| A lot of inexperienced writers looking to break | | | | Word) and find a different way to describe |
| into freelance or book writing wonder...how can I | | | | something. This is one of the best tools you can |
| become a good writer? What does it take? Is | | | | use to make your writing more interesting. |
| there some kind of formal process I need to go | | | | The importance of good communication |
| through in order to write well and get my work | | | | Beyond grammatical accuracy, interesting content |
| noticed? | | | | and language "rules" (which honestly, good writers |
| Good writing vs. great writing | | | | sometimes completely ignore), a good writer is |
| The truth is, good writing takes practice. I believe | | | | first and foremost good at communicating. If you |
| that most people are capable of good writing, and | | | | have trouble communicating via speech, you will |
| that only a few people are capable of spectacular | | | | have trouble communicating via the written word. |
| writing. No matter what the genre (business, | | | | Whether you are writing marketing collateral to |
| creative, non-fiction, etc.), this theory seems to | | | | sell something, training materials to teach |
| hold true. | | | | something, a book to tell a story, or an RFP for a |
| Case in point #1 | | | | client...if you cannot get your message across with |
| Of all the books published every year, many are | | | | your words, you have failed as a writer. |
| good (obviously, or they wouldn't be published at | | | | How can I improve my writing? |
| all right?). But how many become best sellers? | | | | My three biggest guidelines: |
| And of those, how many actually win literary | | | | #1: Read. And read a lot. You will increase your |
| awards? There are plenty of good book writers, | | | | vocabulary and your ability to craft material. I |
| few great ones. This is a trend that goes back to | | | | recommend reading some of the classics, or |
| the ye old days of Shakespeare, who in his time | | | | some of the award winning novels you can find |
| never achieved the literary acclaim he has now. | | | | via the New York Times listings. These books will |
| Case in point #2 | | | | have the best examples of excellent writing, not |
| I have seen non-writing business colleagues create | | | | just good writing. |
| marketing materials or implementation guides that | | | | #2: Practice. In all my years of writing, I still have |
| were actually fairly good. But I've also re-worked | | | | things to learn. New approaches, new techniques, |
| documents from colleagues (including colleagues | | | | new presentation. It takes practice to create |
| supposedly specializing in marketing | | | | something truly engaging for the reader. So write, |
| communications - yikes) that lacked flow, | | | | and write often. |
| structure, and general grammatical accuracy. | | | | #3: Consider a writing class. If you don't know |
| Good writing exists, great writing is hard to find. | | | | where to start or are interested in creative |
| So what can you do? | | | | writing (novels, poetry, short stories), a class at |
| Practice, practice, practice. Writing with correct | | | | your local community college can help you get |
| structure, and with interesting words. Break out | | | | moving. |
| the thesaurus (there is one available in Microsoft | | | | |