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WritersNotes.Net: Helping Writers Follow Their Dreams Through Information, Inspiration, and Encouragement!
A Great Article on How You Can Develop Confidence as a Business Writer
The following article was written by my friend and fellow blogger, Joanna Young, of Confident Writing. This article is offered for free distribution by EzineArticles.Com; so I thought I'd share it with my readers to help you become a more confident business writer, as well as to highlight the wonderful content you'll find on Joanna's blog. (Many of Joanna's tips and techniques also apply to other types of writing, as well; so bear that in mind as you read, and look for places in your own writing where you can practice these helpful principles.)
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Business Writing with Confidence - An ABC Guide
By Joanna Young
Confident writing is an essential part of effective business communication. Most people would agree with this statement but how many of us have the skills or the confidence to put it into practice? Anxiety about grammar rules can leave people tongue tied. All too often business writing is seen as a barrier, a stumbling block rather than something that can add value to your contribution at work.
But hereâs the thing: you donât need to learn the rules of a grammar book to write with confidence at work. You just need to work on three basic elements of good business writing: authenticity, brevity and clarity. Itâs what I call the ABC guide to confident writing at work.
Writing with authenticity
Writing with authenticity means being real, sounding human, sounding like yourself. Itâs great for creating rapport with other people, whether thatâs your colleagues, customers or potential clients. Most people want to do business with another human being and itâs even better if thatâs someone they feel they can get to âknowâ and trust.
To make your writing more authentic:
* Make use of plain, everyday words: go for short, simple words; avoid jargon and clichés; use everyday words rather than corporate or business speak
* Use a conversational style: this doesnât mean slang â it does mean feeling free to use short sentences and contractions like âIâmâ or âweâllâ or âletâsâ (all great for the flow)
* Find your own words: spend a little bit of time jotting down your own words for the things that are most important to you (ideas, your business purpose, your values) and start to work them into your writing. This is a great way to sound like you really mean business!
Writing with brevity
Most people are drowning in information overload. So much for the paperless office â most of us are suffering from too much paper, a deluge of e-mails and more reports than weâll ever have time to read. Youâll really start to win friends and influence people if you keep your writing short and to the point. Your readers will thank you for the time and effort saved, and youâll also make your message more punchy, powerful and memorable.
To write with brevity:
* Keep each sentence short: aim for an average of 18 â 25 words a sentence. This is good writing practice and will get you into the habit of writing less
* Cut out excess words: go back and edit your work once youâve written a draft. Cut out as many excess words as you can. Then do it again (and again till itâs done.) Enjoy seeing your message emerge more clearly!
* Write within limits : set yourself a word limit and practice working to it. Itâll improve your skills of writing with brevity and help you stick to the point
Writing with clarity
Youâve got something important to say so you want your writing to stand out. Clear writing makes it easier for people to read, follow and understand what youâre saying. Now this is the place where grammar does come into play because there are some rules â whether you like it or not â that are there to help us understand your meaning. You need to master these basic rules if you want your message to be clear and easily understood.
To write more clearly:
* Know your point : be clear what youâre trying to say, and why, before you start to write. Boil your message down to no more than 10 words. Thatâs your message: focus on that and it will shine through your writing
* Manage your writing: work out which grammar points are stopping you from writing with clarity (like use of apostrophes). Ask a colleague or friend to help identify them. Then take responsibility for learning and applying the rules. There are plenty of books, websites and writing coaches who can help with this
* Keep it simple: use short sentences, cut out excess words, use plain, everyday language
I donât know if you noticed some common themes running through these writing tips. Keep it short, keep it simple, use plain language, know your point and stick to it. These are the fundamental rules of good business writing and if you apply them you will find it easy to write with authenticity, brevity and clarity. Effective business writing neednât be hard â it can be as easy as ABC.
Joanna Young is a writing coach who helps people to write with confidence - to realise the power of their own words. You can find out how to work with Joanna or read more of her writing tips at Confident Writing.
Article Source: EzineArticles.com expert=Joanna Young
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Hope you've enjoyed these great tips on confident writing by a very confident writer! Don't forget to visit Joanna's blog for more great content on writing confidently!
Happy writing!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Was it helpful? Have anything to add? If so, please feel free to comment!
And, while you're at it, why not visit Joanna' s blog and do the same?
Blog Day 2007: Celebrating New Blogs Worldwide
Today is Blog Day 2007: A day to celebrate new blogs all over the world! In honor of Blog Day, bloggers have been asked to list, describe, and link to five new blogs--preferably representing a different country, culture, or focus than our own.
Here's what the Blog Day website has to say:
BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors.
After writing our Blog Day posts, we are also asked to notify the bloggers we've chosen, which I plan to do via a comment on each one's blog.
Five Great New Blogs You Should Definitely Visit
Here are my choices (in no particular order) for five of the best new blogs from different parts of the U.S. and around the world. (Well...only one is currently outside the U.S: Confident Writing, which comes to us from Scotland; though one will soon be moving to Germany: Content Done Better. Yet, for some of you, the U.S. is on the other side of the world!) All these blogs are either only several months old or under new ownership.
I will let the bloggers who create the magic of the written word on their blogs speak for themselves, via quotes from their About pages and blog posts.
Pro Blog Design
Pro Blog Design. Michael Martin has this to say about his very helpful blog and also about blog post formatting:
I have been designing websites for a few years now, and enjoying every minute of it.
Over time, Iâve learnt a lot about working with blogs, and through Pro Blog Design I hope to share that knowledge with others. Content on a blog is of course, King, but does the King get the attention he deserves when draped in ragged garments? Of course not! In the same way that the grandeur of the King is crucial to his success, your blogâs design is crucial to yours. (from Michael's About page)
As bloggers, we write pages upon pages of content each week. We spend hours promoting the articles, choosing the right words and trying to get our point across as clearly as possible. How can formatting be used to further improve our posts?
There are a few basic tools that you will have heard mention of time and time again, such as bolding words. The first section re-explains their purpose, and the second will explain how to perfect your usage of them to achieve optimal formatting. (from Format Blog Posts for Readability and Legibility)
Confident Writing
Confident Writing. Joanna Young says the following about her quality site and about why she writes:
Hello I'm Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach...My aim is to get people writing with confidence. To realise the power of their words. How we work is partly up to you - but my approach is based on a blend of coaching, teaching, editing and writing - tailor made to your needs. (from Joanna's Welcome and Work With Me sections)
(Post Title: Why Do You Write?.) For me, it's something to do with the power of connection: the connections we can make with other people, the connections we develop between our own ideas, making sense of our experience, pulling together spaghetti strands of random thoughts and creating something new, connecting back to our roots and our selves and coming out with a stronger sense of who we are.
But then again maybe it's that thing I call realising: the sweet, slow dawning of realisation. Recognising the things that you always knew to be true. Recognising - with a jolt - your self in your words. Realising the power of your words, and taking responsibility for their power and impact: on yourself, on other people, on the world. Grounding yourself with the specificity of words. Validating your experience with words which are not real - but can make us feel that our experiences are. Allowing ourselves to be changed by the words that we write. (from Why Do You Write?)
ChrisBlogging
ChrisBlogging. Chris Bibey describes himself and his insightful blog and shares a few words of wisdom on freelancing:
For more than three years I have been earning a full-time income online. My main sources of income include a wide range of freelance writing projects, and of course, blogging.
But although I do not know the first thing about web design or coding, I still earn three times as much as I did as a corporate slave.
The goal of Chrisblogging.com is to show you how I make money, how you can join me, and much more! (from Chris's About page)
There is no denying that a few big jobs make up a large part of my monthly freelance writing income. But guess what? I also believe that smaller jobs are every bit as important. Sure, I would love to work on high paying jobs only, who wouldnât? But the reality of the freelance writing industry (at least for me) is that this is not always possible. For this reason, I always think twice before I turn down any small jobs that I am offered. (from Don't Always Turn Down the Small Jobs)
ProBloggers Matrix
ProBloggers Matrix. Mark gives us this inviting welcome to his blog, and some great info about blogging (taken from one of his excellent posts):
Hello, Iâm Mark.
Welcome to ProBloggers Matrix. Iâll be sharing blogging tips. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to post them in the comments. (from Mark's About page)
If youâre like me, you love to write, you love to publish great articles on your authoritative blog and you also enjoy reading excellent articles in many fantastic blogs. That can be very time-intensive, but you need to get out and exercise! Get the blood flowing! Get into The Zone! (from How to Stay in the Zone and Keep Wowing Your Readers with Spectacular Articles)
Content Done Better
Content Done Better. Michi Beck's blog has an intimate, inviting atmosphere, due to her personal, engaging writing style. Her Under New Ownership section tells us this about her background, followed by an apt quote from one of her posts:
During her career she has written many informative articles on various subjects including economics, technology, local happenings, and human interest stories.
In addition to the newspaper and Internet work, Michi has had poems published and is currently working on her first novel, of which the first draft is nearing completion. She enjoys both fiction and non-fiction writing, and often takes the time to write about the smaller things in life, as she believes those things have lessons behind them that most people do not realize. It is not only the big things that are important in our daily lives, and since she is often reminded of that it appears frequently in her particular style of writing. (from Michi's Under New Ownership page.)
(Post Title: When It Rains, It Pours.) Have you ever noticed that? You could be in a âdry spellâ in your work life and then all of a sudden things go crazy, and youâre left shaking your head and wondering how youâre going to get it all done.
I mention this because it happened to me, rather recently. Iâm not sure whether to be overwhelmed and annoyed that everything showed up at once or happy because of the work and income. HmmmâŠ..I think Iâll go with âhappy because of the work and income.â (from When It Rains, It Pours)
Five Great Blogs to Bookmark and Visit Again and Again!
Be sure to visit the above blogs soon--and often! And don't forget to give these hard-working and insightful bloggers a little link love! It will be more than worth your while, as you continually enjoy their latest words of writing wisdom.
Congratulations go out to these five new bloggers for making their blogs places where we can go to pick up the best info, tips, techniques, and advice, to make us all better, more responsive, and more productive bloggers!
Happy Blog Day!
Jeanne
Technorati Tag: Blog Day 2007
P.S. I realize I posted this a little late in the day--particularly for those of you on the opposite side of the world to the U.S., where I live! My apologies. But, I believe I did manage to post it in time--though barely! If I missed the deadline in anyone's time zone, Happy Belated Blog Day!
Did you enjoy this post? Don't leave me lonely--Please comment!
A Virtual Trip Around the Blogosphere
In my latest travels around the blogosphere, I've uncovered some excellent content that can truly be a boon to any writer interested in a fresh approach, a new inspiration--in short, any writer seeking the motivation to write with renewed vigor and vitality.
Confident Writing: Posts to Both Inspire and Get You Thinking
Please check out Joanna Young's excellent post, When Writing Means Spirit Spilling, at Confident Writing. This piece explores the process of writing from the deepest parts of ourselves and, through quoting the wisdom of several knowledgeable bloggers, links out to other blogs you'll find most helpful in your quest to grow your own writing.
Two of Joanna's other pieces, The Ingredients of Confident Writing, and How to Learn from Your Writing, are also insightful looks into the components that help make our writing fresh and engaging. They also link to other related posts on her own blog and/or elsewhere in the blogosphere.
The Golden Pencil: Pieces on Perfectionism, Freelancing Dos and Don'ts, and Marketing Your Work Objectively
Anne Wayman, at The Golden Pencil, has written a succinct, yet very helpful post called, Don't Worry About Perfection--Go for Effective, reminding us that perfectionism is a trap and wisely counseling us to let it go.
Anne has also posted two guest pieces that offer practical guidance to help writers more effectively run their writing business. Top Dos and Don'ts for Freelancers, by Lori Widmer, offers 14 basic tips to help writers "make a go of freelancing," and Sending Out Ships, by Charlotte Rains Dixon, counsels us to write personally but submit our work objectively.
Passionate Blogger: Giving and Receiving Series to Help You Reap the Same Recognition You Sow, and How to Avoid Information Overload in Research
Wild Bill, at Passionate Blogger, has posted the first two parts of his excellent and informative multi-part series on giving and receiving: Give and Receive Series - Part 1 - Technorati Favorites and Give and Receive Series - Part 2 - StumbleUpon. These two posts explore the importance of giving lavish recognition to other writers/bloggers and letting the "getting" take care of itself, specifically covering how to do so through Technorati Favorites and StumbleUpon. The upcoming third post in the series will explore how to do this using Alexa.
Another excellent post on Wild Bill's site, about avoiding information overload when researching and writing blog posts (and which could also apply to other types of writing), is Stop Cramming for a Post! This insightful piece is an apt reminder that focusing on what we do know (known, in blogging, as our niche), can help us steer clear of excessive and unnecessary research, saving us valuable time and making us more productive.
A Writer's Words, An Editor's Eye: Customer Service and Productivity for Freelance Writers
Lillie Ammann, at A Writer's Words, An Editor's Eye, has written a brief but inspiring post, called The Simple Truths of Service: Will You Be a Johnny Today? that points us to a helpful video and serves to remind all freelance writers how important good "customer service" is to writer-client relations--despite the fact that, as freelancers, we have no "Customer Service Department." This piece--along with the video it introduces--tells us, in effect, that we must be our own "Customer Service Department."
A second great post, entitled How Do You Stack Up Against the Average Worker in America? asks us, as homeworkers/freelancers, to weigh our own productivity level against that of the average American working outside the home, providing an interesting comparison of the two, and hopefully providing writers with a little incentive to work on becoming more productive.
Four Great Blogs to Bookmark and Return to Again and Again!
It is my hope that the above posts will help you become more effective at both the craft, and the business, of writing. Why not bookmark these four great blogs, so you can return to them later to check out the other valuable content they are certain to post in the future! (You may also want to search their archives for buried treasure!)
Until next time,
Jeanne
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If you're looking for a site that will help you master the writing craft and/or prepare you for your own personal journey on the path to publication, Writing-World.Com has a great deal to offer!
This site is chock full of great information for the aspiring--or practicing--writer! Some examples:
~An interesting variety of books on the writing craft itself and on marketing your writing, including volumes containing specific markets for your work. (Their book inventory also contains a few books on subjects other than writing.)
~An impressive list of more than 600 writing-related articles that can be read right on the site. These articles are all well catalogued and categorized for easy reference.
~A contest database featuring a wealth of info on entering--and not being scammed by--writing contests.
~A list of certain selected markets for your work.
~A long list of links to other online resources for writers.
~A call for articles on writing that they will purchase from you to add to their database, complete with Writer's Guidelines.
~A "Guide for Launching Your Writing Career," containing a wealth of great advice that can get you started on the road to a successful freelance writing business. (This section also includes a lot of great advice on the real nitty gritty, down-to-earth, seat-of-your-pants aspects of writing.)
~A great section on how to avoid writing scams, presented along with info on copyright issues, rights, and contracts.
~A free monthly newsletter, containing many great feature articles, as well as recurring topical columns that you might find helpful.
As far as payment for articles is concerned, here's what they themselves have to say: "We pay 5Âą/word for original articles, to a maximum of $100 (regardless of word count; thus, a 2500-word article is still paid only $100). We pay a flat $25 for reprints, and we definitely welcome work that has appeared in other publications (especially print). Payment is on acceptance. For humor, we pay a flat $15 per item. We will also exchange advertising space for editorial."
That doesn't sound half bad for an online market! So, if you enjoy writing about your craft, check out their Writer's Guidelines and try submitting your work. But be sure to check their article database to be sure your topic hasn't already been covered. You can do this via their Topical Indexes or their Master Article Index.
Take a peek at what Writing-World.Com has to offer. I think you'll be impressed!
And good luck!
Jeanne
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