Writing on the Web from Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Wishy-Washy Writing: Just delete these 5 words

This is worth reading and not just because it echoes my thoughts every time I read someone's blog writing that's too wishy-washy: 5 Words You Can Cut Out, from the Daily Writing Tip:

1. just
2. really
3. quite
4. perhaps
5. that

I have to add two:

1. maybe
2. very

Every time you re-read your writing, be on the look-out for these wishy-washy offenders and make your writing stronger, better.

Mega Speaking Event: Quick summary of take-away points

This is hard: three days of top speakers delivering high energy content to 500 people from 7:30 a.m. to 8 at night, with power networking during meals and breaks. Mark Victor Hansen is a man with a huge heart and colossal visions and goals. If you get a chance to attend any of Mark's Mega Events (books, marketing, selling) do so!

I'm beat. But I learned a ton of stuff I'll share with you. We're all speakers even if we only present our message to one person at a time. I'm learning how to present to larger audiences so we can grow The Blog Squad business and reach more people. Mark's Mega Speaking Event showcases the best speakers in the business.

Marshall Sylver, who I knew as a stage hypnotist 15 years ago, is now delivering the bigger message: we are what we believe and we do what we believe we can. His steps for success are:

1. Self mastery: learn to control your thoughts and emotions
2. Tools: learn to use the ones you need for maximum leverage (did he mean blogs and Carts? I think so...)
3. Take Action Now!

Doug Wead is a powerful speaker I had never heard before, a former White House speech writer, and I'll be listening to his CDs soon. He's in Wikipedia if you want to know more. His message: Connect your audience with a deeper purpose to help transform their lives.

Mega Speaking Event gets Patsi out from behind her computer...

Road Trip! I'm driving to L.A. on Thursday to attend Mark Victor Hansen's 3 day Mega Speaking Event at the Westin LAX. If you're going, please let me know and let's meet up.

Yes, I'm going to vacate my cozy home office, abandon my tennis matches, and appear at a LIVE event. It's okay, I'm taking my trusty laptop and will be hiding in the back of the room.

I know, I know...I just did the L.A. drive and live-person workshop last week. What's wrong with me? Have I flipped my introverted wig? Or am I just tallying up tax deductions before the end of the year?

Apparently I'm in a learning mode: copywriting last week, speaking this week. Next week it's off to Las Vegas for the BlogWorld and New Media Expo! I'll be fried and ready for a year in a library after all this.

The Blog Squad is splitting up to soak up as much professional development as possible. Denise is attending  Ken McCarthy's System Intensive Saturday in Los Angeles at the very same Westin hotel at the airport. So if you can join us for lunch or dinner, let us know.

And, by the way, if you want to go to the BIG BlogWorld and New Media Expo you can get a 15% discount on your registration as a Blog Squad VIP. Use promo code BSVIP to get your discount.

Hey, it's a good excuse to go to Las Vegas, and The Hubby is joining me for a naughty weekend!

Speaking: Another marketing tool to master

I'm off to downtown San Diego today, to attend the National Speakers Association conference, "Speaking with Soul and Substance." 

Why do this? Anyone who knows me knows I love being behind my computer. For one thing, Tom Antion told us (The Blog Squad) we really should add speaking gigs as part of our marketing and revenue building plan for the coming year.

For another, since Denise and I are being asked to speak anyway, I want to see what others are doing, how to make our presentations more exciting, less boring.

Not that presenting on blogs is boring. But anything you talk about continuously can get that way, if you don't deliver with enthusiasm and pizazz! I want to see how the professionals do it.

I also want to meet up with speakers who blog. Ian Griffin, who writes an excellent blog, is hosting a special interest meet-up with bloggers tonight.

Women vs Men: Twice as many words, or the same?

There's new study that says that men and women use the same number of words during a day. But that doesn't mention if the words represent the same or new concepts. Here's the joke:

A husband looking through the paper came upon a study that said women use more words than men. Excited to prove to his wife that he had been right all along when he accused her of talking too much, he showed her the study results. It read "Men use about 15,000 words per day, but women use 30,000".

The wife thought for a while, then finally she said to her husband "It's because we have to repeat everything we say."

The husband said "What?"

Men speak just as many words per day -- about 15,669 -- vs. the 16,215 women do during a 17-hour day. That's according to research (subscription req'd) published today in the journal Science. The findings contradict widely reported, yet unsubstantiated claims that women speak up to 20,000 words per day vs. 7,000 uttered by men.

This was shared by the Church of the Customer blog.

My question is this: do you think that women use more words when they write? I would say yes! Women, or at least some, are more aware of the emotional context and therefore would  address more issues than just the facts when writing on a topic.

But this is my own perspective and may not represent the majority. What's your opinion?