Writing Practice Prescription

“Just the facts, Ma’am, just the facts,” may be good advice to keep your writing simple and on track, but there’s no reason why you can’t arrange those facts to put color and a little grin into the essence of things.

Consider the standard tagline used by many authors: “XXX is YYY who ZZZ. He/she lives and works in Mysterland and can be reached through his/her website www.bestwebsiteever.com.” Brief and to the point to be sure, but do you have any idea whatsoever about who the writer is?

Some authors breathe a little life into their taglines by mentioning hobbies, pets, and small children. Anne Bingham, pictured in this post, has a short tagline that stopped me in my tracks. In less than 40 words she tells the reader what she does and where she lives. And her detail-rich copy hints at who she is: a person with quite a healthy sense of humor:

“Anne Bingham writes business copy on the computer, edits manuscripts with a 9mm mechanical pencil, and reflects on faith and family life in a spiral bound notebook with a rollerball pen. She lives a few miles west of Lake Michigan.”

What does your tagline say about you?