Читать книгу Quick & Painless Business Writing: An Essential Guide to Clear and Powerful Communication - Susan F. Benjamin - Страница 2

Writing a book is never easy. Okay, actually, writing this book was easy, but who wants to start an acknowledgment page that way? So, I want to acknowledge not the people who helped me trudge through the misery of the writing process, but those who made it possible for me to write – and delight in – this book.

First, my agent. Let me tell you, every good writer (and every bad writer for that matter) needs a good agent. And Grace Freedson’s the best. She’s available, interested, and willing to drink a glass of wine with her author even when better judgment tells her not to. More than an agent, she’s a dream-maker and friend.

But even with a great agent, you still need content. That’s where my clients come in. So big thanks to the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency University, The Missile Defense Agency, The Office of Personal Management, Fleishman-Hillard, The Carnegie

Mellon Executive Program, and, of course, Liberty Mutual Group, among others. Every seminar I taught and project I worked on was its own learning experience.

Special thanks to everyone in the Plain Language Initiative under Clinton-Gore: Annetta Cheek, Bill Foster, Kate Blunt, and many others; and to those who trusted me to research language strategies, conduct focus groups, and unearth something new: Ellen Tunstall, Janice Seimsen, and Steve Sullivan. Many of the lessons I learned in overseeing these projects are in this book.

Also big thanks to Rick Frishman for his referrals and advice, Josh Stellar for the emergency care on my computer just before deadline, and my proofer Libby Howard – ever ready with a correction and a joke – who doubtless has read and corrected this very line.

Of course, fortifying the writer’s life are all the people who say things like: “How’s the book going?” which I take as encouragement, and “Don’t worry, I’ll take your son for the afternoon while you work.” In particular, Kathryn Stellar, Lissa and Garth Jansen, Rose McKee, and at the old home front, Margie Green and Susan Erony for their goodwill and good wishes. And finally, thanks to Kitty Clark, modern dance teacher, for showing me my body can do more than sit in front of a keyboard.