Want to Write Better? Read This from Ann Handley's Everybody Writes

April 13, 2017 Post Comment

Here's a few writing tips that I gathered from the first few chapters of Everybody Writes by Ann Handley.

1. Make it as a daily routine. Write for 30 minutes a day.

2. Just write. Do not follow school guidelines.

3. Write what readers want to read. Start with empathy. End with love.

4. Don't use unneeded words at the beginning of the sentence. Example - "According to..." Or "In my opinion...".

5. Use 'so what/because' technique. Came out with an answer for every question asked. This serves as a gift to the readers

6. Use yourself as one of your resources to have a larger chance of connecting with audience.

7. Write to one person - imagine that you are helping a person with your writing.

8. Produce ugly draft at first then walk away before editing it. The distance is on you.

I hope these few tips helped you in any way. It certainly helped me in some way. I can say that the best tip that effect my writing was tip number 8.

Nowadays I would write first, then I would leave what I wrote and do other things before coming back to it, read it again and edit it if necessary. You do not need to leave it for hours. A brief 20 to 30 minutes would be fine.

When I give myself some breathing space after writing, It really made me more aware of any mistakes in my writing or made me realize that I can write a certain part or paragraph better.

So, give it a try and tell me if any of these tips really helped you.

Note: Digested all of these when I was on the train yesterday.

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