Words at Work is packed with tools to help you write better today.

Winner of the National Best Books 2009 Awards
in the Writing/Publishing category, sponsored by USA Book News

Watch video trailer of Words at Work

Words at Work also received a great review from the highly respected Kirkus Discoveries. Here's what they say about what Words at Work delivers:

Professional writing coach McDaniel addresses the sad fact that business writing is becoming somewhat of
a lost art, largely because of e-mail and other electronic communications. “When you write only short
e-mail and text messages,” she writes, “your ability to develop your thoughts shrivels, along with your
ability to persuade, improve, guide, change, teach, contribute, and create.” ... Unlike most business-writing
courses and books that are dry and dull, McDaniel’s work is a breezy, well-written how-to guide, nicely held
together with stories of her experiences. ...[She] presents all of the material in the book clearly, concisely,
and with a healthy dose of encouragement and optimistic belief that “everyone can learn to write well”
and that “bad writers just stopped too soon.” ...A timely manual that business people at any level
will find useful. Read full review

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As a business writer and coach, I’ve helped hundreds of people learn to write like the professionals they are. I’ve compiled all this experience into Words at Work so that you can get the attention—and results—you deserve.

As you work through Words at Work, you’ll learn how to:

	Overcome fear of writing. Break through writer’s block so you can jumpstart your writing—and your results. Fear confuses us. It makes us procrastinate—the biggest time-bandit of all. It makes us give up—if we’re so bad at writing, why bother trying to be better? But when fear is banished, when we understand how powerful good writing can be—incredible things happen.
	Communicate and connect with a wider audience to build your business or career.
	Achieve goals faster through well-written letters and e-mail, reports and proposals, newsletters and blogs.
	Build confidence. Right away, you’ll realize you’re already doing a lot of things right. Pretty soon, the tips and tools give you a new attitude about your writing.
	Create new ideas. The writing process helps you tap into great ideas just waiting to be harvested.
	Add extras for excitement. Learn techniques that set your writing apart.
	Earn a promotion. Take time to write better, and someone at the top will notice. Text messaging? That’s just top-of-the-head stuff. Ditto most e-mails. Good writing goes deeper. And who knows? Maybe someone will post it on the Web, and you’ll get your 15 minutes (or more) of fame.

This book is a joy to read, and packed full with helpful hints and tips from the first sentence
to the last. Whether you write emails or reports at work, or you just like to blog in your spare
time, this book is for you and should be treated as a must-read.
—Clare Swindlehurst, Blue Archipelago, www.clareswindlehurst.com

Effective writing expands your ability to persuade, sell,
innovate, teach, improve, change, contribute, and succeed.

Writing is more than just stringing words together. It’s the portal to your thoughts. It helps you tap into ideas deep within your brain. Then it helps you express those ideas in convincing ways. Or not.

In our e-world, our writing has gotten pretty sloppy. We increasingly write to people who’ve never met us and maybe never will. Our typos and clunky phrases give them a picture of us that’s far from flattering. They have no idea how interesting and talented we are.

But when you write well, you’ll introduce yourself in a way that shows them you’re smart, professional, and the right person for the contract, job, or business deal.

Each of the 12 chapters starts with a short story from my life that illustrates a key issue about the writing process. The rest of the chapter features detailed explanations and examples about that issue. Topics include:

	Listen to your gut
	Write to your reader
	Overcome your fears of writing
	Tap into your creativity
	Edit your way to success, to name a few.

...this solid little book packs a punch—with powerful reminders for the pros while
giving fearful writers a coach, cheerleader, and role model. McDaniel shares proven
practices learned the hard way. This deceptively simple and engaging guide for
workplace writers is highly recommended." ForeWord Reviews Read full review

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Two well-kept secrets

I wish someone had shared these with me when I started writing:

1. Everyone can learn to write well.
2. Bad writers just stopped too soon.

I know this is true—in my own writing career and in my writing coaching practive. I see how my clients blossom once they understand these two points. Especially once they get the big picture.

What’s the big picture? Not all the I-dotting and T-crossing we tend to think of as good writing. Oh sure, that’s all important, and that’s why I’ve written a companion workbook, Words at Work-Book, that covers grammar and punctuation in more detail. (Available September 2009)

Words at Work is about more than that. It’s about creative business writing. What really troubles me about all the dashed-off writing in e-mail and text-messaging is the way it cuts off the creative process. Every invention, every good idea was first pondered and perfected through writing. When we write only short e-mail and text messages, our ability to develop our thoughts—and tap into our creativity—shrivels.

Words at Work shows you how to dig deeper. It helps you develop your ideas in an organized and fresh format that respects what your readers want to know—a solution to a problem, a marketing idea, a new approach.
Step by step through the writing process.

Words at Work is designed to help you—whether you’re a CEO or VP of Sales, administrative assistant or customer-service rep—get the words right in everything you write. Like those holiday cookie recipes that, with a little tweaking of ingredients, yield six or seven different types of cookies, the techniques in Words at Work help you write dynamic:

	Letters			Training Materials
	E-mail			Web content
	Blogs			White papers
	Articles			Direct mail
	Reports			Press releases
	Brochures			Resumes
	Newsletters			Cover letters, and much more
	Sales materials

While formats vary, the principles of well-written letters or blogs, for example, are the same as those for well-written reports or articles. You won’t get confused over one technique for letters, another for reports, and so on. Like my students and clients, you’ll feel confident you have the tools to write any and all business documents.

Good writing skills are a solid predictor of career success and in this excellent and engaging reference,
McDaniel’s mantra is ‘You CAN improve your writing.’ If you want or need to become a better writer,
you need this book. Words at Work will help you banish your fears of writing while providing you with all
the tools you’ll need to confidently tackle any writing task you’re called on to handle.”
—Peter Bowerman, Author, The Well-Fed Writer series, www.wellfedwriter.com

Words at Work is fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. I couldn’t put it down. I’m going to recommend it in
my writing and graduate-reading courses. It’s so readable, and the style is lively and thoughtful.
Words at Work is a perfect example of what Lynda is talking about—and she obviously knows what
she’s talking about. I just love it.
—Dr. Irene Willis, educator, author, and poet; most recent collection, Those Flames.

Order your copy of Words at Work now.

“They sure don’t teach this in school!”

Words at Work shares with you every trick of the trade I know. I learned them as I carved out a writing career that included just about every kind of business document—press releases, sales letters, reports, proposals, annual reports, catalogue copy, Web content, scripts, newsletters, blogs, e-mails, and newspaper and magazine articles.

I get a kick out of hearing my students exclaim, “They sure don’t teach this in school!” Many topics we cover in my classes—and now in Words at Work—are so different from those in most business writing books.

Like these five unique ways to improve business writing:

• Eureka!—how to find your creativity and improve your writing.
• Stories—why they work and how to write them.
• Projection—what it says about you and your writing.
• Deconstruction—how to learn by studying how other writers do it.
• Bad writers just stopped too soon—how to edit quickly and effectively

If you’re like my clients, about now you’ve come up with all kinds of excuses. Don’t worry—it’s only natural to feel nervous when you’re about to do something great!

1. “I have a fear of writing,” some reluctantly admit. Of course you do. We all do. Empty screens and blank sheets of paper are a writer’s nightmare. I’ll show you how to get rid of those demons, or at the very least use them to your advantage.

2. “But I wasn’t an English major,” my clients plead. Well, neither was I. Frankly, I had no idea I wanted to be a writer. I didn’t write for my high school newspaper or pay that much attention in English class. The only clue I had that I enjoyed writing was the way I finished my term papers early, something that usually got me a good grade (and no dates to the prom). It took ten more years before I started my writing career. And more years than that to get the words right. Don’t put it off—you can start now!

3. “I don’t have time,” others say. Not necessarily. Most of us were not taught the process of writing efficiently and effectively. I’ll show you how to better use the time you have.

Praise for Words at Work

Words at Work is a short storybook full of true tales from the writing life of a successful publicist,
journalist, and writing coach, Lynda McDaniel. In it, she introduces us to the key lessons anyone
needs to effectively connect with others through words on paper and screen. Along the way she
introduces us to her mentors, and by doing so, makes them our own, and in the process the book
becomes a gift. —Dan Kennedy, Results That Matter (www.ResultsThatMatter.com), Seattle, Wash.

If you want—or need—to become a better writer, then get yourself a copy of Words at Work. Lynda McDaniel provides a treasure chest of practical information, but she offers readers so much more than “instruction.” Using stories from her own journey as a writer and consultant, Lynda leads by example and takes the “dry” out of business writing. No other book I know explains timeless writing concepts—active versus passive voice, creating strong leads, using similes, and choosing vivid verbs—with such delightful style and sense of fun. Most of all, Lynda’s stories and examples will nudge even the most insecure writers to push aside their fears and trust their ability to write well. Lynda reminds us that “bad writers stopped too soon.” Concise and entertaining, Words at Work is definitely a keeper. You’ll go back to it again and again for inspiration and practical advice.
—Virginia McCullough (www.virginiamccullough.com), ghostwriter/editor and author

Creative writing takes time and talent; but the basics can be learned. Words at Work will equip executives and creative types alike with the tools to make your writing come alive.
—Andrew Glasgow, Executive Director, American Craft Council

What's wonderful about [Words at Work] is how grounded in real-life experience it is. No hocus-pocus or hokum. It's going to be very valuable resource for those who want to improve their business and professional writing. And it was a nice refresher for me too! (I'm a professional writer/editor)
—Anne Simpkinson, online managing editor, Guideposts.com

Order your copy of Words at Work now.

Boost your creativity with Words at Work.

I grew up hearing the phrase “American ingenuity.” It meant the world to me. It meant my country was a beacon of hope to the world, offering innovations and solutions to pressing problems. I don’t hear it much anymore.

Writing can help us get that back. As the portal to your thoughts, writing opens the way for you to ponder, study, delve, improve, innovate, and succeed. And Words at Work helps you overcome the obstacles—fear, procrastination, overwork, confusion (we all experience them!)—so that you can be more successful.

Words at Work gives you a big vote of confidence.

Maybe the best feature in Words at Work is the hope and encouragement that runs throughout the book. For starters, I want you to know that writing is not something you had to be “good” at in school or that you had to study for four years in college (though I’m not discouraging that). I urge you to leave your self-doubt behind and just get started. Writing well is more a matter of mindset than talent or gift. As you write, you gain confidence and discover new ideas and insights…and there’s no telling where that can lead.

Order your copy of Words at Work now.

Thanks and best of luck!

Lynda McDaniel

Director, Association for Creative Business Writing

P.S Want to keep learning? Stay motivated and inspired? Join the Association for Creative Business Writing (AFCBW). You’ll receive an exclusive bi-monthly newsletter, In Other Words, and Writing with a Full Deck motivational cards; enjoy friendly online forums to help you solve writing problems, and have access to quizzes and contests to boost your results. AFCBW also offers You Said It!, an annual writing contest with prizes. [Check it out—just click on the AFCBW button on the left.]

As a professional, I have had the opportunity to read and use the wisdom from many self help books, and the key is finding one that is timely, doesn’t demean and is immediately useful. McDaniel achieves this by teaching you the process from beginning to end, including the little used rough draft and self-critique. In order to become a good writer, you need to become your audience. McDaniel shows you how to see your writing through the eyes of others, how to target your audience and how to make more out of less. I found her insight, experience and teaching style a very nice blend. Whether you are just starting out, well seasoned or just wondering if your style is helping or hurting, Words at Work will give you the answer. It is a great desk reference that I completely recommend. —Gregory J. Saunders, Allbooks reviewer