Smashing Writer's Block for Work Documents

This really works, I promise. Tested, tried, had other people try it. 

Say you have to write a memo persuading hospital personnel to wash their hands. You are conflicted beyond comprehension because it's too ridiculous a project. 

1.  Immediately let go of resistance. Remember:

• Soon this project will be over.
• Soon it will be 5:00 and you will be sitting on your couch with your wine. It's a time warp thing, not to be minimized.
• Allowing thoughts of regret, anger, and misery to tape-loop through your mind only prolongs the experience. Sure it's satisfying to know how horrible life on this planet can be, but leave it for now. You can pick it up later after the wine wears off.

2.  With a blank mind, all you have to do is pull up a blank Word template and choose a fabulous font. 

3.  Now, simply make words appear on the blank page. It's that easy. 

Remember, no one will read it, and anyone who is not washing their hands now, will probably never wash their hands anyway. 

If you actually want to create a meaningful document, go for it. List the reasons why hand-washing might make sense during a meningitis epidemic. Insert really cute artwork. Put in a graph measuring stuff. 

And then it's completed. And suddenly your "now" moment with the wine and the couch is here, your document is a part of the permanent hospital archives, and you still have your job. 

More on writer's block in the next post.

(c) 2016 Suzann Kale

Beware of Default Spacing

Suddenly everyone in the office has weird and uneven spacing in their memos and bulletin board postings. I figured out that at some point Word put in a default line spacing that left everyone feeling miffed. 

"Yes, I know it looks funny, but that's the way it turned out."

Beware default spacing. As of this writing, Word's default line spacing is 1.15 and its font size is 11. Worst of all, the "Spacing After" (found from the Page Layout tab) is 10. Most of the time, IMHO, this makes lists look bad and instructions difficult to read. 

Whenever you start a document, make sure the line spacing is what you want (I recommend starting at 1, or single spacing, and then changing it later if you need to.), and make sure the "Spacing After" is set at 0. From there you can build your document and format it when it's done, making it exactly the way you want it.

(c)2014 Suzann Kale

Tags: Word, formatting, technical writing, business writing, spacing

Is it Poetry, or PowerPoint?

Lately I've seen a lot of weirdly placed capital letters. In memos, emails, and on websites - there will be a capital letter in the middle of of sentence for no reason. Another variation is a return in the middle of a sentence with a capital letter starting the new line. And sometimes strange returns.

Here are some examples - and it's like this weird plague that seems to be spreading:


Team Members:
Please remember to place your Umbrellas in the hall, not in the office. Yesterday we had
Someone fall because the office floor was slippery.

I've been trying to figure out why this is happening. Are we inadvertently using PowerPoint or headline styles? And are we forgetting to proofread stuff before sending it out?

When proofing your memo, remember that nouns are generally not capitalized in the middle of sentences. And watch out for Word auto-correcting by adding capital letters willy nilly.


(c)2014 Suzann Kale

Tags: PowerPoint, headline, styles, auto-correct, capital letters, proofreading, writing

Pitfalls of Word's Defaults

Word likes to anticipate your faults and make you look illiterate. One of the ways it does this is to capitalize things indiscriminately. The result is often capitalized words in the middle of sentences, making it look like you never learned that a period ends a sentence and a capitalized letter begins a new sentence. 

1. Word will automatically capitalize the first letter of the next word after a period. But you may be putting in a period for reasons other than ending a sentence - like a dot-com situation, or an a.m./p.m notation. Be sure you proofread everything you send out, checking specifically for this. (Different versions of Word do this differently.)

2. Better yet, go into Word and click on "Review." Right-click on "Spelling and Grammar." Click on "Customize Quick Access Toolbar." Look in the left column, and left-click on "Proofing." Left-click on "Auto Correct Options." Uncheck "Capitalize first letter of sentences." Click "OK." Click "OK" again.

3. Now you have to remember to capitalize the first letter of each sentence. But we've been doing that since first grade; I don't think it will be a problem. And the good news is, Word will not be messing with the interior of your sentences.

(c)2014 Suzann Kale

Tags: Word, capitalization, spelling, grammar, proofreading, punctuation