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For this month's On Writing interview, I turned to Karen Addis. I have known Karen for several years (mostly because of our love of Restaurant Week and dining), and we've often chatted about how writing skills seem to be on the decline.<strong>
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[caption id="attachment_3278" align="alignleft" width="300"]<a href="http://deborahbrody.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/KarenHeadshot.jpg"><img class="wp-image-3278 size-medium" src="http://deborahbrody.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/KarenHeadshot-300x168.jpg" alt="Karen Addis, APR" width="300" height="168" /></a> Karen Addis, APR[/caption]

Karen Addis, APR, is the senior vice president at <a href="http://www.vaneperen.com/" target="_blank">Van Eperen</a>, a full-service boutique public relations agency in North Bethesda. Karen leads new business development and manages the agency's national and international health, science and technology accounts.

<strong>Twitter:</strong> @karenaddis

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<ol>
	<li><strong>What role does writing play in your work and how important a skill is it? </strong>To be an effective communicator, you need to have excellent writing skills. I write every single day for a variety of audiences and formats, ranging from new business proposals and contributed articles to blogs and tweets.</li>
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<ol start="2">
	<li><strong>Does writing well still matter in a digital/text/emoji world? </strong>Absolutely! You need to be able to communicate clearly and succinctly, especially in the digital/text/emoji world where every word and symbol matters.</li>
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<ol start="3">
	<li><strong>What’s the best advice you’ve received or would give on how to improve writing skills? </strong>Never stop writing and be well read. You also need to have a thorough understanding of the rules of grammar and punctuation and then know when it’s okay to break them.</li>
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<ol start="4">
	<li><strong>What are your top three writing resources or references (digital or paper-based)? </strong>Strunk and White’s Elements of Style never goes out of fashion nor does the dictionary or thesaurus.</li>
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	<li><strong>Do you follow a style guide, and if so, which one?  </strong>Having graduated with a degree in journalism and having spent my entire career working with the media, the AP Style Guide, of course!</li>
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<ol start="6">
	<li><strong>What’s your top—most cringe-worthy--writing/grammar/usage pet peeve? </strong>The random use of the comma. No one seems to know how to use commas anymore!</li>
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<ol start="7">
	<li><strong>What’s your favorite word and what’s your least favorite? </strong>Favorite word: It’s a tossup between vacation and chocolate...or Chardonnay! Least favorite word: utilize. I absolutely <em>loathe</em> this word! Use is shorter and means the same thing.</li>
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