Put Your Best Writing Foot Forward (Or Not!)

by Deb Coman | Jun 26, 2014 | Uncategorized

Not everyone feels that it’s important to spell correctly, use proper grammar, and punctuate as we learned in our early elementary school days. Do you?

I’m not a stickler for all this in every situation but I am when it comes to writing for your business and when writing for any professional reason. I’ve offered suggested edits to many entrepreneurs. There are some who say they don’t think their clients care about typos and punctuation. I often wonder: Do they know for sure that their clients don’t care? How about the ones who don’t become clients because they do, in fact, care?

When presenting yourself in the business arena, why not put your best foot forward? Remember all we learned about first impressions and how incredibly quickly they are formed? Now, imagine that first impression in the sterile, toneless, inanimate, smile-free world of the internet. Today, more than ever, a lot rides on the shoulders of our words in print.

Here are some tips for putting your best writing foot forward:

1. Think! Yes, think before you write or at least before sending. There’s a tendency to think as you type and then press send. Put a pause in there, at least before you send it off into cyberspace. It’s helpful to think it through before even writing, but not everyone chooses to work that way. Ask yourself if this is the overall message, tone, call to action you want delivered in your name.
2. Use spell-check! I know, this wonderful little application has been overlooked and forgotten but it is right at your fingertips. It won’t catch everything if you incorrectly insert a synonym but it can catch quite a bit. You can also use an internet search to check a phrase or spelling or meaning of a word. You don’t have to commit it all to memory and long-forgotten English classes; just use your resources.
3. Read it! Seems obvious and, perhaps simplistic, but often in our haste to move fast or die in business, we don’t take time to read our own words all the way through and more than once. Many of us can catch our own errors if we take this extra time. If this isn’t your forte, ask someone else to read it for you. It slows things a little but it is worth it to send it error-free.
4. Put yourself in the reader’s shoes. It can be easy to write about something we know well without thinking the delivery of those words all the way through to our readers. It’s important to step outside our limited personal view and read with fresh eyes. Often this means walking away from your words for a bit and coming back with the perspective of a new reader who does not have your background. Look for jargon and other phrases not common to the everyday reader. Have you defined them in your intro? Did you use an abbreviation without first giving the unabbreviated version? Are the steps you used in the right order? Does the information flow? These are important details that let your reader know you are considering them and connecting with them through your words. I just changed the order on these from my original order. Bet you’re wondering what it was!
5. Read it again! That’s right, again. It seems like overkill but the more time we look at our own words, the more we think we see what we intended and the easier it can be to overlook something. Each time you read, take your time. Do not skim. If this isn’t your thing and you find it tiresome to keep checking your work, it’s time to enlist some help.

P.S. In case you were wondering, I originally had Read it! as # 2. I’d love to hear how your work evolves as you recheck it and revise! Do you have other steps you use to put your best foot forward? Please share!

Step Up to the Plate and Write!

by Deb Coman | Jun 12, 2014 | Uncategorized

As I cheered on players approaching the batter’s box, I thought of how in business we need to step up to the plate. Many people contact me saying they have difficulty writing a regular blog, creating their promotional materials, bringing their new ideas to paper or following through on that dream of writing their story. Sometimes the difficulty is just in getting started. Many have a reluctance to get in that batter’s box at all. Some step in but strike out watching. We need to support each other to step up to our metaphorical plates and take a swing. You may not feel you’ve connected as well as you had hoped but you certainly won’t connect if you don’t take a swing.

1. Find your motivation. See past the “what” you are wanting to write and focus on the “why.” Take some time to think about what you hope to accomplish by writing that blog/article/story/marketing copy. Is it to grow your business? Connect with your subscribers? Develop a program that shares your gifts? This end result focus can help you gain momentum to take the first steps. It brings us out of what can sometimes feel like a chore and brings it to a higher level.  It taps into that part of us that brings more meaning to our lives, jobs, and work tasks. Let it carry you to the point of bringing pen to paper or tapping away at your keyboard.

2. Get inspired. This sounds a lot like motivation but I think there’s a difference. While the “why” is the motivation, the “how” is the inspiration. Surround yourself with writing you love to read. Read some of your favorite blogger’s entries, articles that moved you, a chapter in a book you love. Let that inspiration sink in. Focus on how you feel as you read words that touch your spirit. Know that you can write in that same way. Lift yourself up. Use encouraging thoughts and words. This is so important. Instead of “I better get started writing,” choose the more powerful and positive “I will write my blog/article/training ebook now.” This slight shift can mean the world in terms of changing your approach and getting you started.

3. Enlist some support. Tell someone you trust about what you’re going to write. Maybe it’s a friend, business coach, colleague; just be sure it’s someone positive and supportive. Choose carefully. You don’t need to hear from the naysayers or someone who might ask “You didn’t do that yet?” Just giving your plan a voice will help you stay on track. You may also gain some encouragement and motivation in the process. If you need a boost, just ask me!

Then, take a tip from Nike and “JUST DO IT!” Remember, writing is writing; it’s not about editing, proofreading and over thinking. Those things actually hinder writing. Just get those words out, any which way you can. If you need help cleaning them up, let me know (shoot me an email at deb@debcoman.com). All that “polishing” comes later, after you get that writing started by not just stepping in, but taking a good, hard swing!