At one of my recent
presentations about online marketing, someone in the audience asked for some
advice on improving her writing. Here are some tips I passed along:
* First, I complimented the person who asked the question on being able to make that assessment of herself. And I also congratulated her on her desire to do something about it. There are far too many people who delude themselves otherwise.
* My foremost bit of advice is the
same that we tell our kids: Read. Read anything you want . . . just READ.
There is a huge correlation between voracious readers and good writers. And
it's never too late to start.
* Take advantage of today's technologies and have a way to start a scratch
document whenever and wherever the Muse strikes you. I personally like the cloud note application, Evernote. I write a sales and marketing column for a media industry association, and whenever an idea or a paragraph comes into my head, I can access Evernote on any of my devices.
* When you
get to the point of writing that first draft, try to do it during a time and at
a place where you are not feeling pressured. I realize that office settings and
deadlines may limit your ability to control this, but be creative. Some suggestions that work for me: Write
during the noon hour when others are out of the office at lunch and the phone is less likely to ring. If need be, find a space where you can get some privacy, like an unoccupied conference room. If the document is
large, such as a proposal, see if you can telecommute and write from home for awhile before heading into the office
* When writing, err
on the side of using more paragraphs, at least during the first draft. You can
always consolidate them later if needed. You will find that this helps keep you laser-focused on what
you are trying to say. This is a good tip to keep in mind when you are writing for the web as well. Studies have shown that readers on the web tend to click away when they see large blocks of text.
* Take advantage of
the capabilities of the modern-day word processor and edit, edit, edit. True geniuses might be able to write masterpieces
in one take, but the rest of us mere mortals are served well when we take the time to edit carefully. Accept this concept. It's ok.
* Make a game of
editing. Since the goal is to use as few words as possible, find
some clever way to reward yourself for every word you extract. (For me, when I'm working on one of my columns, every fifty words I cut out entitles me to buy another song on
iTunes.)
* Intersperse your
writing and editing with breaks. Fresh eyes will help you catch errors or
awkward phrasing. I like to put drafts away for
overnight if possible. If the situation won't allow for that (like when writing emails), then I get up for
a few minutes or move on to something else for awhile before returning to
the piece.
* When you think
it's all ready, read your final draft out loud one last time. Yes, out loud
(quietly if in the presence of others). The point is to move your lips. If you stumble,
it's usually a sign that a phrase or sentence is awkwardly worded. Fix it.
* A note about
presentation. Ok, I am not rabid about this, but I urge folks to write using
Arial or Helvetica or some similar font. Here's my hypothesis on this: If you
think of black text as being resistance to eye flow, then a non-serif type allows
for faster reading.
* Finally, you
should have in your library of reference books, "On Writing Well - The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction," by William Zinsser. It's available
on Amazon for less than $10. Most of what I have written above stems from his insights
and tips. And he has plenty more to share.
There's a prize at the end of all this . . . It's called, FUN. Yes, once you lose the fear and get
your writing on track, you start enjoying it. And don't think your readers won't start noticing that. It won't be long before you too earn the reputation of being a good writer.
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