Casual meetup with my cool new friend this weekend. They could really use some meat on their bones, though... It’s Halloween week, y’all. For me, that means putting the final touches on my costume, blasting themed playlists, sneaking some candy early (just a couple pieces!) — and definitely watching those scary movies that just don’t hit right in September or November. This year, those movies got me thinking... A lot of horror movies (my faves, at least) are predictable, with

It’s Health Literacy Month! And it’s also Thursday! Time for a Throwback Thursday, health literacy style... I hope at least some of you Dear Readers out there were We ❤️ Health Literacy followers. In case you weren’t, WHHL was CommunicateHealth’s blog focused on all things health literacy, from expert perspectives, to tips and tricks, to how health literacy shows up in the media. We loved — and wrote about! — it all. The first WHHL post I ever worked on happened to be our Hea

I love writing about the things I, well… love. The things that get my plain language brain whirring. The things my clients care about — and the things that they’ll care about soon (after they hear my pitch!). But I want to take a short break from that and put all that love into context by doing a quick introduction. I’m Amy. Nice to meet you! I’m a content strategist, plain language writer, and clear communication consultant. I help researchers, clinicians, and technical expe

“If there’s one thing we should never lose sight of, it’s this: We write documents so someone will read them.” Last Friday, I took a break from the serious work of content strategy to play with the beta version of In Game Learning’s The Plain Game — a fun, interactive game that teaches the fundamentals of plain language and clear communication. As someone who is taking time to get back to basics myself (ahem, see my earlier post on deep-diving into good forms), The Plain Game

Government forms epitomize Zimmerman’s Law of Complaints. That is, “Nobody notices when things go right.” Recently, I had the opportunity to start digging into what makes government forms work — for the people who collect them and the people who complete them. And what I found delighted my clear communicator’s soul. At their best, government forms boost: Trust and transparency Equity Efficiency At their worst — and we can all recall examples of terrible government forms — gov

I stepped down from my role last week. Not because of a layoff. Because it was the right choice for me. Since my early days in health comms almost 10 years ago, a lot has changed. I grew from editor to strategist to team lead to content strategy director. Our industry was reshaped by federal shakeups. My team weathered contract cancellations, layoffs, the end of CommunicateHealth, and a new beginning with Lumina Corps. But one thing has stayed constant — my belief that we ca