view of the copy world that would take a different direction, and I know there's at least a couple journalists floating around here (Garza and?) that I hope will come to the Journalism subforum and participate.


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## Capulet

Lewdog said:


> Any writing that sounds like I'm at work, doesn't sound like anything I want to read.  The question you posed might as well have been, how would you like to die?  Regardless of what you write, as long as it pertains to business writing, it will put me to sleep.  Can you make sure to post them at about 1 am est.?
> 
> Ok I'm just kidding.



Kidding or not, I get paid fairly well because of the above attitude. Same reason garbage men do pretty well too, relatively speaking! Everyone wants to do the fun stuff, and it's a small subset of writers that would consider tech and copy writing as fun. 

Some like to write different types of fiction and the same goes for non-fiction. dolla dolla bill y'all for those who can do each well.


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## dolphinlee

Capulet said:


> Copy being used in journalism or marketing generally means writing being used in articles, stories, etc. Not sure how a proposal would fit into that scheme. When I think of proposals my tech writer hat goes on and I start thinking about form and structure, business needs (what the publisher wants to see) and the like.



To me copy writing is precise, to the point and interesting. 

I find writing what is needed for the proposal hideously difficult and it shouldn't be. 

For example the hook. A one sentence summary of the book that will 'hook' the publisher.  (*&%$@!) 

I managed to get the 136,000 story down to three sentences and they bored me to death. 

That was one of the area that I was thinking of.


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## Capulet

dolphinlee said:


> To me copy writing is precise, to the point and interesting.
> 
> I find writing what is needed for the proposal hideously difficult and it shouldn't be.
> 
> For example the hook. A one sentence summary of the book that will 'hook' the publisher.  (*&%$@!)
> 
> I managed to get the 136,000 story down to three sentences and they bored me to death.
> 
> That was one of the area that I was thinking of.



lol!  I write short fiction, so not sure how difficult it would be to summarize a novel in a pitch. I imagine it's even harder though, given all the intricacies of character and plot you _know _just _have_ to be in that first contact!


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## dolphinlee

okay I will forgive you. Is visual mapping the same as mind mapping?


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## Lewdog

Capulet said:


> Kidding or not, I get paid fairly well because of the above attitude. Same reason garbage men do pretty well too, relatively speaking! Everyone wants to do the fun stuff, and it's a small subset of writers that would consider tech and copy writing as fun.
> 
> Some like to write different types of fiction and the same goes for non-fiction. dolla dolla bill y'all for those who can do each well.



Wait who said you were good at fiction?

:alien:


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## Capulet

dolphinlee said:


> okay I will forgive you. Is visual mapping the same as mind mapping?



I love mind mapping! I use those when starting the layout for quite a few larger documents. I usually cannibalize it for heading structure in the actual document afterwards too. It's a really great way to tackle outlining.

I ran a search and mind mapping appears in a couple discussions, but there's no posts under writing discussion or anywhere I can tell that cover it. I'd love to see you write something up and post in some examples. 

Visual mapping of processes and procedures, or just straight up "process mapping", is a lot like flowcharting. I say "a lot" because you can use a very simple, traditional looking stencil that we're all familiar with on some level, or you can go full Business Process Modeling Notation for it. I'd say for most organizations BPMN is overkill by a factor of 10, unless you're building models that are going to be translated into computer systems that need that level of complexity. I'm starting to get a nosebleed just thinking about it, ha ha!


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## dolphinlee

So many people seem to lack inspiration. 

This is *not* to be taken as an invitation to challenge me - i don't have the time at the moment to take anything else on - but I can write an short essay on any topic. When I taught mindmapping I used to get a member of the audience (the recipient of a balled-up piece of paper tossed backwards over my shoulder) to come up with a topic. I would give myself 1 minute to plan and would then talk for 5 minutes on the topic. Pigs, toenail clippings, toilet rolls, lettuce, dog collars, mowing, acne are some of the words I had to speak on. 

In a few weeks I might do a thread on using mindmapping for inspiration.


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## Capulet

I would never _dream_ of challenging you. 

Of course, if you wanted to do a mindmap on... mindmapping! That'd be awesome. 

I'm in the same time boat. I'm looking to write something up, but I'm also pushing hard at work on trying to mend some fences on my team at work. Have to get my peeps to work more cohesively; to that end I have to build up our communication and energy, as well as fortify our processes internally and with our other sub-teams within the department. Also, getting Marketing to submit key messaging, copy, and briefs in general to us in a better fashion would be great.

Maybe I'll steal the write up I'm going to do on our challenges with the key messaging and copy we're being provided and build a cautionary tale out of it.


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## ppsage

The write-tech practical challenge. 300 words max, with topics chosen from things of value on a writing forum.


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## GingerMI

I'd like to see anything related to copywriting in this forum. I'm also interested in issues of copyright and citation in nonfiction writing right now.


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## SCookAAM

I also do a lot of professional writing for content and SEO.  it's both challenging and fun, because not only do I write a great deal for my own business, but for clients as well.

i've got one in particular who is very challenging.  His business is a consulting firm, and there is so little content online for that, you'd think it would be a great way to corner his market.  The difficulty is, it's hard to write that sort of stuff without being either too technical or too sales-driven.

And as anyone who does a great deal of bloggign and article writing knows, you don't write a bunch of self-promoting content.  It must be genrally useful to the reader.  I consider it a challenge because not only is the subject matter difficult, but the market share is so extremely limited.

`I'd personally like to see more stuff in here about that, or about ways to research new topics and so forth.


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## SCookAAM

I am a marketer and internet marketer, so obviously, I'm interested in topics around that, as well as business development, success philosophy and even real estate investing.
However, I think and interesting take on writing for marketing would be from the standpoint of those of us who do that as a business.  In other words, what do we do to acquire new clients.  What works, what does not, etc.


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## SCookAAM

I think as professional writers, we're always looking for ways to promote ourselves and our clients.  I would like to see more on ways to send readers to your articles, blogs, etc.  Different ways of promoting your writing, both direct and indirect.  Where you publish articles, and so forth.


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## Stevenson

I would really like to see some article on the government shut down.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, i agree


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## Divus

As a 74 year old amateur writer of non fiction I feel humble amongst you professional writers.   I write just for the fun of writing.  I can't say that I understand a word of what you guys have posted.          Divus.            PS Garza has put down his laptop and gone on a sabbatical.


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## Jason

I am new the forum so don't know my way around yet.  Did the discussion on Jan7th by dolphinlee and capulet about the hook, and for me more difficult three paragraph synopsis, come to a discussion elsewhere?  I would like to follow up on that issue.


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## qwertyportne

I'd like to see articles aimed at helping people advance in their careers by paying more attention to the quality of their on-the-job writing. Your career may not require you to write technical manuals or corporate reports but whatever you do have to write should make people up the chain of command sit up and take notice. Good writing is evidence of good thinking and it's frequently the only way you are known. Not every manager notices, but the ones who do are more likely to sit up and take notice when something you write crosses their desk.

In another thread, I suggested a person research from the specific to the general then write their report from the general to the specific. Sometimes you don't have a choice because your manager has his or her own preferences, but that approach worked for me. Even so, there are career advantages to learning ways to be concise, comprehensive, clear and complete.

Perhaps others can suggest more ways in which we can improve the quality of our on-the-job writing.


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## dither

Divus said:


> As a 74 year old amateur writer of non fiction I feel humble amongst you professional writers.   I write just for the fun of writing.  I can't say that I understand a word of what you guys have posted.          Divus.            PS Garza has put down his laptop and gone on a sabbatical.



What a relief that is, you're not alone Divus.


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## Gofa

I am a professional writer who makes money based upon writing stuff in information memorandums that encapsulate a company which i engage in selling. No cure no pay.  My clients consider i write well. My bank balance testifies that i am successful in this endeavour. 
Thing is you write to be understood. The more you technically excel in the form and function of writing usually the greater the turn off in your audience. Those that can do those that cant teach. 
Divus an Dither like you two im too old to die young and i write for fun. Professionally i put soul, interest and a bit of tongue in cheek into my day job.  Why.  Because it is too important a thing to be taken seriously.


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## Hairball

Holy cow!

I'm not sure if this fits here, but I could use some help. I had a brain injury on March 1 and I'm not working now, but I hope to be back in May.

I work at Walmart as a customer service manager and I had been wanting to branch out and train folks at the self checkout. My supervisor called yesterday and asked me if I was up to writing a training manual for the self check. Y'all might think there's nothing to it, but you'd be surprised.

So yeah, bring on any kind of training or how-to stuff! My best friend, who passed last November, wrote and updated pilots' manuals for American Airlines. These are the booklets in the cockpits that have all the checklists and troubleshooting stuff in them, i.e., if one engine goes out in a Boeing 757 it tells them what to do, step by step, and all the landing and takeoff checklists, along with crash landing checklists. These also cover icing, lightning strikes, bird strikes, crosswind landings, hijackings, and depressurization...and a billion other things that can go wrong. 

I think this stuff is fascinating!

Ahem...and if I may say so, I'm very proud they would ask me to do the self check manual for our store. My supervisor, K, asked if I remembered what I learned, and I told her on the phone how to dismantle the upper part of the registers and clean them. Onion peels and other junk can fall through the upper scale, and if it isn't cleaned regularly, gunk will clog up the bill and coin dispensers. Then you have to call NCR again to fix it, when just regular maintenance will prevent that.

Ooops. NCR means National Cash Register. Our NCR guy wears a button on his uniform that says, "I'm here because you broke it." 

LOL!!


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## Donnam

I would like to learn more about copywriting. I want to build a blog/website in the future with an emphasis on inspiring writers to write about their personal experiences/transformation in nature. Judging from the way some of my friends' eyes glaze over when I talk about the benefits of living half wild, I know I have to make it sound as appealing as possible. Thank you


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