From the monthly archives:

July 2010

Every writer needs an editor, even if it’s you

by Cynthia J. StarksJuly 24, 2010

I’m reading a wonderful book called The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write One, How to Deliver It, by Richard Dowis, an award-winning speechwriter and retired senior vice president of Manning, Selvage and Lee.
The book is chock full of great writing tips and world-class speeches by everyone from Washington, Lincoln, Churchill and [...]

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Blogging more than lead generation, you say

by Cynthia J. StarksJuly 19, 2010

In my last blog, I confessed that my year-old blog on speechwriting has not brought me any business. I asked readers to let me know if their blogs brought them business and, if not, what value they saw in blogging. I got some great responses I’ll share with you now.
Ian Griffin, who writes a [...]

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‘Fess up: Has your blog brought you any business?

by Cynthia J. StarksJuly 12, 2010

 Today, dear friends in the speechwriting and writing blogosphere, I have a serious question: Has your blog brought you any business?
 I have been writing a blog on speechwriting for 13 months. It has been featured on a variety of Web sites, including the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Vital Speeches of the Day, Ragan [...]

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Me and my shadow…collaboratin’ like crazy

by Cynthia J. StarksJuly 8, 2010

A speech I’ve been writing for a new client has the “benefits of collaboration” as a major theme, so I’ve been researching the topic. In doing so, I was delighted to come across Keith Sawyer’s, Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration.
I was doubly delighted to learn that even we solo practitioners – we lonely freelance [...]

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Evaluating the speechwriter, Part 2

by Cynthia J. StarksJuly 5, 2010

A few blogs ago, I wrote about asking my clients to evaluate me as a speechwriter. I had not done this before. I had always focused on having audiences evaluate the speech itself, but I decided to be more pro-active and customer-focused by putting together an evaluation sheet to help clients evaluate their experience of [...]

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