The Writing Company is a small communications consulting company specializing in transforming clients' ideas into clear, active forms of communication. We help our clients produce written materials that express complex information in a straightforward, easy-to-understand, and interesting manner. We also provide business writing workshops that help clients prepare employees to do their jobs more effectively, more professionally, and more efficiently. 

Our services include:

• Business writing workshops customized for employees at every level within an organization.

 
• Writing and editorial services for businesses, universities, governments, trade associations, utilities, and other organizations.

 
• Educational programs and materials for schools, businesses and community groups, including curriculum development, program development, and teacher training, largely related to water, energy, the environment, and biotechnology.

For writing to work, it must make your point succinctly, present your message clearly and accurately, and carry the right "feel." Such writing does not happen by chance.  It takes expertise, skill, and hard work.

We are educators and wordsmiths skilled at formulating ideas, creating structure, managing complicated tasks, and conveying complex technical information to an untrained or lay audience. We always keep the reader or listener in mind, and we avoid flourishes, fancy vocabulary, complex sentences, and jargon that might hide a message. We embrace active language, straight talk, and clear, down-to-earth explanations. We practice this philosophy in our own writing, and we instill it in others in our workshops.

Our Staff
The Writing Company consists of Kenneth W. Mirvis, Ed.D.,  Cathryn M. Delude, and Neil Clark. Ken develops and conducts the business writing workshops, while Cathryn and Neil manage many of our writing projects. We have remained small to provide personal, responsive service, and we create teams of other professionals – graphic artists, illustrators, and photographers – to provide the specific services needed to complete a project.

Kenneth W. Mirvis, TWC's principal and writing trainer, moved into the field of communications in 1980 after a ten-year career in education. He is highly skilled at interpersonal relations, group facilitation, and public speaking. Ken earned his doctorate in education from Boston University in 1980. His doctoral dissertation was the result of one and one-half years of research and working in the coalfields of Virginia and Kentucky. Subsequently, he has authored and edited many books, articles, and educational materials. He spends about half of his time leading writing workshops for people in business, industry, and government, and the other half writing for clients. In addition, he is adjunct faculty in Boston College's Leadership for Change Program at the Carroll School of Management.

Before joining TWC in 1986, Cathryn Delude served as the Manager of Promotion and Advertising for Mobil Solar Energy Corporation. Prior to that, she developed promotional materials and newsletters for Boston University's Health Care Management MBA program. Cathryn has a master's in German studies from Brown University. Her articles have appeared in Landscape Architecture, Photovoltaics International, and trade publications.  Cathryn leads The Writing Company's biotechnology-related business, and she writes regularly for the Boston Globe’s Science and Health section.

Neil Clark joined The Writing Company after fifteen years as School Education Manager for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. While at MWRA, Neil co-authored two curriculum supplements on water education, “Water Works” and “Water Watchers,” and he built a fledgling program to one that served more than 40,000 students per year.  He was named the EPA Region I Environmental Educator of the Year in 1995. Prior to joining MWRA, Neil spent fifteen years as a middle school mathematics teacher and administrator. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Masters in Education from the University of Massachusetts.

Sample Publications by The Writing Company

• Untitled sixth grade school education/water awareness program, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, 2004, work-in-progress.

 
• To Quench a Thirst: A Brief History of Water in the San Diego Region, San Diego County Water Authority and the Hans Doe Foundation (work in progress).

 
• Your World, A Magazine on Biotechnology, Biotechnology Institute, twice yearly, 1992 - 2003.

 
• The Qualities and Science of Water, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (1999).

 
• Water Politics, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (1994, 1997, 2001).

 
• Water Quality, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (1993) and the San Diego County Water Authority (1995).

 
• How Many Light Bulbs Does It Take To Change a People?, New England Electric Systems (1990). (WINNER, 1994 Massachusetts Governor's Energy Award for Education.)

 
• Water Wisdom (with Neil Clark and Darrel and Ardith Hoff), Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (1989). (WINNER, 1990 Camel Award from the American Water Works Association for being the nation's best school-based water awareness program.)

 
• Water Works! San Diego County Office of Education, 1999.

 
• Water Ways, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (1995).

 
• The Case of the Trinity River Fish Kills, Texas Water Issues, 1998.

 
• Graduate School: It Pays to Go and Get Ready to Go, NASA (1988).

 
• Comet Fever: A Popular History of Halley's Comet (with Donald Gropman), Simon and Schuster's Fireside Books (1985).

 
• SolarMod: An Engaging Introduction to Solar Thermal Energy, Energenics (1981).

 
• Solar Energy: An Installer's Guide to Domestic Hot Water, National Association of Solar Contractors (1982).

 
• Our articles have appeared in: Appalachian Notes, Atlanta Magazine, The Boston Globe, Boston Reports, The Christian Science Monitor, France Magazine, the Journals of the American Water Works Association and the New England Water Works Association, The Old Farmer's Almanac, Photovoltaics International, USA Today,and Yankee.

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Ken also writes a bi-weekly editorial column for the Watertown (Massachusetts) Tab.

 
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