By Lucy @english-pro on
8/23/2010 7:42 AM
This summer’s Fringe Festival spawned a plethora of funnies: here are the best of them according to the judges. Which do you like most? Did you hear a better one?
While Tim Vine’s *is* funny, my personal fav on this list is Gary Delaney’s at number 5.
1) Tim Vine "I've just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I'll tell you what, never again."
2) David Gibson "I'm currently dating a couple of anorexics. Two birds, one stone."
3) Emo Philips "I picked up a hitch hiker. You've got to when you hit them."
4) Jack Whitehall "I bought one of those anti-bullying wristbands when they first came out. I say 'bought', I actually stole it off a short, fat ginger kid."
5) Gary Delaney "As a kid I was made to walk the plank. We couldn't afford a dog."
6) John Bishop "Being an England supporter is like being the over-optimistic parents of the fat kid on sports day."
7) Bo Burnham "What do you call a kid with no arms and an eyepatch? Names."
8) Gary Delaney "Dave...
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By Lucy @english-pro on
7/29/2010 9:10 AM
Preparing for my MA and for teaching advanced writing and creative writing (prose) from October I have been bathing in a pool of books this summer, which is something of a dream come true.
 Yesterday the longlist for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction was released, giving me a plethora of books to enjoy in the coming weeks.
Did you know Virginia Woolf read a book a day when she wasn’t writing? That’s awesome. As I read I focussing not only on the structure and approaches used by the writer...
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By Lucy @english-pro on
7/13/2010 11:21 PM
 Squidoo tells me that “Information architecture brings together how people think with how systems work. It's a strategy and a discipline.”
This sounds great … if somewhat vague.
Webmonkey adds that “Information architecture is the science of figuring out what you want your site to do and then constructing a blueprint before you dive in and put the thing together.”
I want to know more about from a copy-writer’s point of view – I want to know what my writing role...
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By Lucy @english-pro on
7/1/2010 5:53 AM
 With my Linked:HR moderator hat on I was asked for a list of my favourite website resources, so I thought I should share them with you too.
When I am writing, proofreading or copy-editing these are the places I turn to, as well as my own library of ‘real life’ books, to make sure I’m on the mark.
If you want to improve your writing skills, aside from using English Pro’s forum, these are excellent places to start:
Common mistakes explained: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/
...
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By Lucy @english-pro on
6/28/2010 7:46 PM
There’s a new kid on the block and I’d quite like to get to know him.
 Writers Are Out
Once upon a time there were writers, then web-copy-writers and SEO experts. They’re living happily ever after somewhere - they’re out, apparently. Information architects are in.
Information Architecture
A riveting conversation with a graphic design friend of mine, Mike Carrick, opened my eyes to this brave new world. He described a cyberworld...
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By Lucy @english-pro on
6/27/2010 2:19 PM
Finally the secret to improving writing has been revealed. What would you say it is?
Add more figurative language? Use ‘bigger’ words? Do more research? Write more? Write less? Cram in more keywords?
Nope, none of those!
It’s generally accepted that, for online purposes, less is more; that careful word choice is critical; and that aptly placed keywords help those frantic little search bots crawl their busy way through your writing.
But all of that is not even close in importance next to copybloggers’...
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By Lucy @english-pro on
4/22/2010 9:58 PM
Would you believe this is exactly what was sent to me in an email last week!? After I finished chuckling to myself I considered the seriousness of the situation. The person who sent this to me did so in all good faith, trying to help me to save face in a writers’ forum; nonetheless the mail struck a chord with me and I wanted to share.
I’ve always assumed that everyone knows at some level that there are differences between US and British English; it’s easy to forgive the less common ones, like the swapped-round quotation marks and inverted commas, or like using a colon after the salutation in a business letter and not a comma, but surely everyone is aware that the British spell words with a ‘u’ where the Americans don’t. Apparently not.
This ‘lost in translation’ thing the US and British speakers and writers have going is quite remarkable (hence I’m remarking on it!). For my MA thesis I’m planning on researching and learning the differences between spelling, grammar and punctuation not just in the...
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By Lucy @english-pro on
4/14/2010 12:32 PM
Would you believe it!? The amount of work right now is astonishing. I’m thoroughly enjoying writing for www.cleanerlondon.com today, and I’m learning all sorts of tips and tricks about cleaning to pass onto their readers. My knowledge of the public’s perceptions of nuclear power has deepened after copy-editing a college paper, and I’ve been helping a teacher plan her English lessons.
Monday was my first day back in the classroom – at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences; it felt no different than any regular Monday morning back in the day. My suit still fitted and my board pens still worked! I’m rather looking forward to getting back there on Thursday afternoon. First lesson for all four groups is ‘Advertising’ and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed using the classroom projector and computer to present PowerPoint presentations and getting the classes speaking as much as possible.
Proofread a friend’s fable as well, which was very interesting and threw up a question...
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By Lucy @english-pro on
4/6/2010 2:49 PM
What an astonishingly beautiful day. Life here is good!
Ironically a couple of weeks ago I hit the lowest point I’d been with English Pro. Having had problems with a previous employer claiming I have to wait five years before I have a business similar to theirs (globally!) I’ve pulled the website in its original ‘online’ form to avoid vile legal wrangling. My aim is not to upset, but to make a living proofreading, copy-editing and writing for anyone who needs a pen. Happily I’ve not been busier.
Over the last couple of weeks, amusingly I’ve had more work and interest in my services than I had in the previous few months; months through which I hauled myself trying to learn areas of business I’d barely considered before: marketing, sales (ewk!) and finance.
I am now able to concentrate on what I am good at, and enjoy, and am losing myself in proofreading books (I just took delivery of Butcher’s Copy-editing and Critchley’s The Pocket Book of Proofreading) and relaxing into a daily routine of...
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By Lucy @english-pro on
3/30/2010 8:40 PM
This last month I’ve treated myself to some dedicated *me* time – some time to write for the pure pleasure of writing. Most of my time is spent putting my lipstick on other people’s word-collars, leaving perfume on their punctuation-pillows and generally playing around with other people’s texts. While my brain wishes longingly to just roam freely across its landscapes, creating for itself, I can rarely allow it such liberty.
Two purposes meant that my creativity was allowed out to play: firstly my application to do an MA in professional writing, for which I have my interview after Easter; and secondly a kind request to ‘guest blog’ for my online friend Mel Menzies.
Following her recently published and increasingly popular semi-autobiographical novel ‘A Painful Post Mortem’,...
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