I remember a substitute teacher in second grade. She was determined to instruct us, not merely maintain order, as the usual goal of our fill-in educators. She asked what letters were vowels. “A, E, I, O, and U” we shouted in unison. “And sometimes…?” she encouraged us. “Y” we called out. She repeated her last […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Should your contact center handle social media for your organization or clients? Perhaps you already are but desire to do so with greater ease and effectiveness. Alternately, the idea of social media as part of your contact center mix may present an overwhelming challenge that you’d prefer to not touch. […]
I once read a local newspaper column by a copy editor claiming he uncovered a grammatical phenomenon, seemingly unique to southwestern Michigan: the habit of folks swapping the words “bring” and “take.” Indeed, I am guilty, forever “bringing” when I should be “taking” and “taking” what I should be “bringing.” At various times in my […]
November is National Novel Writing Month, “NaNoWriMo” for short. NaNoWriMo encourages writers to crank out the first draft of a novel in the month of November, a mere 30 days. This starts in less than two weeks. (Don’t complain about not having enough advance warning, because I mentioned this eleven and a half months ago. […]
My Answer in Haiku Linking letters and wielding words to create art for God, my patron [This poem was selected as a finalist for the literary publication Imagine This! An ArtPrize Anthology, published in the fall of 2013.]
This year, marks my sixth year of blogging, with my original blog, Musings, still online, although I’ve moved it a few times. Lately, however, it hasn’t had much activity, with my focus shifting to my other blogs. Over the years, Musings has had various taglines; here are the ones I remember: Musings have over 500 […]
The new reality in book publishing is that authors need to promote their own books. This is true for both self-published and traditionally published authors. Yes, traditional publishers may make some efforts to market your book, but the bulk of the work falls to the author; publishers expect this, and writers need to accept this. […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Though some people have a wait-and-see attitude toward the Affordable Care Act (ACA), most hold polarized views, either loving it or hating it. Many business owners and managers, including telephone answering services, are wary. They see the ACA as one more item pressuring their business’s viability and threatening their future. […]
In my work, I sometimes receive emails from people for whom English is a secondary language. Although they write using words I know, they often string them together in confusing ways. Sometimes I end up on their website, trying to gain perspective. Confusing emails are bad enough, but I’m decidedly less tolerant of websites spouting […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. Mention social media and people have one of three responses: “I love it,” “I can’t stand it,” or “I don’t have time.” We hear much about social media, perhaps too much, but it’s bound to continue and will occur with increasing frequency. Social media is not going away anytime soon […]