Introduction : manage your writing -- Be your own communication department -- Writing in a knowledge economy -- What a writing course can, and can't, do -- How to use this book -- "The discipline of the craft" -- Managing your writing time -- The law of the next action -- The 12 steps -- Manage your writing -- Manage your writing today -- 1. Find the "we" : manage your relationship with your reader -- Communication and community -- Personality -- Attitude -- Circumstances -- Knowledge -- Exercise -- Manage your writing today -- 2. Make holes, not drills : manage with purpose -- Death to subject lines -- Ko and mei communication -- The long and short of it -- The communication grid -- Exercise -- Manage your writing today -- 3. Get your stuff together : manage your information -- Asking questions -- Outside and inside -- Map your information -- Exercise -- Manage your writing today -- 4. Get your ducks in a row : manage your structure -- An everyday example -- The technique of organizing -- Formulas -- How to change minds -- From information to knowledge -- Exercises -- Manage your writing today -- 5. Do it wrong the first time : manage your drafting -- Draft as prototype -- Exercise -- Debriefing the exercise -- Overcoming writer's block -- Writing and "flow" -- Manage your writing today -- 6. Take a break and change hats : manage your internal writer and editor -- Breaking for objectivity -- From writer-based to reader-based -- The two hats -- Exercise -- Manage your writing today -- 7. Signal your turns : manage your paragraphs -- Tools for revision -- Turn signals -- Exercises -- Manage your writing today -- 8. Say what you mean : manage your subjects and verbs -- Hidden subjects -- Hidden verbs -- Hidden subjects and verbs -- Active or passive -- Modifiers -- Exercises -- Manage your writing today -- 9. Pay by the word : manage your sentence economy -- Objectivity and common sense -- Two tools -- Beckwith on economy -- Exercises -- Manage your writing today -- 10. Translate into English : manage your word choices -- Learning from the IRS -- Word histories -- Good reasons otherwise -- SEC guidelines -- Readability formulas and style checkers -- Deliberate "obfuscation"? -- Three examples -- Exercises -- Manage your writing today -- 11. Finish the job : manage your spelling, punctuation, and mechanics -- Exercise -- Manage your writing today -- 12. Manage your writing : evaluate your writing process -- Manage your writing today -- Appendix A. Manage your online writing -- The writing machine -- Four challenges -- Appendix B. Manage your global writing : the case of the Belgian French fries -- A communication grid -- The global communicator -- Using the grid -- Appendix C. Manage your speaking -- Appendix D. Resources for managing your writing -- Books on communication in business -- Dictionaries -- Thesauruses -- Usage guides -- Writing guides -- Other books -- Web resources -- Answer key to exercises -- Index -- Final examination.