About this blog

For about four years, until June 2007, I wrote a regular column titled "The Write Stuff" for the Pietermaritzburg-based newspaper The Witness. It dealt with a broad spectrum of language matters, and seemed to have been highly valued by many readers. If you were one of my regular readers, and particularly one of those who expressed appreciation for the articles through personal communication, a letter to the Witness, or a personal letter or e-mail, thank you very much for your encouragement and support.

The links below will take you to a small collection of the many articles published.

>>> Top 5 favourites
>>> Top 5 errors

Some of the other articles are still accessible on the Witness website; see, for example, "KwaZulu-Natal – writely so" and "Anglicisms (3)".

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This blog was originally called "Nicky's Write Stuff". When I created it a few years ago after the Witness series ended, it was not with the idea of updating it regularly, but simply of using it to make the above collection easily accessible online and to direct readers to a few other useful sites.

However, I decided recently to use this blog to republish many more of those Witness articles, and also to use this facility for publishing some new articles (or at least the odd note now and then). Original "Write Stuff" articles will be identified by ws at the end of each. I will post at least one a week, every Friday.

An explanation of the new name is given below.

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Write thinking 

Why "Write thinking" as the new name for this blog?

My business motto is "Simply clearer". The thought behind the motto is that the simpler we can keep our communication the clearer it will be. Related to this thought, and flowing from it, are two others: the first is the suggestion that if you speak and write correctly, your communication will simply be clearer; the second is that I trust that the way I explain things will simply make the concepts clearer if you will "work with me", as the phrase goes. So most of my articles and seminars are aimed at making "simply clearer", in its different facets, a reality.

How does this lead to "Write thinking" with its obviously deliberate "word-bending"?

My contention is that if we think very carefully about what we're writing while we're writing, we will avoid many errors. So right thinking will lead to clear and correct writing, and my exhortation is, therefore, to "write thinking(ly)" rather than to "write unthinking(ly)".

I trust you will find the articles interesting and instructive. 

PS. My business website can be found at Nicky Grieshaber.