One Liners and Thoughts on Writing Good

Well, if you did not get the gist of this posting from the title, you should get it quickly as you look at the first image. Well?

I did not really know where I wanted to put these things but I did know that I wanted to put them somewhere, so here we go.

The first part is a series of Stephen Wright one-liners that simply align with my basic concept of Square Wheels® in that they are sayings that work, but there is nothing smooth about the process. They are simply thought-provoking, which is exactly what I wanted to accomplish with my images.AND, I would love some comments or likes to this approach if you would like to see more in this style of posting.

So here you go:

We are continuing to develop our tools on The Square Wheels Project and any input you want to share would be greatly appreciated. Our focus is on that interaction between supervisor and workers, to get things to go #morebetterfaster if we can.

In our attempt to be clear and to explain things well, I also thought to share some writing tips:

HOW TO WRITE GOODER – An Ideas

1. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They’re old hat)
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
8. Be more or less specific.
9. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren’t necessary and shouldn’t be used.
12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than unnecessary; it’s highly superfluous.
14. One should never generalize.
15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
16. Don’t use no double negatives.
17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be avoided.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice.
23. Kill all exclamation points!!!
24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
25. Profanity is for assholes.
26. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earthshaking ideas.
27. Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit it when its not needed.
28. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
29. If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times:

Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it effectively.

30. Puns are for children, not for groan readers.
31. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
32. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
33. Who needs rhetorical questions?
34. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
35. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

(source unknown)

Okay, that is certainly enough for one day. Have FUN out there!

For the FUN of It!

Dr. Scott Simmerman is a designer of team building games and organization improvement tools. Managing Partner of Performance Management Company since 1984, he is an experienced presenter and consultant.

You can reach Scott at scott@squarewheels.com
Connect with Scott on Google+

Learn more about Scott at his LinkedIn site.

Square Wheels® is a registered trademark of Performance Management Co.
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