*when HiFi is just not an option

Do you sound smarter when you use big words?
According to a study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology , the answer is no.
In fact, complex writing makes you sound small-minded. Just consider the title of the study: Consequences of erudite vernacular utilized irrespective of necessity: problems with using long words needlessly.
Wouldn’t it be better to title [...]

Whether it’s a cover letter for your resume, a sales pitch to a client, a blog post, a Twitter tweet, or an internal business proposal, all of us need to write in a way that draws the reader closer to us.
We need writing that’s compelling, interesting, and unique. We need writing that’s magnetic.
Some think that [...]

Anyone can write a paragraph, but not everyone knows how to write one that other people want to read.
You’ve seen it:
You open a book, and the whole page is one long block of text.
Each sentence in the paragraph makes exactly the same point, said in a slightly different way, and you wonder why they didn’t [...]

Write. Edit. Write. Edit. Edit. Edit. Edit. Write.
Does this sound familiar? If it doesn’t then you’re probably from Mars, because most of us drive ourselves crazy with self-editing when we write.
And it’s not only when writing.
We self-edit when we’re walking. When you walk on gravel, you walk differently than when you walk on grass.
We self-edit [...]

Think it’s impossible to write with a knife?
Not at all. You might even say it’s essential.
Well, to be more precise, no one actually writes with a knife. But good writers do edit with one.
For them, writing involves two separate but closely intertwined mindsets: crafting their message and then cutting away everything that’s not [...]

Some writers don’t seem to know when to shut up. They ramble and pontificate and theorize, seemingly oblivious to the agony it’s causing everyone else.
To avoid this awful fate, you probably try to keep your posts short, chopping up longer ideas into a series of posts. No need to scare away readers by dumping too [...]

Vampires are everywhere at the moment. At the movies (Twilight), on your TV (True Blood) … and in your copy.
It’s nothing new. E.B. White recognised the problem in his revision of Strunk’s Elements of Style:
“Rather, very, little, pretty – these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words.”
White was [...]