On My Writing Genius

For the last four years, I've been responsible for directing and writing most of the professional communications for a regional, family-owned agricultural company ... newsletters, business letters, the website, our product catalog, training presentations, sales tools, business proposals ... the list goes on. Most everything communicated by our company has my fingerprint on it somewhere, if not everywhere. I even finish people's sentences for them. You know, just to help them state things as eloquently as possible. It's a compulsion I have. Talk to Keith about how incredibly charming it is.

In preparation for the imminent move, I've been a training a new hire who will be taking over some of my duties after I'm "gone to Carolina." This morning I put together a brief list for her, enumerating some things I try to keep in mind whenever I’m writing for the company. I thought it might help our newbie begin training herself to think and write professionally. I finished the list, read back over it and thought, "Wow, that's good! I need to do writing advice more often. And then do a better job of following my own advice." 

So here is my list, for your own edification. Or, really, for mine. But it'd be great if you found them helpful, too. Or interesting, or even just amusing. Feel free to poke fun if you're so inclined. Snark is, as always, encouraged.


Things to Keep In Mind When You Write 

• Consider Your Audience – get your mind wrapped around their perspective, then focus on what is most meaningful, appealing, or compelling to them
• State Your Objectives – readers should have a distinct sense of what you are trying to accomplish and why you’re writing
• Organize Around a Logical Flow – sometimes I’ll re-order my paragraphs several times before they seem to flow correctly from one to another
• Practice Lucid Brevity – Be clear and concise, avoid ramblings or needless repetition
• Incorporate a Strong Call to Action – what is it you want the readers to do? Make sure you've told/asked them to do it
• Set the Tone – adopt a tone/style that is warm and casual, but also clean and professional. Avoid jargon. Use terms you’d expect everyone to understand,. Avoid slang and folksiness, too. Try to be as plain spoken as possible
• Tell a Story – our industry is so technical it’s easy to get lost in a monotony of detail. Figure out a way to tell a story with the information you’re conveying. It will capture the attention and imagination of the reader and stay with them longer
• Don’t be Afraid of the First Blurt – if you find yourself staring at a blank page, just start typing. Get the writing flowing. Even if you come back and completely rewrite (or even delete) the first three paragraphs later, it will give you momentum and usually by the time you've reached the end of the piece your mind will have sorted out the best way to present the information
• Edit - Read what you've written. Change it. Read it again. Add to it. Read it again, delete a ton. Work it, and re-work it, and re-work it. Sometimes we fear that editing removes the fire, the creativity, from our writing. And maybe it does when you're writing a novel. But in the business world, edit. Then edit again. And again. And again. Complete assignments early, just to make sure you have plenty of time to edit.

And the final reminder is "Don't answer questions no-one is actually asking." Which probably invalidates this entire blog post, as I don't recall any of you (three) readers asking my advice. But I am curious ... what would you add to the list?