‘God save us from vague generalizations.’ So said Anton Chekhov. 

Great writers like him know the importance of using words that exactly convey their message. I hadn’t seen the word ‘specificity’ outside of bio-chemistry until I read Sol Stein’s Stein on Writing, the best bible for real writers - bar none. Particularity is another key element in Stein’s book, but that will wait for another post.  Read more

Toilet Paper is back on the supermarket shelves at long last. Pasta supplies are still spotty but improving, restrictions are being lifted but checkouts will remain painfully slow a while longer. As I said at the beginning, it was matter of weeks to get to this point, not months. Our government’s national council that included the state premiers took the tough decisions just in time.  Read more

While PM Scott Morrison and his coal-cuddling colleagues defend their use of accounting tricks, action by others will deliver Australia's Paris emission reduction targets a whole five years earlier. I chart this surprising development, lamenting that Scotty from Marketing will likely take full credit, anyway.       
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If you have a super smart, cut-through technology, the last thing you want is for your targets to think it's unoriginal or 'me too'. So why would you want your content to be? Sure, not every technology is truly disruptive but, if you want to cut through with targets, your content must be. We explore why and how to do it.     Read more

Prime Minister Morrison has failed to come up with an energy policy, and left the industry in deep despair. Now events have overtaken the PM and left him in their dust, while smart entrepreneurs and investors forge ahead on their own. I chart the saga in despair. myself.  Read more

Creative Confidence in Disguise?
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Having owned and loved horses all my younger life and lost two to tragic deaths*, I can’t fathom how anyone could knowingly kill a healthy horse. While everyone's talking about cruelty, find out what the real issues are in horse racing, why a shakeup is overdue - and how you can help.    Read more

If you're a film buff you'll know the name Billy Wilder, the Hollywood writer/director who co-wrote and directed classics like Sunset Boulevard, Some like it Hot, The Apartment and Double Indemnity. Recently a post from Mark John Hiemstra at Unbounce called Direct Your Landing Pages Like a Hollywood Legend caught my attention. I investigate how much we can still learn from greats like Billy.   Read more

I recently read Barry Humphries’ autobiography 'My Life as Me'. It’s a rollicking, spell-binding read if you can ignore the fatal flaw: obscure, convoluted words. I nearly gave up. Discover how the right words matter, especially in marketing, and 6 fast ways to choose the right ones, every time.     Read more

Are you cool with sharing your personal details, habits and movements on social media or being recorded when you're shopping or walking down the street? You shouldn't be. In this post I reveal what's really happening with your data - and mine. You should be white hot with rage. I am.    Read more