Five Blogs That Can Help Your Writing
Posted: July 27, 2010 Filed under: Articles, Most Popular Posts, Writing Tips 2 Comments »It’s Sunday and I’ve been spending the afternoon reading blogs that other people write. A great way to spend Sunday afternoon.
Some were already my favorites that I’ve read for years. Others are new to me. All of them offer posts that can help you (and me) become better writers and to grow our freelance businesses.
I thought I’d choose five of the best that I read Sunday that you might want to read too. Here they are, along with their blog addresses. I’d really love to know which ones you like best.
One of my long-time favorite blogs is Kristen Kings InkThinker. Her post on “The Fine Line Between ‘Writing’ and ‘Being A Writer’” is a good one. One of her newest writing habits is to devote time each day to writing 2,000 words for herself before writing anything for anybody else. Kristen is a Virginia-based copywriter and consultant who offers tips, resources, advice humor and how-tos for freelancers and their clients.
Allison Winn Scotch’s Ask Allison is also a great blog. It’s said to help writers looking to break into the publishing world. Don’t fail to read “Talking Money: A Freelancer’s Salary.”
Liz Strauss Successful-Blog. In “26 Needle in the Haystack Blogging Topics,” you’ll find some great blogging information. What you won’t find is the author of the piece. I can’t tell if it was written by Liz Strauss or by Terez Howard, who Strauss thanks at the end of the post. But no matter the author, it’s a great piece. Don’t miss it.
A new one I’ve found is squarespace.com, the blog of R.M. Jacobsen. If you go there, you’ll come to “Agatha Christie and the Case of the Messy Notebooks,” a delightful little story about how Christie captured her notes in lowly notebooks. Lots of other clear and simple writing on this site.
I finished the day up at one of my favorite sites, The Urban Muse. This is the site for Susan Johnston. It has been twice named a Top 10 Blog for Writers, so you’ll know how valuable it is. One of the posts I read Sunday was “6 Ways to Liven up Your Copy.” I think you’ll agree that this is a valuable place to spend time on every week.
There you have my five Sunday afternoon blogs. I’d really love to know what you think about them. And I’d welcome comments from you about more blogs for me to explore.
Please leave a comment.
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About Mistakes That Make You Look Bad
Posted: July 20, 2010 Filed under: Articles, Editing Your Writing, Words and how we use them, Writing Tips 1 Comment »Today I ran across another post that can help me improve my writing. Mistakes That Make You Look Bad was on the WritingThoughts site and I think it is going to be a valuable addition to what I do here. You, too, might want to consider using the tips in your writing.
This is what I do on Sundays–spend time looking at what other writers are doing or have done. This is the first time I’ve seen WritingThoughts and I was impressed. Laura Spencer is a freelance writer from North Central Texas with over 19 years of professional business writing experience. I think we can all learn from her solid experience.
Mistakes That Make You Look Bad discusses twenty common grammar errors that are easily fixable. I won’t mention all 20 (some are spelling errors, including misspelling your own name!), but I will include these:
Misplacing a decibel (which project would you rather take–the job paying $10.00 or the one paying $1000?)
Using a double negative. Not only unnecessary, they actually make your writing unclear.
Run-on sentences. She says that connecting a bunch of independent sentences with the word “and” stringing them into one long sentence is wrong. It is.
Using text messaging abbreviations. Unless you’re absolutely certain that the recipient knows that TTYL means Talk To You Later, it’s best not to use the abbreviation.
Using too many big words. She says that filling your messages with all of the four- and five-syllable words that you know isn’t the best way to show them what you know.
I agree with her that using these and the other mistakes really do make you look bad. Go take a look at all 20 of them on her site. You will, I think, become more aware of what you are writing and how the recipients will respond to you.
How to Write and Sell How-to Articles—Part 2
Posted: October 25, 2009 Filed under: Articles, Writing Tips Leave a comment »In her article, “Ten Types of Magazine Articles,” Shirley Biagi wrote this about How-tos:
“The recipe is an easily recognizable how-to. However recipes for solar water heaters are just as much how-tos as recipes for hot Texas chili, and more marketable. How-tos are a good choice for the beginning freelancer. Offer step-by-step instructions and if possible, duplicate the process you’re discussing, watching for holes in your description. Think of yourself as a teacher explaining an experiment that you expect the class to duplicate. Be careful to avoid words that might confuse the beginner. “
Those are all excellent points for both beginners and experienced freelancers — plus there are multiple ways to write how-tos. Some may take the form of traditional articles, others may use unique ways to show how to do something. A how-to could even be in the form of an essay or a letter to a friend. And some are learning tools.
In her Recipe for Health column, registered dietitian Megan Murphy, my favorite food writer, gives readers a wealth of related information along with how-to recipes.
In one column, she showed how to make Spinach and Feta Focaccia using refrigerated pizza dough and leftover spinach. When she had no yellow raisins as the recipe specified, she just left them out. And she accidentally burned the pine nuts she was toasting. (I like it when people admit to making the same kind of mistakes I make.)
Megan wrote about how her eye doctor sang the praises of spinach for good eye health, and how the presence of beta carotene and Vitamin A in the dish can aid both the cornea and the brain. Because her article went beyond just how to cook something for dinner, readers got more than a basic recipe.
If you just want to write a simple article, however, here’s a basic plan using the hot Texas chili theme:
Introduction or lead — why hot Texas chili is delectable and why you should want to prepare it for dinner:
Ingredients — items you need to follow the recipe and produce a spectacular chili.
Instructions — how to put the ingredients together, and cook and serve your very special chili.
Results — how good it tastes and how much family and friends enjoy your special hot Texas chili.
Whatever the form of your how-to, and whether you’re writing about chili, solar water heaters or another subject, here are some points to consider:
1. Make sure the title of your how-to will interest readers of your target publication.
2. Capture attention with a lead that entices readers to stay and read the entire piece. A wikiHow article shows one way to use a question in the introduction to capture reader’ interest :
“An example of an opening line: ‘Have you ever wondered how to write an engaging introduction?’ And example of a closing introduction line: ‘Here’s how to do it in a few easy steps.’”
3. Present your how-to in logical, orderly steps. Begin with a list of needed supplies or ingredients, then discuss the steps your how-to requires. Use short, simple sentences and limit each step to one idea.
4. Include precautions, plus tips and advice so readers can carry out instructions successfully. Photos or drawings may be needed.
5. Credit others for facts and techniques used in your how-to. Get written permission for any copyrighted content that you use.
6. Be sure your completed how-to has a satisfactory ending. If you can tie the ending to your lead (introduction), so much the better.
7. Don’t forget to proofread everything, including photo captions. Correct any errors you find.
How-tos can be fun to write and rewarding to see in print. Editors seem to welcome them. If you’ve never written one before, maybe now is the time to get started.
Please leave a comment.
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