The Communication Journal
Writing about writing — carefully.
Essays on readability, tone, audience, and the craft of writing that earns trust. Hand-curated, not generated — a quiet publication for people who care how their words land.
Readability
Readability, explained: what the score actually measures
Flesch Reading Ease, average sentence length, and syllable density aren't arbitrary — they predict comprehension. Here's how to use them without flattening your voice.
6 min · 2025-03-14
Tone & Trust
How tone quietly changes how much your reader trusts you
The same information, delivered in two different tones, produces different decisions. Here's the research, and a practical framework for choosing tone deliberately.
8 min · 2025-03-22
AI Draft Refinement
Humanizing an AI draft without losing what was good about it
A repeatable three-pass edit that keeps the AI's structure and information but restores the cadence, specificity, and small imperfections that read as human.
6 min · 2025-04-01
Better Writing
Why sentence rhythm matters more than word choice
Writers obsess over diction. Readers feel rhythm. Here's why varied sentence length is the highest-leverage edit you can make.
5 min · 2025-02-20
Professional Communication
Writing for readers who don't have time to read
Executives skim. Customers scan. Reporters scroll. Writing for attention-poor readers is a discipline, not a compromise.
6 min · 2025-03-02
Emotional Intelligence
Writing with emotional intelligence
Emotionally intelligent writing isn't sentimental — it's accurate about how the reader will feel, and designed around that accuracy.
7 min · 2025-04-04
Business Communication
Anatomy of a customer apology that actually repairs trust
Most apologies make things worse. The structural difference between an apology that lands and one that grates is small and learnable.
6 min · 2025-04-12
Leadership Communication
The patterns that distinguish executive communication
Senior leaders write differently — not because they're better writers, but because they've internalized a few specific patterns. Here they are.
7 min · 2025-04-20
Creator Communication
The art of the conversational sentence
Conversational writing isn't casual — it's a precise imitation of how thoughtful people actually talk. Here's the structure underneath.
5 min · 2025-04-22
Business Communication
What customers actually want from support writing
Customers don't want friendliness — they want competence, acknowledgement, and a specific next step. In that order.
6 min · 2025-04-29
Audience Connection
Audience resonance: the metric most writers ignore
Readability tells you how easily someone can read your draft. Resonance tells you whether it lands with the specific person it's for.
7 min · 2025-05-02
Leadership Communication
A communication strategy for small teams
Most small teams don't have a comms problem — they have a comms-default problem. A few small decisions, made once, compound for years.
7 min · 2025-05-05
Human-Centered Communication
Humanizing your writing without pandering
Warmth and honesty can coexist. Most attempts at 'sounding human' tip into performance. Here's the line, and how to stay on the right side of it.
6 min · 2025-05-10
Creator Communication
The anatomy of a creator caption that actually works
Short-form captions are a constrained writing form. The ones that resonate share a small set of structural moves.
5 min · 2025-05-15
Continue the curriculum
Communication Intelligence Hub
Foundational guides
Readability, tone, audience, clarity, rhythm, and trust — explained from first principles.
Rewrite library
Before-and-after examples
Annotated rewrites across emails, essays, captions, and customer messages.
Use cases
Rewrite by situation
Targeted guidance for the specific kind of writing in front of you.