advertising: Word Branch - 07/26/11 04:29 AM
Dear Active Rain Friends,
Thank you all for letting me into your world these last few months. I’ve enjoyed reading your blogs and discussing the ups and downs of written communication.
In an effort to streamline my website and postings, I’m making a few changes. I’ll no longer be posting on Active Rain, but my contact information will remain here. I will be updating my website with a new host, and I think it will be a positive change and shouldn’t disrupt business at all.
I’ve enjoyed writing the Daily Writing Tips and will continue to do so under a new … (2 comments)

advertising: Daily Writing Tip: Everybody’s a Critic - 07/22/11 06:46 AM
Writing can be intensely personal even when it is for public consumption. So when somebody offers advice, we take it personally. The best way to grow as a writer, though, is to listen to sincere criticism, consider its value with an open mind, and apply it when it will make your writing better. 
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advertising: Daily Writing Tips: Possession —Demon or Punctuation? - 07/21/11 08:17 AM
This punctuation mistake makes me cringe when I see it on signs—an apostrophe is NOT decoration!  An apostrophe shows possession or abbreviation. In the case of possession, the apostrophe comes before the ‘s’ at the end of the word (the boy’s wagon). If there is more than one boy who owns the wagon, the apostrophe comes after (the boys’ wagon). 
 
Get Daily Writing Tips in your inbox—email writingtips@crtwriting.com and put Sign me up! in the subject line. CRT Commercial Media specializes in meeting the writing needs of small businesses: http://crtwriting.com
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advertising: Daily Writing Tip: Being “Multi-Lingual” - 07/18/11 06:08 AM
No one is asking you to write in more than one language—English is usually a handful. But consider your audience and purpose when planning your writing. Ad copy, a blog and an essay all have different structures, formats and needs as do other types of writing. Know your writing focus and plan accordingly.
 
Get Daily Writing Tips in your inbox—email writingtips@crtwriting.com and put Sign me up! in the subject line. CRT Commercial Media specializes in meeting the writing needs of small businesses: http://crtwriting.com
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advertising: Daily Writing Tip: Passive/Aggressive - 07/15/11 03:20 AM
To make your writing stronger, avoid using the passive voice. Instead of writing, “The house will be sold” (object-verb) use the subject-verb-object combination: “I will sell the house.” Next week’s tips: Sentence Structure 101
 
 
Get Daily Writing Tips in your inbox—email writingtips@crtwriting.com and put Sign me up! in the subject line. 
CRT Commercial Media specializes in meeting the writing needs of small businesses: http://crtwriting.com 
 
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advertising: Daily Writing Tip: Mark Twain on Understanding - 07/13/11 03:03 AM
"But language is a treacherous thing, a most unsure vehicle, and it can seldom arrange descriptive words in such a way that they will not inflate the facts -- by help of the reader's imagination, which is always ready to take a hand and work for nothing, and do the bulk of it at that."  Mark Twain: Following the Equator
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advertising: Daily Writing Tip: Getting Started Part IV - 07/11/11 04:10 AM
Drafting is the real meat of writing. The rough draft should be an extension of your pre-writing and planning but is still fairly basic. As you move through the drafts, don’t be afraid of making significant changes starting with changes to paragraphs and structure and ending with a careful proofreading.
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advertising: Daily Writing Tip: Getting Started Part II - 07/06/11 04:15 AM
As much as it sounds like common sense, the first thing you should do to start writing is to actually write. I hear a lot of people say, “But it’s all in my head; I’ll write it down later.” This is usually not a successful tactic. A good way to force yourself into converting thoughts into words is to free write. Begin by taking pen in hand and setting a finite period of time—four or five minutes is a good start. Start writing and don’t let the pen stop moving; don’t edit your thoughts and don’t worry about grammar or spelling. … (2 comments)

advertising: Daily Writing Tip: Getting Started - 07/05/11 03:40 AM
One of the most difficult things about writing is getting started, Walter Wellesley Smith said it well: “There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” This week’s writing tips are dedicated to getting started.
 
http://crtwiting.com
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advertising: Daily Writing Tip: Those Tricky Hyphens - 06/30/11 03:14 AM
According to the Modern Language Association, hyphens can be used a number of ways. Hyphens can indicate a span of numbers (10-20) and join prefixes to capitalized words (post-Holocaust). The most confusing use of hyphens is with compound words. Use a hyphen to join two modifying words (top-rated newspaper); however, check the dictionary for specifics because not all combinations follow this rule. Also modifiers ending in ‘ly’ are not hyphenated (candidly told story).
 
http://crtwriting.com
Check out my Facebook page for the Deal of the Month for writing services: https://www.facebook.com/pages/CRT-Commercial-Media/119826638097240
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advertising: Press Release: Valuable Resource or Waste of Time? - 06/29/11 03:55 AM
 
No one can deny that free advertising is a good thing—most of the time. Press releases are a way of having control over what the public sees of you or your company; however, that free advertising can hurt you if you aren’t paying attention.
For the sake of clarity, a press release is defined as a statement issued to the press to give information about an organization. This might be anything from a change in company policy, the advancement of an individual, the company’s involvement in an event, etc. Most often the goal is to show the organization in a … (1 comments)

advertising: Why Is Real Estate Advertising Like Looking for a Job? - 06/15/11 05:56 AM
Despite the warm weather and working out of my home office, I still managed to catch a nasty case of stomach flu last week which delayed my blog about real estate and communication. I’m back on my feet, sort of, this week, and ready to tackle the world . . . or at least this blog.
Through the yearsI’ve worked in various industries doing marketing and commercial writing, and there’s one thing they all have in common: the need for clear communication, free of errors and appropriate for the venue. Over the next few blogs I want to discuss this topic, … (1 comments)

advertising: A Stranger in a Strange Land? - 06/03/11 06:59 AM
Hello real estate professionals!
I’m a new member here at Active Rain, and . . .wait for it . . . not involved in real estate. I’m a writer. So what am I doing here? Well, back to that in a moment.
First I want to tell you a little about my journey to get here. I’ve been a commercial writer for more than 20 years and an adjunct college writing professor for nearly that long. I love writing of all sorts and have done most of types—from proposals to fiction, from advertising to journalism. I won’t get into the particulars; … (5 comments)

 
Catherine Rayburn-Trobaugh (CRT Commercial Media)

Catherine Rayburn-Trobaugh

Marble, NC

More about me…

CRT Commercial Media

Address: PO Box 474, MABLE, NC, 28905

Office: (828) 835-8237

Mobile: (828) 835-6961



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