How Hard Can Writing Be?

Submitted by: , MMA, CPCM, CAP

Remember the three R’s—Reading, ‘Riting, ‘Rithmetic? When’s the last time you used all three in a single day? Most people use these basics every day.

We take our reading ability for granted. Newspapers, magazines, books, websites, even this article all require you use your reading skills to gain information.

Some say we live in the information age. Look at your typical day. You receive information in the mail, on your computer, via your telephone, and by talking with people. We’ve never had as much access to information as we have today.

Have you ever thought about who generates all this information? If you’re in business, you generate some of it. You create marketing materials, advertisements, a website, financial reports, letters, email, etc. All of these require one of the three R’s—‘Riting. Since we write everyday, you may ask, “How hard can writing be?”

The short answer is “hard.” When someone reads what you write, you’re having a one-on-one dialogue. There’s one problem, however. You, as writer, don’t get the feedback you normally get in a verbal dialogue. You don’t get to see the reader’s reaction to your writing.

How many times have you read something and seen an error or raised your eyebrows because you didn’t understand or you disagreed with the author? The author never gets your response, but you know how you feel about what the author wrote. You may even extend those feelings to the author.

Apply that example to the things you write. How are your writing skills? If people find errors or poor writing or your writing lacks clarity, they will form negative ideas or opinions about you and your company.

You may be thinking we learn to write in grade school, so what’s the big deal? The big deal is that what you write stays around a lot longer than the conversations you have on the telephone or in person. Committing words to paper assures the words, as written, survive and can even multiply if copied, printed, or shared electronically.

Here are some things you can do to improve your writing immediately.

• Eliminate all unnecessary words. When you write tight, you keep your reader’s attention better. No one likes to plow through a bunch of words that don’t add anything.
• Use active verbs. Remember English class and learning the function of different types of words? Verbs show action. Good writers use active verbs. Boring writers use passive verbs such as is, was, were, are, have, had ,has (forms of “to be”). There’s no ownership with passive verbs which is why government, business, and academia rely on them. How often do you get excited about reading regulations, policies, procedures, or academic papers? Most people don’t enjoy reading them. Now you know why. They’re boring.
• Each paragraph should contain one idea. You learned this in the elementary grades, yet some adults still don’t know when to start a new paragraph.
• Use transitions. Transitions build bridges between paragraphs to help your reader follow you.
• Eliminate jargon. Jargon works as a shortcut within companies and industries, but it doesn’t work for people outside those inner circles. Also, the first time you use an acronym, spell out what the letters stand for so your reader understands what you mean when you use the acronym.
• Never rely on your spell checker or grammar checker. The first thing I do when I get a new computer is disable both those functions. Spell checkers don’t know if you mean there, their, or they’re. Another thing they miss is you versus your. Grammar checkers often give bad advice. You’re better off to ask another human being if you have a question about a sentence than rely on your grammar checker.
• Be clear in your writing. This may seem obvious, but many writers do not write clearly. You, as a writer, know what you mean. Your reader, however, cannot get inside your head and may not understand you. If you use pronouns (he, she, they, them, etc.), make sure you’re clear who the pronoun refers to—especially if there’s more than one he, she, or they mentioned in your writing.
• Understand the correct use of punctuation. Ellipsis (…) does not show pause or trailing off into the sunset. Is shows omission. Brackets [...] show explanatory remarks. Parentheses show information that, if removed from the sentence, would not alter the meaning of the sentence. Dashes (—) show pause, abrupt break, or summary. Commas and periods always to inside the quotation marks. Always use double quotation marks unless you are inserting a quote within a quote. In that case, the inserted quote uses the single quotation mark.

You may want to keep this article handy to refer to when you write. How hard can writing be? I hope this article makes it a bit easier for you from now on.

Award-winning speaker, author, and publisher, Sharron Stockhausen owns Stockhausen Ink, a speaking and writing communications business, http://www.stockink.com/, and is CEO of Expert Publishing, Inc., http://www.expertpublishinginc.com/.