Do you do a lot of writing at work? Do you write a lot of emails, articles, press releases, or job aids? If so, you might occasionally suffer from a dreaded ailment – writer’s block. Writer’s block happens when you know you need to write something (and you might even have a deadline staring you(…)
Obviously, the education we get in school and college is important, but some things simply get in the way. One obstacle to good writing is that once we leave school, we need to begin to write for completely different purposes, and old habits tend to die hard. In our professional lives, we write to inform, to(…)
They often say that you learn most of what you need to know at a very early age. Successful people are very small when they learn to share their toys, play fair, clean up their own messes, flush the toilet, and say they’re sorry. But one thing that teachers often tell us very early in(…)
It’s often said that the first step to writing well is to imagine yourself as the reader. Whether you’re writing an article for a magazine, a memo for your colleagues, or a short advertisement on Craigslist, before you start, stop and think about your typical reader. Picture your reader actually reading the piece you are planning(…)
You can tighten up your writing by getting rid of unneeded words. Here are a few examples: Advance planning. Just say planning. Isn’t all planning done in advance? Past experience. Past adds nothing to your sentence. Absolutely essential. It’s either essential or it isn’t. What’s the difference between essential and absolutely essential? Predict in advance.(…)
Does your job require you to write? Maybe you write instruction manuals, e-learning content, job aids, training materials, press releases, newsletter articles, or blog entries. If you do write, I’m sure that you strive to be as clear and concise as possible. My job requires me to do a lot of writing, and I know(…)
In this brief video, Nadia Kalman demonstrates how three anti-social skills can improve the way you write fiction: Eavesdropping Pretending Imaginary People Are Real Muttering to Yourself Although you need to have good social skills to manage your relationships and get on in life, you don’t actually need them to write good dialog. And dialog is(…)
In a previous article, I described the work of Sir Ernest Gowers, an advocate of plain language. His message is “be short, be simple, be human.” Medical professionals need to master the art of communicating simply and clearly almost more than anyone else. Why, for example, would anyone believe that it’s better to say, “Do not exceed(…)