Plain style is writing with simple diction, simple sentence structure and clear word images. The three central values of the plain style are Clarity, Brevity, Sincerity.

The new law takes effect in October 2011, when federal agencies must start writing plainly in all new or substantially (considerably) revised documents produced for the public.

The government will still be allowed to write nonsensically to itself.

We can live in hope that someday this new custom will move down to common business agreements and contracts like credit agreements and mortgages so we can actually understand them.

Some progress has been made, but we are a good distance from using plain style as the preferred method. The government can have some control over plain writing when it comes to social responsibility, but now by using formal writing, there are too many places to conceal terms favorable to the contract writer.

We can, however start communicating plainly in our own speech and writing.

Remember, our audience needs to find what they need, understand what they found, and use what they found. We can help them using the three precepts of plain writing: Clarity, Brevity and Sincerity.

The problem is generic identification. 

For years (ca. 900 A.D.) the English language has referred to a generic person as “he” (or his, him, etc.). 

Identification is the act of identifying a person (also animal or thing).  The example given by Dictionary.com for identification is “He carries his identification with him at all times.“ 

Although many writers continue this practice, it is not hard to recognize that females feel a little put off by it. 

So how do we writers identify a generic persona without it being considered “gender favorable” (I prefer that term rather than ‘sexist’)?

If we admit that both genders carry identification, we can change the sentence to “_____ carries _____ identification with _____ at all times,” where the first blank space is filled with “He or she” or “She or He” or “He/she” or “She/he” or “S/he” all awkward constructs, especially when combined with “his or her” or “her or his” in the second blank space and “him or her” or “her or him” in the third blank space.

Picking only one option, the sentence would read something like “He or she carries his or her identification with him or her at all times.“  Yuk.

In established English usage, the generic pronouns like He, His, and Him have been used to identify single persons when they can apply to either or both genders (every writer should raise his right hand), and especially when they apply to indefinite pronouns like Someone, Anyone or Everyone (everyone should raise his right hand). 

There are, of course, ways to simply avoid the problem. 

We can change the number from singular to plural allowing us to use Their, Them or They (all writers should raise their right hand, or all should raise their right hand). 

We can use both references in several ways, all awkward and not widely adopted:

• He or she; she or he; he/she; she/he; s/he
• His or her; her or his; his/her; her/his
• Him or her; her or him; him/her; her/him

We can use the generic “one” as in “One carries one’s identification with one at all times“.

Increasing in usage in all but the most conservative areas, changing the indefinite to plural and therefore avoiding gender-specific “he,” is more and more acceptable.  We can follow the leads of Shakespeare, Shelley, Scott and Dickens who freely used “they” or “anyone” to refer to subjects of indefinite gender. 

I suppose we could invent a new word to refer to a genderless person.  Instead of “his” or “her” we could use “hiser” or “heris.”  Instead of “him” or “her” we could use “herim” or “himer.”  None of these have any current dictionary meanings or thesaurus entries, so I believe we’re safe.

As far as “he” is concerned, both “heshe” and “shehe” when said aloud sound a lot like a braying donkey, although “heshe” is gaining some popularity.

Of course, it might have been a typo (except ‘p’ and ‘f’ are distant and hit by different hands or fingers on the keypad), but instead of saying “oops,” she mounted a defense.  She responded by saying that English is a living language, and even Shakespeare liked to coin words. 

In truth, English is indeed a living language.  During the lifetime of Shakespeare, English was rapidly absorbing new words (about 30,000) from abroad due to war, exploration, colonization, and modification of Latin, Greek and Romance languages.  It caused the evolution of Middle English (e.g. Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales) to Early Modern English, the language of the Renaissance. 

Shakespeare used around 3,000 new words in his works, introducing phrases and vocabulary that made the English language more expressive and colorful.  The popularity of his works helped to standardize the language usage.

Well after Americans were forming their own culture, Noah Webster tried to standardize American speech as one language from the many spoken and written in different parts of the country.  

His first American dictionary contained seventy thousand words, and standardized American spelling.  By 1934, the Webster’s Second International Dictionary contained more than half a million words. 

Today, English is the most widely spoken language in the world, still growing with the combination of words into new words (e.g. email, greenhouse) and adding prefixes and suffixes.  With a million words at their disposal, an average person knows about 20,000 words but only uses about 2,000 on a regular basis. 

Paul J.J. Payack, president and chief word analyst for the Global Language Monitor, tries to keep track of words entering the English language.  His software regularly checks 5,000 websites, news articles and scholarly publications.  New words must make at least 25,000 appearances, make sense in at least 60 percent of the world and to different communities of people.   

The language experts at Merriam-Webster rely on word usage to determine entry into their dictionary.  Their editors constantly scour  a wide variety of reading material, both electronic and in print in search of new words, variant spellings and new uses of existing words.  The word and surrounding context is cited and stored both electronically and on paper.  New words are added based on the number of citations from a wide variety of publications over a considerable time period. 

The Fourth Edition of Merriam-Webster’s Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, the official reference for recreational and school play, endorsed by the National Scrabble Association, contains more than 4,000 new words.   Examples are: za: a pizza; zine: a magazine; jazzbo: a devotee of jazz (Urban dictionary only).

So what should be done about Sarah Palin’s new word, a combination of refuse (to decline to accept) or refute (prove (a person) to be in error) and repudiate (disavow, renounce, discard, disclaim)?

The context will tell.  “Ground Zero Mosque supporters… Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate.”

Or will it?

When I read the now deleted tweet (a short message posted on the Twitter website), I am confused.  The tweet seems directed at peaceful muslims who are ground zero mosque supporters.  It asks them to decline (?) or prove someone in error (?) and renounce (?) the issue.  The simple word might have been “refuse.” 

The message here to writers is to be careful with words used in our articles.  If the words are not definable, or miss the mark of what we are trying to say, or confuse the point, it is very possible the message and our reputation for accuracy will be discounted as well.  

As far as what should be done with “refudiate” I personally think, like most potentially new words, it should be left to swim or sink on its own.

In our minds we visualize this perfect productivity system as being able to take control of the tasks in our lives, resulting in a more satisfying life. 

In our quest for looking for this perfect productivity system we construct a to-do list.  The list resides with pen and paper, notes on the refrigerator, or maybe a whiteboard followed by a computer system, either self-built or purchased, and a dozen other options.

There’s a reason for this quest.  Before we can say to-do, our list has expanded out of control.  Before we know it we have more items on that list than we could possibly accomplish in any reasonable time.  

So what has the list done for us?  It is just made us confused.

On that list are promises to ourselves.  But review of that list reveals promises that we cannot keep in a day, a week, and perhaps a lifetime. 

We have tried to organize the list, dutifully dividing it into “must do,” “should do” and “would like to do” sections.

We review that list and find items where we have absolutely no idea why it is on the list or, in some cases what the entry even means. 

Review also reveals items that can never be done due to changes in circumstances since they were added.  

We meant well.  Items were put on the list so that we could point to it and defend our position that some day the item will be done.

We are now spending more time on maintaining the list than doing the items on the list.  The sheer volume of items is depressing and slows us down. 

Pause for a moment.

Let’s take a moment and reconsider what was the purpose of the list.

The list was started to remind us of things we couldn’t get to today.  Then it was expanded to those items we needed to do in the near future.  As the list grew, it included items we stumbled upon that we might like to do someday. 

What has this list done to our productivity?  What is our cost in time, reviewing items on the list?  What is the sense of putting something on the list that will never get done?

If we were to reach the end of our lives today, no one would care what was on that list.  They would remember what we finished. 

We must keep the list manageable. 

In a large segment of my career, I worked for the executive of a defense contractor.  There were endless meetings to attend, project reports to publish, plans to be made.  My to-do list was fearsome. 

The executive kept his notes in a diary.  I kept mine on individual dated pieces of paper that could be shuffled and prioritized at a moments’ notice. 

He mentioned one time that although I had all these pieces of paper, I would never miss a meeting, a project report, or a deadline, and it drove him crazy.  He was using the latest techniques in productivity planning, yet I was more productive. 

The first reason was the ease of reprioritizing.  He had to constantly search through his diary for notes on a project, while I kept my notes consolidated in a small loose-leaf notebook.  I was able to keep the most important project in my focus, at the front of the book. 

The second reason was the number of pages in my book.  The executive had no way of deleting his notes, so they grew as the year progressed.  In the new year, he carried two diaries for a few months. 

My notebook was constantly being updated with the latest information.  Reports kept track of the history.  I lived in the “now.”  Most of my notes lived in the “must do” section, with a few projects mentioned by the executive in the “should do” section.  If nothing further came of them in a month or two, they were archived from my view and my attention.  There was no “would like to do” section. 

In our own list, we need to look hard at the “would like to do” items.  Can we write a summary of what we would like to do in the future and archive it on a “dream” list?  Those items have no place on a to-do list. We will remember those items that are important to us.   Delete the “would like to do” list entirely. 

Revisit the “must do” and “should do” items and ruthlessly pare them down to the few items that we can see actually accomplishing within a few weeks at most.  If an item is a “should do” and can’t be dealt with for some time, document it and put it into an archive.  It will be there when we need it. 

Keep the to-do list small and manageable.  Reprioritize when necessary.  I still keep my small loose-leaf notebook (and it is still a struggle to finish the most important things on deadline).  I carry it with me for those “waiting” times that somehow populate my day.    

Don’t let the “to-do” list interfere with the “is done” list of accomplishments.  Oh, and as far as the perfect productivity system?  There is none.  Take it off the list. 

Live a vital life. 

I get up at just past 6am every morning.  I’m rested, but my eyes don’t want to come unglued.  My kidneys help me move from the bed.  Thank goodness the coffeepot is on automatic.

Now the list is taking form.  Sugar in the coffee first thing to get my brain in gear.  OK, the list is clearing.  What do I have to do?  Make the bed, empty the dishwasher, and fold the towels.  OK, easy stuff to make my wife’s life a little easier.

Now the commitments: drive Jonathan to work at 2pm, take care of grandson Anthony until 5:30pm when daughter Kristy gets home from work.  Forty-five minutes after that Irene gets home from work and makes dinner. 

My available time today is from about 7am to 2pm, plus that forty-five minutes, plus maybe an hour from 10 to 11 when Irene watches a show (dozing in and out) and I can creep away to my computer.

In my available hours, I need to exercise to keep my expansion from increasing.  We are moving soon, and I have to spend some time in the garage, packing up.  The lawn needs mowing, and there will go an hour.

How depressing.  Why don’t I just watch TV or read the mindless email ads I largely receive and I’ll write later. 

Pain and pleasure: exercise is hard (pain), writing is hard enough (pain) with all those commitments on my list.  Playing with Anthony will be pleasure, and so will mindless TV or eating, which I why I have to exercise.

Sound familiar? 

I’m not good at surrender.  I’ve learned that immediate pleasure often brings pain later, like missing a deadline, or not doing my chores to keep my business or the household moving.  I’ve also learned that immediate pain, like completing my assignments, keeping my commitments and (ugh) exercising will bring pleasure later.

My seven-hour window is my job.  I am paid (later pleasure) only if I show up for work (immediate pain).  I need to be sharp at my job.  A wise person once told me that each unfinished task is like a bleeding wound in your brain.  It diverts your thoughts.

I found a simple answer.  I make a list.  The list many times gets longer than any person could ever hope to accomplish, but I can prioritize it into “must do,” “should do,” and “would like to do.”  Some people use priority 1, 2, and 3. 

I use my word processor, so I can change priorities and deadlines.  I print out a copy every night during that last hour, because I may have a thought during the day for adding a new task, or a better way of doing an existing task.  And I update it with a fresh copy every night.

What does this buy me?

Bandages on the bleeding wounds.  I can devote myself to my job for my five hours, or how long I have without distractions.  I plan to take a break every hour for 10 minutes of exercise.  The breaks don’t come every hour, because I’m writing!  But when I can take a break, I do a small 10-minute routine that stretches my muscles and clears my mind.  It’s a form of pain management.

It works for me.  Try it.

The answer is, you don’t.  It is not necessary to physical survival, and millions of people still get along without it.  If you are just an observer of life, connection to the Internet is enough.  If you only need to connect to a small circle of friends, email is enough.

However, if you have something to say, and want to say it to the world, those are not enough.

A website is your billboard to the world. 

It is where you can say what you have to say to the world, in whatever manner you choose.  Think about Facebook, Digg, Myspace, and other social networking sites.  They provide communication links and opportunities to make new friendships and reactivate old ones.

Think about President Obama who uses the Internet as a communication vehicle to reach millions without interfering with the prime time TV schedule.

And if you have a skill that you hope to make money with, a web page is essential. 

It is a place where people can find you, and hire you if they need your skill.  It is a place where potential customers can analyze your skill and feel comfortable about your qualifications.

Because I’m on the computer so much performing research, I tend to use only businesses that have a website.  A tradesman who doesn’t have a site makes me feel like they don’t know the latest techniques, and if I need something fixed, I want someone who is on the cutting edge.

If you are a writer looking for clients, disparaging as it may seem, you are a tradesman.  Your clients will look at your website for credits and samples of your work.  It becomes your billboard.

Why do you need a website if you are not well known? 

That question comes up next and answers itself.  The website will help you become well known.  While it is true, initially there will not be much content, at least you will have the website design out of the way.

As time goes on and your career rises, you can post credits and clips on the site.  If you hold office in a writer’s group, teach writing courses, or volunteer to speak to writer’s groups at workshops, conferences or online, all that information will go on your website.  After all, how will other writers find out about your writing courses or availability to speak at workshops? 

On your electronic billboard!

Your website link can go on your business cards, and can be included in all writing-related correspondence, and bios – both offline and online.  It can go in any article or book you publish, and on giveaway bookmarks.

There’s a lot to be said when you advertise you are published and available as a speaker.  Time and transportation and free conference registration may be compensated, that gives you the opportunity to network with other writers and publishers and hand out more business cards.  And that’s besides having a good time.

In the midst of hectic events, people cannot remember all you are about as a writer, but when they have your card with your website address on it, they can read at their leisure.  But keep the design simple.  Busy people will quickly move on if the web site is difficult to navigate. 

 A website indicates credibility

A writer who spends the time to create and maintain a website takes their career seriously.  A current resume on your site will provide information for evaluation more than any query can.  When you query online publications, place the resume and home page URLs in your query and let the site do your qualification presentation for you. 

The reason for including your resume page URL is that you should have a separate page for each of your writing skills.  Perhaps you are skilled in article writing, copywriting, ghostwriting and fiction writing.  Each resume will be sharply targeted on its own page toward the specific skill with associated clips of work you have completed.

A website indicates versatility

A writer with multiple pages focusing on different writing skills shows off their multiple talents.  Each section can sell writing projects of different types.  Once you have a flow of traffic coming on a daily basis, your web site will be your own store.  Writing projects for sale complete with testimonials go far toward finding a publisher or employer of your skills.  The traffic flow also shows a potential publisher that you have readers anticipating your next message or project.

It is easier to get a following readership with a website.  Fiction writers find attracting a readership makes them a valuable property.  Every publisher wants to profit from projects that sell.  A well-known writer goes a long way to realizing this goal.  It is win-win.

Do not be afraid of referring to other related websites to help your readers.  The more you give away the more your readers will be loyal to you.  Even if you change your phone number and website address, people will “Google” your name and find you.

A website indicates expertise

If you request feedback from your readers, you can really get to know what they want.  It is sometimes very different from what writers think their readers want, to what they really want.  Post samples of your writing online and ask for honest feedback.  When you know your target audience intimately, you can shape your writing to fit.  Your readers will buy, and publishers will seek after you as a selling writer.

A website creates a meeting hub

Creating a comment chain, discussion thread (like a forum) or message board allows other writers, publishers and potential clients to meet you in discussion.  If you respond to each e-mail and question, you’ll make valuable contacts and network with others in your field.  And you can stay in contact with your readers.  This is of utmost importance.

Staying in touch includes emails to offer them free reports or news of your field (you are the expert), as well as offering your products for sale.  When your name consistently pops up in front of potential clients, and you show that you are responsive, they are more inclined to send their writing assignments your way.

Since the Internet is world wide, you may gain clients from faraway countries you never would have met if it weren’t for your meeting hub.  And they buy books as well.

Establishing a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page will answer many of your visitor’s questions and save you from repeatedly responding to the same inquiries.  Where do you get the FAQ list?  You get them from your visitor’s questions.

Creating relationships is the key to success in the writing business, and your web site allows you to foster a caring interactive relationship with every one of your readers.

Your competition has a website

This statement should strike you with fear.  You are giving your assignments away to your competitors who have the client’s attention.  Are you going to let them get away with that?  After all, you write better than they do.  Show them!

But the secret life you enjoy is beyond their comprehension.  To them, the only people who are “respectably” employed are those who have an employer and a regular salary.

Well, I have an employer, and I have a regular salary. 

The difference is my employer is spread among the clients I work for.  I have as many clients as I bid for and win, and many are repeaters.  They have one employer who can say “goodbye” at any time.  Their employer number is either one or zero.

I also have a regular salary.  I will admit I have two sources of permanent income from investments over the years, which makes my life easier than some, but my “regular” salary comes from banking the checks from client jobs and paying myself on a schedule the same as a job.

What are the other differences?  My commute is 20 seconds to my home office.

But I have a taskmaster of a boss.  I don’t get fired, but I’m made to feel guilty every time I don’t put in a full day.  And I do put in a full day, by following some rules and having some discipline.

Dress for the Job

Because of the small commute, my tendency is to put off shaving and work in shorts or pajamas.  After all, who is going to see me (well maybe the FedEx guy).

But writing is my job, and I found that getting dressed as if I was going to work puts me into a work mood.  I may wear jeans, but I don’t skip shaving or brushing my hair.  Plus, during the time I’m preparing for work, my mind goes over the things I want to cover today. 

Get to work on time.

My commute, when I worked in New York City, was more than an hour.  Now I live in a smaller town, the average commute is less, but I pretend it’s still there, so I really get two hours extra per day without the risk of being in a road accident.

Now I could sit down and just enjoy my coffee for that hour, but instead, I take out a pad and write myself a list of notes, expanding and prioritizing the items I thought of when I was getting dressed.

The one thing I emphasize is that I sit down at the same time each weekday morning for exactly one hour before I log on my computer.

By keeping to a schedule, I make it easier on my family, and myself, for I don’t feel guilty logging off at night.  I sometimes work overtime when I have a crash project, or need to keep my ideas flowing, but my brain tells me when I’ve had enough.

Separate Work from Home.

There are many ways to separate work from home.  Ideally, an extra bedroom or private space that has a door you can close is great.  It should be a space that can be heated in the winter and cooled in the summer.  Freezing and sweating are roadblocks to productivity.

If a closed-off space is not available, screen off a room corner or sit at a table facing a wall.  Facing the wall minimizes distractions.  Under no circumstances, allow the TV or the remote to be within your range of sight.  Distractions like that lead to cheating on your schedule, and before you know it, you’ll be watching a movie or two while you do your laundry.

The kitchen is a tough distraction.  It’s hard not to go and make coffee and have a snack every hour.  I know.  Before long, you’ll be rolling instead of walking there.  I take a 20-minute break after two hours during the workday,one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  And to keep from the calories, I’ll do some exercise that doesn’t kill me, but gets my blood going. 

If you have no workspace you feel comfortable in at home, go to the library every day – either the public library or a college library.  Hopefully, you will have a laptop, and many of these facilities have a wi-fi network broadcasting.

Set Goals

The first thing I do each morning is to set and update my goals; some for the day, some for the week, and some for the month.  I have to estimate how long a job will take to make this work, but after finishing less than half your goals for a while you’ll get a feel for it. 

At the end of the day, I evaluate how I did on my daily goals.  I’m over-optimistic and never complete my list, but I get a lot more done than if I had no list.

If you were to write four pages a day, at around 500 words per page, in one 30-day month you can complete a 60,000-word book.

You will know if you are getting lazy when you estimate two hours for a report that you know should be done in a half hour.  These are all your choices. 

Goals are the pillars of a career plan.  Stretch out your goals far enough and you will know where you should be in ten years.

Go out to lunch.

The freelance writing life is lonely.  No one understands what you are trying to accomplish.  Even the client has a somewhat different idea to what the finished product should be.

The isolation can drive you crazy – and I mean that seriously.  We all need human contact.  Two or three days per week, schedule lunch with a client or another independent.  Join a business networking group or business community service group with weekly lunch meetings.  You will be amazed how much extra work will drift your way.

Refresh

This is a debatable item in this society where working 24/7 is admirable, but I take a power nap after lunch.  The power nap is a documented refresher that many people don’t or aren’t able to take.

The power nap is 20 minutes, no more, no less.  In that time, your body will rest and refresh for the afternoon.  More than that and you will be groggy the rest of the day.

Market

I spend two hours a day scanning for new work, calling existing clients and new leads.  I break it up one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon.  If I don’t do this diligently, my backlog of work starts to get light.

Make up a writer’s resume and keep it updated with new accomplishments.  Be careful about naming clients unless you have their express permission to do so in writing.

Bank the fees

This is where my salary comes in.  I bank the fees and work out a schedule of payments to myself, and so I know when I need a pay increase.

But overall, if you approach things smartly, you can make a lot more money freelance than working for someone else.  That is, if you put down that remote.

What a marvelous editorial for a writer.  There have been so many writers in history, known and unknown, who have contributed to our rich cultural ‘phraseology’ by what they have written.

For years (more than I care to remember), I have wanted to be a professional writer.  The closest I came was publishing short quips used by a national magazine as a monthly feature.

Instead of following my passion, it had to take its place in the priority of my life.  I enjoy my family, and they are what they are today, because I deferred what I wanted for what they needed.

I have not been idle these many years.  My talents as a writer have been used by employers and organizations to further their ends, and I willingly collaborated my talents with their needs.  It kept my passion at bay, feeding it with pages that became reams of reports, newsletters, and organizational plans.  And, I guess, since I received compensation where wrting was part of my job, I can consider myself a professional writer.

Now I find myself in a time when my children are grown and have their own families.  It is an opportunity for me to consider writing as more than a part-time and less than a full-time occupation (I avoid the word ‘job’ for its negative connotations).

And the question I ask myself is, who is in command?  Who is the ultimate decision maker on what I spend my time?  I have to look in the mirror for that answer.  Yes, I deferred my desires for the well-being of my family, and somewhere along the timeline, my strong desire was forced further and further back in importance.  I didn’t lose command of my writing time, I gave it away.  I put it into a drawer for the ‘someday’ that never came.

A wise person told me once that “graveyards are full of unrealized dreams.”  They were correct.  In my ‘Now’ I have the opportunity to take my dream out of the drawer and take command of my writing and my life.

So what are the goals of this blog?  A major goal is to encourage myself that what I write is more than “Yadda, yadda,” a phrase which has found its way into the Oxford English Dictionary.  Who wrote that?  (It actually was first used by Lenny Bruce, but the Seinfeld series (episode 153, 8th season) brought it into our common language.  Sorry, I digress.

One of my goals in this blog is to give myself encouragement that I can do this.  Family and friends will try to give encouragement, but I have found that encouragement has to come from within myself.  That little voice inside has to be always saying “you can do this.”

I will encourage myself by listening to my little inside voice and publishing this public written record of my thoughts and experiences on writing, recaps of articles I find on writing techniques, as well as my own stories from flash fiction to novels.  That’s enough to start with as I take command.

And who knows, maybe someday, someone will utter a phrase, and I can say, “I wrote that.”  Or better still, someone will say to me, “You wrote that.”

P.S.  The movie was marvelous.  If you want to get it, here’s the link.

DVD    Soundtrack