My Favorite Work

Using Simplified Technical English (STE) to Create Clear, Consistent Documentation

English is the international language of science and technology. Those who do not speak English as their native language, however, may have enough English to get by in conversations but not understand subtle differences with synonyms, homophones, and complex sentence structures. This is where Simplified Technical English (STE) shines.

In the late 1970s, the Association of European Airlines (AEA) asked the European Association of Aerospace Industries (AECMA, now ASD) and the Aerospace Industries

Editing & Proofreading Made Easy: The Power of Polished Content

Have you ever written something, only to see an error after it has been published online — or worse, in print? I’m betting that has happened to everyone at least once — a quickly written paper for school, a magazine article with a strict deadline so you only used spell check, or perhaps a blog post where you used both present tense and past tense interchangeably. While you can easily fix these things in online environment, you miss the chance to make a great first impression if it’s not correcte

From Concept to Completion: Microlearning Design Best Practices

This is the eighth and final post in our series about microlearning.


In today’s fast-paced corporate landscape, traditional training methods are being reshaped by the rise of microlearning. Microlearning delivers bite-sized learning units that focus on specific learning objectives, making it an ideal solution for busy professionals seeking to efficiently enhance their skills. In fact, organizations relying on microlearning for mobile devices, how most microlearning is accessed, saw a 16 perc

The Great Oxford Comma Debate: Should You Use It or Not?

In a nutshell, the $10 million lawsuit (judgment was for $5 million) involved an overtime dispute between Oakhurst Dairy company and its drivers. Oakhurst settled for $5 million. The crux of the judgment was the interpretation of a sentence in Maine’s overtime law — a sentence that did not use the Oxford comma. Judge David Barron said that the law’s punctuation was not clear, as “packing for shipping or distribution” could be seen as one activity or two separate activities.

This Maine law has s

Help! My Goals Already Seem Overwhelming!

This is a guest post from UDLAB Products, a designer of unique and innovative productivity products for the home and office.


It’s nearly the end of February. How are you feeling about your 2024 goals? It’s not uncommon for people to set ambitious goals at the beginning of the year and then feel overwhelmed as they try to achieve them. Here are some suggestions to help you manage them and get back on track.

Are your goals realistic and achievable in the time frame you’ve set? Do you have clea

Embracing the Heartfelt Joys of Our Profession

As Valentine’s Day dawns upon us, it’s not just chocolates and flowers that fill the air with sweetness — it’s the genuine love and passion we have for the work we do each day.

In a world where career paths often feel like a tumultuous dating scene, filled with uncertainty and fleeting romances, our team has found its forever match in our profession. From the first flirtatious encounter with a challenging project to the deep, enduring bond formed over countless victories and setbacks, our love

5 Scary Mistakes Technical Writers Make and How to Vanquish Them

As the eerie winds of October blow and the veil between the realms of the living and the supernatural grows thin, it’s not just ghosts and ghouls that send shivers down our spines. For technical writers, a different kind of terror lurks in the shadows—the bone-chilling mistakes that can haunt both their work and their readers’ nightmares.

Join me on a journey through the dimly lit corridors of technical documentation, where I reveal the five scariest mistakes technical writers make. From ominou

AI Tools Save Time — But Have Shortcomings

In the last year or so, artificial intelligence (AI) content generation tools have been all over the news, from articles about the dangers of AI content farms to Hollywood screenwriters who worry AI will take their jobs. Who can forget the infamous AI-generated legal brief that included non-existent legal cases? However, that doesn’t change the fact that content creators are under pressure to create high-quality content at a fast rate, and ranking high on Google is a huge challenge that is even

Is Your eLearning Accessible to Everyone?

Did you know?
• An estimated 1.3 billion people in the world experience significant disabilities. That’s 16 percent of the world’s population, or about one in six people. (This nearly equals the entire population of India.)
• One in four Americans has some sort of disability (or 25 percent, nearly 83 million people, or more than twice the population of California).
• Deafness or serious hearing difficulties are present in 5.7 percent of Americans (about 19 million, or 1 in 17 people – or close t

Treat Mom to a Relaxing Mini Spa Day - at Home: 3 Ways to Create the Perfect Herbal Bath

Mother’s Day (May 14) will be here before you know it! Instead of gifting Mom a candle, perfume, or a basket of body washes, lotions, and bath bombs that will collect dust, treat her to a mini spa day at home. All it takes are some herbs and a few items you probably already have around the house.

Three different methods to create the perfect herbal bath:
• Combine herbs in a pot and simmer for about 15 minutes. Strain them through a cheesecloth, then pour the water directly into your bath. This

Using UDLAB's Achiever II Planner for Wellness: 9 Ways to Map Your Way

Today is World Health Day! It's a good time to think about your wellness goals. "Wellness” covers a lot of ground, but here I’m referring to physical and mental health. Chances are you have a vague idea of these goals and fit in a little exercise here and there when you have time, or have played around with meditation and journaling but never stuck to it for more than a few days. This is where planning comes in. You should plan steps to reach your achievable goals like you would at work, for you

What is the Johnson Amendment, and why is it controversial?

Note: This is from an article I wrote in 2018.

The Johnson Amendment has been in the news again this week and has been for the last few years. One of President Trump's campaign promises was to repeal it, specifically for churches. However, it is still in effect. What exactly is this law that so few have heard of, and why have people been deabing it for decades?

The Johnson Amendment is named after Lyndon Johnson, who introduced it to the Senate during his 1954 re-election campaign for senator.