All I Want For New Year Is – Better Writing Skills
- Anne Marie Ianko
- Jan 5, 2017
- 3 min read
If you’ve been writing for as long as I have, chances are you’ve heard so many tips and different advice on how to improve your writing, or how to become a compelling and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize worthy writer. You’ve been there, done that a million times. But if you’re like me, who’s never satisfied at her own capabilities and is always hungry for more honing skills and thirsty for more expert advice, then chances are, your Christmas wish and New Year’s resolution involves around becoming a better writer. What then can be considered some writers’ tips 2017? Cheer up, the year has just begun and there’s so much room for improvement.
Time-tested battle-weary tips for years to come
Alas, luck has nothing to do with being a great writer. The famous ones underwent a ton of training, read a millions texts, wrote hundreds of rejected drafts and had several sleepless nights before coming up with a piece worthy of reading. In other words, it was never easy and there are no short cuts, no easy fixes.
Let’s see what we can use as writers’ tips 2017 and maybe words will flow right out of your typing hands sooner than you think.
Read, read then read some more
Reading a whole lot can help our brain pick up pieces of writing styles, vocabulary, bits of new information and other handy data from here and there. You get to read something that was thought-provoking or something you feel attached to or emotional about, some method of phrasing ideas that you find interesting. Read books about writing too. It all adds up to one giant database from which you can create your own style or emulate a favorite author’s way of presenting a story from start to finish. Read the great ones, the great once and the not-so-great ones. They all have lessons you can learn from.
Write, write and then write some more
Like a good basketball player who makes free throws, he can only get better with more basketballs he throws. Same with writing. Just keep writing about anything and everything you can think of. Use different styles. Experiment with different approaches in your introductions, your body and your endings. Eventually, you will have your own distinct way of putting words together. Just never stop writing. Am I sounding like a broken record? Then, follow Dory and just keep writing.
Join clubs and attend workshops
Don’t ever believe that you’re done with seminars. All of us will never be done with some form of workshop or seminar that can keep us updated with trends, information and industry buzz. These writing clubs and workshops are a juicy source of writing experts with far more knowledge that you already have and that you could always use in the future or start following as your own. Always be on the lookout for those that offer new ways of creating better web content or copywriting advice.
Feed your audience’s hunger
If you’re concentrating on a certain niche, create content that’s doing its job – feeding the right audience. Get to know what they want before you churn out content that’s serving the wrong type of readers. We don’t want all those pieces of the content puzzle filled with words going through the wrong sets of eyes. Once you’ve come up with the plan on what to write about to your audience, the rest will be quite easy and you, in effect become an instant mini-expert.
Finally, seek advice from the experts
Get expert help. Even the best writers have their go-to persons to ask for help or simply get a few insights from. And it won’t hurt their egos one tiny bit by asking. We need a constructive criticizer, a content basher, a trusty grammar maniac or a human walking dictionary to catch whatever you might have overlooked.
Conclusion
The New Year has arrived. Let’s all focus our resolutions to one main goal: becoming better writers. The content world needs better writers – in whatever way you perceive the word “better.” This year, take heed of these five useful writers’ tips 2017. And if you’re still having doubts about your writing skills, take the advice of Rainer Maria Rilke who said “Don’t ask me about being a writer. If when you wake up in the morning, you can think of nothing but writing, then you’re a writer.”
So be a good one and cheers to 2017!
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