Should You Send Them a Holiday Card?

There’s no doubt that electronic communication is fast and convenient, but there’s one time of year when we seem to prefer a more conventional approach. Americans send 1.6 billion holiday cards by postal mail annually, proving that we still favor tradition when the days get shorter and the year draws to a close.

A Little History Sir Henry Cole of London commissioned the first Christmas card in 1843 by having an artist create an image for a holiday greeting. He then had two batches of cards printed—2,050 in total—and sold them for a shilling each. Over the years, holiday cards gained momentum. Today, even the White House gets in on it. Since Calvin Coolidge issued the first official Christmas message to the American people in 1927, it’s been traditional for the president and first lady to send White House Christmas cards each year.

A Little Help Despite tradition, the holidays are a busy time and you might be tempted to cross holiday cards off your to-do list. Before you do, we have a few tips on how to wrap up this annual task faster than you can say “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”! Remember that not everyone you’ve ever met needs to get a card this year. If you’re still sending yuletide cheer to distant relatives and old friends whom you haven’t actually spoken to in decades, it may be time to cross them off the list. If you don’t want to feel like a total Grinch, consider sending an environmentally friendly ecard instead. Our tongue-in-cheek flowchart will help you decide who to ditch! When it comes to getting your holiday cards sent out, organization is key. You know how Santa’s elves manage to make all those toys? No, it’s not magic; it’s efficient production. If you’re using snail mail, prevent carpal tunnel syndrome and embarrassing spelling errors by printing out address labels. Draft a message on your computer (and check it for grammar mistakes; may we suggest Grammarly?), then copy it by hand onto your cards or cut and paste into your ecard. It’s a lot easier to work in batches, completing each step for all your cards. Sending holiday cards can be a delightful way to let people know you’re thinking of them. Put on some seasonal music, pour a glass of eggnog, and carry on this time-honored tradition.

Holiday Card Flowchart for Pro Adults

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5 Biggest Business Writing Mistakes

We use the expression “there’s no room for mistakes” when we want to underline the importance of doing something correctly. But still, as you probably know from experience, mistakes appear whether there’s room for them or not. When they turn up in your business reports, memos, business emails and letters, and job applications, it can be downright embarrassing. We’ve gathered the biggest and most embarrassing, potentially devastating, and sometimes sneaky mistakes people make in business writing.

1 Using i.e. and e.g. Interchangeably

I.e. and e.g. might look similar. They even have somewhat similar meanings. But they are not the same, and they shouldn’t be used interchangeably. I.e. is an abbreviation of “id est,” which translates from Latin as “that is,” and e.g. is an abbreviation of “exempli gratia,” which translates as “for example.” Use i.e. to expand or explain something you’ve already introduced. Use e.g. to introduce an incomplete list of examples for something you mentioned earlier in the sentence.

2 Writing with an Improper Level of Formality

Different industries and different types of businesses are accustomed to different levels of formality in written communication. For example, if you were to write a business letter to a partner in a law firm or a big corporation, you’d be well advised to use a very formal business writing style—use a colon after greeting and follow all the other conventions of formal business letters. On the other hand, a CEO of a startup, even if it’s a very successful startup, might not mind if you start a business letter with “Dude!” Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but things like emoticons have no place in traditional business writing, even though they might be okay in industries that are more open to informality. When in doubt, err on the side of formal.

3 Overusing Exclamation Points

There are some things that you should never do with exclamation points in business writing. You shouldn’t write three of them in a row, even if you want to make sure your point really gets across. You shouldn’t write three of them in the same paragraph either, because that has to be one exclamatious (not a real word) email you’re writing if there’s such a need to exclaim. Generally, you can use actual words to express excitement, disbelief, surprise, or whatever you are tempted to use the exclamation points for. Save them for those really important occasions when you really need them, or when you want to express enthusiasm in the greeting or closing of a letter.

4 Problems with Clarity

“Problems with clarity” is an umbrella term we’ll use here for a whole bunch of mistakes people make that affect the clarity of their business writing. Mistakes such as writing too much in the passive voice, overuse of prepositional phrases, and confusing pronouns can all lead to problems with clarity. Overly complex sentences kill clarity. In business writing, it’s often best to keep it as short and informative as you possibly can. Exceptions exist, as they always do, but the rule of thumb is to never use two words when one will do, and never use complicated language when you can say it in plain English.

5 Bad Timing

You can craft a perfectly worded email, chock full of well-explained and well-presented information, and you can proofread it over and over until there are no mistakes in grammar or spelling. But if you send it too late, the information might lose its relevance and then all the work you put into it won’t matter much. This is especially important when replying to business-related messages. With emails, the standard is to respond within twenty-four hours; for written correspondence, it’s five days. If it takes you longer than that, the person waiting for your reply can become worried, frustrated, angry, insulted, or simply uninterested in what you have to say.

Comma Rules for Business Emails

Let there be no mistake—the comma wields a power far greater than its humble looks might suggest. “You will go you will return never in the battle you will perish” is the most famous example of it. This saying is usually attributed to the Oracle of Delphi, and it is supposed to be an answer to the question of whether or not to go to war. If you place a comma before “never,” the answer becomes a green light. Place it after “never,” and the answer becomes a warning against going to war.

In your average business email, a comma is very unlikely to represent the difference between life and death. Still, a misplaced one can change the meaning and tone of the message, which can cause confusion and undesired consequences. So let’s go over the two most important uses for commas in business emails.

Commas and Salutations

A business email starts with a salutation, and a salutation ends with a comma, right? Wrong. In business emails, the most formal way of ending a salutation is with a colon. So instead of “Dear Mrs. Johnson,” you should write “Dear Mrs. Johnson:” and then continue with the body of the message. In some cases, it might not be a faux pas to use a comma at the end of the salutation. You might write a business email where the utmost formality is not necessary, and in that case, the colon is not required. If you’re unsure, play it safe and end with a colon.

A salutation usually has two components: a greeting or an adjective, and the name or title of the person you’re addressing. In the previous example, the salutation is composed of an adjective and a name, and there’s no comma between the two. However, a comma should separate a direct greeting and a person’s name. So if you were to write “Good morning, Mrs. Johnson,” you’d have to place a comma between “Good morning” and “Mrs. Johnson.”

Commas, Coordinating Conjunctions, and Semicolons

The most common coordinating conjunctions are and, or, nor, so, but, yet, and for. We use them to connect elements in a sentence that are grammatically similar, such as two verbs, two nouns, two modifiers, or two independent clauses. A conjunction can be used to start a sentence, in which case it usually shouldn’t be followed by a comma:

But in the last quarter of 2015, we’ve seen an increase in consumer activity.

If a coordinating conjunction is placed in a list of two items, there’s no need to use a comma before it:

The departments that had most of the activity were toy stores and gift shops.

If, on the other hand, the conjunction is used before the final element in a list of more than two items, a comma may go immediately before it:

Toys, plastic Christmas trees, and spirits went out of stock.

If a coordinating conjunction joins two independent clauses, put a comma before it:

The suppliers were contacted immediately, so we were able to restock the missing items in time.

Sometimes, however, a comma and coordinating conjunction isn’t the best way to join two independent clauses. In fact, it can cause confusion, and that’s something you want to avoid in a business email. If you have two independent clauses that themselves contain a few commas, you should use a semicolon instead of a comma to separate them. For example, your first independent clause might contain an introductory element followed by a comma, and your second independent clause might have a nonessential element that’s between two commas:

In the meantime, the consumers were encouraged to look around other departments; and that’s what, it turned out, led to a small increase in sales of non-seasonal items.

In this case, the coordinating conjunction should have a semicolon in front of it.

So there they are—a couple of simple guidelines for using commas in business emails. With these in mind, you can stop worrying about offending your business associates by accidentally sending them informal emails. You’ll also enhance the clarity of your writing. But remember, the comma is powerful; you should study it in detail. Good thing you’re in exactly the right place to do that!

Here’s How to Get out of Meetings with Grace

I once worked remotely for a company that had a regular content editor meeting every Friday. That meeting was the bane of my working existence. We’d all gather on a conference call line starting at 10 a.m. We’d arrive with good intentions, but inevitably no one had an agenda and we’d walk away (sometimes hours later) without having reached any actionable conclusions. The only thing anyone would act on would be to take a few minutes at the start of next week’s meeting to bemoan the lack of things we accomplished with the previous one.

I was required to be at those meetings, although often I didn’t have anything to contribute other than a few futile requests that we get back on track. Any track. I would find excuses to bail whenever I could. (Oops! My cat is trapped in the dryer vent. Okay, bye-eee!) The number of times I was inexplicably “sick” on Fridays was growing suspicious. I’m ashamed to admit that, because I had a headset I could mute, occasionally I’d fall asleep and wake to find myself softly snoring.

According to Inc., ninety-nine percent of meetings are a complete waste of money. And yet, even though everyone hates them, they’re a staple of corporate culture. Knowing how to get out of non-essential meetings gracefully is a job skill that can save you hours of torment and help you get more done.

Just say no to (unnecessary) meetings

Many of us persevere when it comes to meetings because we don’t want to be that person—the slacker who skips the meetings everyone else dutifully attends. But while yawning your way through every meeting might make you feel super committed to your work, it might also make you less productive.

The key to saying no to meetings lies in figuring out whether the meeting is essential for you and, if it’s not, making it known that there are better ways you could be spending your time. Here’s how to wiggle out without damaging your status as a team player.

1Take a “fewer meetings” stance.

Unless you’re clear on the reasons for a meeting from the get-go, question its purpose. Adopt the stance that every meeting should have to justify its existence. Although you shouldn’t insult meeting organizers by suggesting their meetings are superfluous, don’t be afraid to voice alternatives like “Is this something we could handle in email or Slack?” Ultimately, you’ll be a hero if you’re able to reduce the number of meetings your team holds.

Here’s a tip: Some offices are jumping on the trend for having a meeting-free day each week. If yours isn’t one of them, consider it an initiative to work toward. Make sure you frame your meeting-free idea as a push for more productivity and not a whiny rant against the tyranny of meetings. The Harvard Business Review has some advice for making it happen.

2Determine whether your presence at the meeting is essential.

Not all meetings are created equal. Just because you’ve been invited to one doesn’t mean that you’re a key player. And who needs meetings that involve sitting around listening to everyone else talk?

When you get a meeting invite, ask for more details or an agenda. It’s perfectly okay to ask what your role will be. This lets your colleagues know that you value your time and want to spend it wisely.

3Ask for help establishing your priorities

I’m going to share a little secret with you. In fact, this tactic works so well for getting out of meetings that it should be in every worker’s bag of tricks. Simply ask the meeting holder to help you prioritize. Should you put the meeting first, or the project you’re working on? It looks something like this:

“I’m scheduled for the 10 a.m. content team meeting tomorrow morning. I’m working on finishing the [insert big project here]. Would you rather I prioritize the meeting or the project?”

Odds are good that the meeting holder is going to insist you prioritize the project. And, if he or she doesn’t, then you’ll know the meeting really is one you shouldn’t miss. This simple technique has helped me step out of many a meeting so I could focus on getting work done over listening to people talk about the work I should be getting done. Give it a try!

4Push for meeting notes.

Many companies have staff meetings for information sharing. For most players, they involve listening and learning about current plans and happenings affecting the team. You may not have a crucial role in the meeting, but that doesn’t mean the information you might glean from it isn’t important.

A simple change in meeting strategy could make staff meetings something people can bow out of when they have higher priority tasks to work on. Bring up the idea of having someone keep meeting notes at each session so that everyone who’s unable to attend will have access to the information that was shared and any action items that were determined. To keep things fair, the note taking task can fall to a different person each session. (Be sure you volunteer to be the note taker, too.)

If notes aren’t a possibility, show your commitment by briefly following-up with the meeting leader so you can get up-to-date.

5Ask to step out when the meeting no longer pertains to you.

Sometimes, you’ll attend a meeting where only part of the agenda is relevant to you. If you’re particularly busy, it’s okay to request that the team address those pertinent agenda items first so you can bow out when the meeting shifts to topics that aren’t in your purview. Chat with the meeting organizer a few minutes before the meeting to explain that you’re trying to manage your time and prioritize, and you’d be grateful if he or she could tackle your items first.

Here’s a tip: Take a seat by the door. That way it’ll be easier for you to bow out when the meeting is no longer relevant to you. Avert your eyes from the envious gazes of your less meeting-savvy colleagues who didn’t make an escape plan like you did.

There’s no reason to whine or make excuses to get out of meetings. All that’s required if you want to skip the talk and get to the action is to show your team that the company will be better served if you don’t attend. If you want your superiors and teammates to value your time, it’s important to show that you value it, too.

How To Keep Your Kids Writing During Holiday Break

Writing is like falling in love. Those who really succeed at the endeavor are those who are willing to put their hearts out there and risk being rejected. As you can imagine, this can be a wonderful experience–or it can be agonizing. At least for adults.

For children, falling in love with writing is less dramatic. It’s about learning to tell their stories and committing to paper all of the make-believe worlds they have created. The agonizing part of the process is finding the discipline to keep on writing when they’d rather be doing something else. This is evident during winter break, when the lure of shopping or sledding may be stronger than that of writing.

So, what is the best way to encourage young writers to practice their craft this holiday season? Read on for some practical tips.

Fill your child’s life with stories. Read to your children every day from various types of books. Take turns reading the pages aloud, or read from books that are above their reading level. Tell your own stories at bedtime, and or even when you are on a long car trip or waiting in the doctor’s office. Talk to your children constantly about everything. By keeping them aware of the world around them, as well as other pieces of literature, you’ll expand their imagination (and vocabulary!) and teach them that when they write, the sky is the limit.

Celebrate your child’s writing. When your child brings you a piece of paper with scribbles on it and tells you it’s her name, you’re looking at the child’s earliest form of writing. If you appreciate the work that she does from a young age, she will continue to do it. Celebrate all forms of her writing and she will be filled with the confidence to keep writing–even if it is the holiday season.

Practice what you preach. If you want your child to continue to write over the holidays, make sure he sees you do the same. Any time you write something–whether it’s an email or a grocery list–invite him to help if it is appropriate. Addressing holiday cards is a great opportunity to include children in your writing activities during the holiday season.

Give your child the tools. The tools can be as simple as a writing surface and a container of chalk, pens, and markers. Just make sure she is comfortable and relaxed in her chosen space. Providing a comfortable space for writing helps children and adults alike, as it associates positive feelings with the act of putting pen to paper.

Write with your child. Invite your children to write a story with you. Encourage younger ones to draw illustrations for the story while you write, and then switch jobs. Making writing a way to spend quality time with your children will make them want to do it again and again.

In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it can be easy to forget about writing. However, by making some simple changes in your holiday routine, you can provide your child with the building blocks necessary to become a lifelong writer and storyteller.

How are you encouraging your children to write this holiday season? Share your tips with us.

How to Connect Sentences

One of the primary marks of a good writer is the ability to connect sentences properly. A stream of short, choppy sentences makes for a boring read, whereas long sentences strung together can be tedious or even confusing for the reader. In this article, we’ll discuss how to connect sentences in a way that is not only grammatically correct but also stylistically effective.

How to Connect Sentences Using Transition Words

One of the easiest and most effective ways to connect sentences is by using transition words. These words are designed to help you make the transition from one idea to the next as you write. If your sentences do not transition smoothly from one to the next, the effect is a choppy, disconnected writing style which makes your reader’s brain work overtime to fill in the missing parts. By learning how to use transition words properly, you can avoid this common pitfall. Different transition words have different effects on the meaning of your sentences. Review the transition words below for an illustration:

Effect	Transition Words
To emphasize or add to an idea	likewise, in addition, also, as well, furthermore, again, moreover
To transition to a different or even opposite idea	conversely, nevertheless, on the other hand, on the contrary, although, even though, but, yet, while, however, except
To reach a conclusion	thus, therefore, consequently, as a result, because, since, as, so, inasmuch as
To admit a concession	admittedly, of course, naturally
To point out a sequence	first/second/third, a/b/c, lastly, next, then, finally, after that, until

These words should be used naturally—even sparingly. If you use too many of them, the reader gets flung from one idea to the next, and is reminded of being on a bad roller coaster.

Connecting Sentences Using Colons and Semicolons

Another popular way of connecting sentences is through the use of punctuation marks—namely colons and semicolons. When using this method, it is important to keep in mind how the connecting sentences are related. For instance, colons should introduce a list, example, or explanation of the previous idea. Consider the sentences below and pay attention to how the colon is used in each sentence.

The professor covered many etiquette topics before beginning class: talking, sleeping, and use of cell phones.

In the sentence above, the colon is used to introduce the list of etiquette topics the professor addressed.

I forgot one of the things I needed most at the store: milk.

In this sentence, the colon is used to introduce an example of one of the forgotten items.

There are few things you need to know to be successful in life, yet so few reach their true potential: knowing and doing are very different indeed.

In the sentence above, the colon is used to introduce an explanation for the idea expressed before the colon.

Semicolons can also be used to join sentences and should be employed when the sentences are related. Consider the following example:

I’m a cat person by nature; John, on the other hand, likes dogs.

The two independent clauses in the sentence are related to the same topic, so it’s fitting to connect them with a semicolon rather than write two short sentences.