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Better Writing: What Works and What Doesn't
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By Susan Dunn, MA, Marketing Cons
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There¡¯s no better way to promote your business for free than towrite articles on the Internet. It is particularly good forpromoting services, where advertising doesn¡¯t work as well, evenif you can afford it.
All business is about relationship. You can¡¯t meet face-to-facewith each person, or even reach them on the telephone everytime. Often your contact will have to be in writing. How good isyour writing?
I¡¯D RATHER HAVE A ROOT CANAL?
Writing is right up there with public speaking for many of us.It¡¯s so public, and, in the case of writing, so permanent.
My mother used to say, ¡°Never put anything in black and whiteyou wouldn¡¯t want the whole wide world to see.¡± It¡¯s a wonder Icould write at all! Scary thought, isn¡¯t it. Since I coachEmotional Intelligence (EQ), let¡¯s turn that around and say,¡°Put things in black and white you want the whole world to see.¡±That¡¯s the power of the pen, mightier, after all, than thesword.
I went on to major in English and then to earn my livingwriting. However, you don¡¯t have to be a professional writer towrite something someone else can enjoy or benefit from, or towrite for your own enjoyment or wellness
YOU AREN¡¯T WRITING FOR MISS CRUMPLESTINE ANY MORE
The first point you should know is that writing for the Internetshould be at the 6th to 9th grade level.
Not everyone on the Internet has a college education, or even ahigh school education. We are all in hurry, and we want outinformation fast. Short, uncomplicated sentences work well. Sodo lists. No need for big words. Just clarity.
WHY WRITING IS SO HARD
Here is a scenario that happened to me repeatedly when I was inpublic relations. The boss would call me in and say, ¡°I don¡¯tknow how to say this.¡± I¡¯d say, ¡°What is it you want to say?¡±and I would have my pad and pencil handy. He or she would starttalking, and I would start writing And what I wrote down wasexactly what the person was saying!
I would then go back to my office, dot a few Is and cross a fewTs, return the article to them, and they would say, ¡°Howmarvelous. How do you do it?¡±
Yes, of course I cleaned up the grammar and added or subtractedsome adjectives or adverbs, and maybe changed the order, but thepoint I want to make is that if the person had just written downwhat he or she was thinking, he or she wouldn¡¯t have been farfrom having a good enough article or letter. Yes, I polished it,but the diamond in the rough was still there to be polished!
It happened just the other day, which is what prompted me towrite this article. Someone had written me an email withsomething profound in it, and I asked if I could quote her in anarticle. When I finished the article, I sent it back to her,with her rather lengthy quote, and here is her reply: ¡°GAD!Seeing my words in print, I am surprised at my own clarity. Goesto show that spontaneous reactions are often the truest.¡±
Then yesterday, I asked someone else if I could quote them, andshe wrote back: ¡°Reading that you want to quote me I am awashwith emotions ¨C pride, astonishment, surprise, delight, a littlescared, somewhat uncomfortable.¡±
IT¡¯S AN EMOTIONAL THING
Do you see the emotion in what they¡¯ve written back? We knowfrom Emotional Intelligence how emotions can fog the brain; theanalytical part of the brain.
How so? Many emotions go through your brain if you aren¡¯t usedto writing a lot because of the thoughts you¡¯re thinking,because of your self-talk. Here are some:
¡¤I don¡¯t know how to write. ¡¤I¡¯ll say something stupid. ¡¤My 6thgrade teacher said I was a terrible writer. ¡¤Someone willmisunderstand what I write and I¡¯ll get cards and letters. ¡¤Ican¡¯t do this. ¡¤I hate to write. ¡¤I flunked writing sophomoreyear in high school. ¡¤My last English course was freshman yearin college. ¡¤I never finished high school.
WHAT WORKS
There are two major ways to learn how to write: read and write.
The best writers are those who have read the most. Why? Becauseyour brain is a marvelous thing, and picks up what you¡¯rereading, and you don¡¯t have to learn any rules. Just as a childlearns how to speak. We all learn how to speak around the house.Later on in school we learn grammar rules, but we¡¯ve beenspeaking for years.
You have to read the GOOD writers, of course. Read the hardstuff. Dostoevsky, Faulkner, Shakespeare, Dante. This sort ofreading will benefit you in many ways.
Then write. A writer writes! Like any other skill, you have todo it to learn it. You can read about it, and memorize rules,and attend seminars, and go to workshops (and by all means readStrunk and White¡¯s ¡°Elements of Style¡±(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/020530902X/susandunnmome-20 ), a classic that¡¯s now in its fourth edition) but you mustnot stop there. You must start writing.
One of the best ways to direct the actual writing process is towork with a writing coach. You won¡¯t be able to judge your ownwriting appropriately at first.
WHAT DOESN¡¯T WORK
What will NOT work is learning some skills you are not able touse because your emotions are interfering, or you don¡¯t usebecause you never sit down and apply them.
You must actually start writing. Like learning a language, it¡¯spracticing it that makes you fluent.
META
A meta way to improve your writing is to develop your EmotionalIntelligence. It teaches you how to manage the emotions whichare throwing obstacles in your path to learning writing. It hasthe added value of helping you to learn in general, not justwriting.
It¡¯s about getting the emotions out of the way that arehampering you from learning. We all suffer from this to onedegree or another. We all had a teacher at some point who washarsh or punitive, or a circumstance where we weren¡¯t able tolearn it fast enough. Maybe we were rushed, and fell flat on ourface in public, or were embarrassed. Maybe we had a parent whosaid, ¡°Marsha will never be an artist,¡± or ¡°Freddie can¡¯t dothis or that.¡± Getting rid of the memory of these experiences ismanaging your emotions, and part of Emotional Intelligence aswell.
WRITE ON!
One of the wonderful things to me about the Internet is theopportunity it gives all of us to ¡°tell our story.¡±
Get in there and write, whether you do it for publication, formoney, for fun, or to promote your products and services. Youhave things to say that others need to hear!
Writing things out also brings clarity to your thinking process.Studies show that writing things down improves your efficiency,and even is good for your mental health.
Write on!
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