Writing, Clear and Simple

As much as I love words, there are times when you really need a picture. For example, when you’re trying to explain how to use some software feature, it really helps to show a screenshot, with arrows pointing at things.

There are plenty of applications that help you create screenshots—I’m particularly fond of SnagIt—but TechSmith (the people who created SnagIt) are working on something they hope will make it easier and faster for everyone to take screenshots and share them with others. It’s called the Jing Project.

You download and install Jing, and it adds a little widget to your desktop. When you want to take a picture of something on your screen—or a video; you can make a video of your on-screen actions, complete with sound—you launch Jing, take your picture or make your video, and then decide if you want to save a local copy, or share it. Sharing it saves the image or video on Techsmith’s Screencast website, and copies the URL of the file onto your clipboard.

Here’s a sample screenshot I took with Jing:

It’s really easy to use. Not as powerful as SnagIt, but this might just do what you need. Check it out at www.jingproject.com.

Disclaimer: Other than being a satisfied user of SnagIt, and a new user of Jing, I have no connection to TechSmith. 

I had a bit of an Inigo Montoya moment yesterday. Not “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” It was more like when Vizzini shouted “Inconceivable!” for the eighth or ninth time, and Inigo said “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

It happened when I saw this headline: “The US Rural Broadband Crisis”

For some reason, headline writers (along with politicians) love the word crisis. The problem is, they almost always use it to describe what is merely a bad or undesirable situation.  Crisis is not a synonym for bad situation.

Here are a couple of good definitions of crisis: 

A crucial or decisive point or situation; a turning point.

An unstable condition, as in political, social, or economic affairs, involving an impending abrupt or decisive change.

The lack of good broadband access in rural areas can be called a problem or an undesirable situation. But calling it a crisis isn’t even hyperbole, it’s just plain wrong. There is no “crucial or decisive point” involved; no “impending abrupt or decisive change” is in sight.

Crisis is a perfectly good word. Let’s use it when it’s really called for, and not to hype something that isn’t really a crisis.

If you think the plural of octopus is octopi, you have another think coming. Patricia T. O’Connor explains in Woe is I:

Plurals can be singularly interesting. Take the octopus—a remarkable creature, grammatically as well as biologically. Octopus is from the Greek and means “eight-footed.” The original plural was octopides, Anglicized over the years to octopuses. Along the way, someone substituted the Latin ending pi for the Greek podes and came up with the polyglot octopi. Though it’s technically incorrect, octopi is now so common that dictionaries list it as a second choice after octopuses, the preferred plural. Octopi is for suckers.

(And I’m a sucker for wordplay like “Octopi is for suckers.”)

Lesson one: Stick with octopuses as the plural of octopus.

Lesson two: Don’t make guesses about how to formulate the plurals of foreign-sounding nouns, or how to conjugate foreign-sounding verbs. Look them up! (I’m reminded of an old Charles Schultz Peanuts cartoon, in which Linus confidently told his sister Lucy that the plural of igloo is igli.)

If you really want to be a writer, but you’re having a bit of trouble getting yourself to set pen to paper, here’s a Monday morning kick in the pants from James Lileks:

Most of the writers I knew in college did lots of things – smoke, drink coffee, have long loud boozy disputes over Art, shoot pool and all the other things artists did to relieve the maddening pressure of sitting alone in the garret, staring at the empty page for an hour before screwing up their courage and banging away with inspired zeal, channeling the great bright fountain of glory within, danting the Gods: I, too, CREATE! But most of them left out the “writing” part.*

There it is. Grab laptop, or pen and paper—whatever, it really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s you can write with—and sit your butt down in a chair and START WRITING.

There’s more, of course. All the bits and bobs about learning how to rewrite, how to edit your own work, how to give sizzle and punch to lifeless text. But that is, as I said, bits and bobs. The main thing, if you say you want to be a writer, is to be a writer. Writers write.

So, what have you written lately? Tell us about it in the comments. 

*In case you’re wondering what Lileks means by “danting the Gods,” I have no idea. I’m guessing that he meant to write “taunting.” As far as I know, “danting” isn’t an English word. But if you know anything about James Lileks, you know that the man manages to keep an amazing number of plates spinning at once, and I’m not going to ding him for miss-typing something like that. (Especially when I consider the fumbles I’ve made.)

In case you’re wondering about that “Call me” box over on the sidebar, that’s for real. If you’re interested in working with me, you can call me using the telephone number and extension — 1-888-MY-ETHER (693-8437) ext. 02099520. (The first time you call an Ether number like mine, you’ll have to set up an account.)

Ether is a service that lets people like me conduct business over the phone. They handle connecting customers with businesses, along with the billing and payment stuff. For example, let’s say you’re interested in having me be your writing coach. You call 1-888-MY-ETHER (693-8437) and connect with my extension, 02099520. I have things set up so you won’t be charged for anything until we come to an agreement on what I’m going to do for you.

Need some help with your words? Give me a call. 

(For more information about Ether, check their website.)