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- Hate to Write? 3 Ways to Start Enjoying It
- What to Write When an Employee Dies
- 5 Ways to Get Your Email Read, Remembered and Responded To
- Six Tips for Writing in Easy Reading Season
- 12 Ways to Plug the Email Productivity Drain
- Two Questions to Ask Before You Start Writing
- 6 Ways to Aim Your Arrow for the Heart
- 6 Ways to Become an Idea Machine
- 3 Reasons Why You Need to Improve Your Writing Skills
- Get Personal With Your Holiday Greetings: 3 Tips
Archive for the ‘Writing training’ Category
Those people who drive you crazy with big words and long emails are not my reading my book, Write Like You Talk Only Better. If they were, it would be on all the best-seller lists.
I expect many are not motivated enough to read a book that will smooth the writing process, from routine emails to complex business plans, let alone to practice with the worksheets. But some of the employers I’ve talked to would like that to change now that engagement and collaboration have become serious issues beyond the communication department. That’s why I call my new e-learning program Writing is Serious Business.
To collaborate, their people need to pull out ideas and express them clearly. To engage, they need their writing to bring them closer to people. To look smart, they need to stop making the common mistakes that spell check does not catch. To improve productivity, they need to write faster and tighter.
The 14 five-minute segments each continue with an assignment based on what they’re writing that day. This way, busy people can fit learning into their schedule and immediately understand how it applies.
To track their progress, they are encouraged to run their writing through standard reading ease tests and evaluate their improvement against specific benchmarks. Every time they complete an assignment or show improvement, they can award themselves an iWrite star.
Here’s what Writing is Serious Business entails:
Think first
Who’s talking to who?
What about?
Write like you talk
Hook your reader
Big finish
Just write
Write better
Memorable
Concise
Look smart
The two common flubs
Professional, consistent
Stand out
Tell your story
More Hollywood techniques
More media
Keep improving
After learners have consumed the bite-sized pieces, they can return to the segments they’d like to review. Or they can practice with the worksheets that go with the book.
Some of this could change, for the better, as I’m testing the program with two organizations before the big launch. I’m also working with adult educator Lee Weisser, previously with the Canadian Society for Training and Development.
For more feedback, I’ll post the introduction here soon. Stay tuned.
All too often my colleagues insist that the new generation of corporate communicators is too hooked on Facebook to write well. From the smart, eager students I met at my guest lecture at Centennial College yesterday, I think the future is in good hands — or whatever they’ll write with in the future.
These students already have degrees, but are taking an extra year of training to prepare for the work world. Like me when I was studying for a master’s in journalism after I realized the limits of a philosophy degree and cocktail waitressing.
I advised them to unlearn academic style writing, especially those long word counts, and to avoid the common flubs that make them look like they have spinach in their teeth.
We also talked about storytelling, applying techniques from Kony2012, television crime shows and friends who cut to the nail-biting goal or their kid’s meltdown when you ask them what’s new.
Thanks for the photo, Charline Tetiyevsky.
For the next couple weeks, you can download a free e-copy, any format, of Write Like You Talk–Only Better, the secret to pulling ideas out of your head and onto the page. Click here and use coupon code BC25Q.
The catch? I’d really appreciate you sharing the link, writing reviews and creating a buzz on Amazon, Smashwords. Goodreads, your site, Facebook, the library, the ice rink or other places you hang out.
And of course I’d love your feedback. Just as the new edition, now also available in print, was revised with feedback from readers and students, so this one will be too. It’s a living book.
So get yours today, before the free offer expires. And what about one for that colleague whose long-winded prose or embarrassing flubs is driving you crazy? Work would be so much easier if everyone would simply write like they talk–only better.
Thanks for the photo, Tonx.
I received lots of compliments on my PowerPoint-video hybrid promoting my book. These came mostly from people who share my discomfort with appearing on video, disdain for staring-into-webcam clips and tight budget.
Although they’re comfortable with PowerPoint, they want to post more places, with animation and music. So video it is. Or should I say pideo.
I’m not pretending that Learn to Write Like You Talk Only Better in 1 Minute is top-notch. I’ll do better on the pideo I’m planning on how to make a pideo. In the meantime, let me share what I’ve learned. And please, share your pideos and pideo tips with me.
10 steps
1. Think about what your community would most like to learn from you.
2. Break down the process into a few simple steps.
3. Plan your slides, something like this:
1 A catchy yet informative title
2-4 The problem
5-10 The solution
11 Learn more, which is your sales pitch.
4. Reduce the text on your slides to as few words as possible. Think about the kinds of pictures that could better convey your ideas. Show me; don’t tell me.
5. Search for images in your personal archive, stock photo sites and through an advanced search, in Creative Commons, on Flickr.com.
6. Create one helluva PowerPoint presentation. Don’t worry about transitions, which won’t convert to the video, but apply some animation to add action.
7. Save the presentation as a Windows Media Video, or the Mac equivalent.
8. Search for free or inexpensive music. As with the photos, expect to spend lots of fun time choosing the best for your pideo.
9. Add the music and other effects with Windows Movie Maker.
10. Post and publicize on YouTube, your site and as many places as you can.
I keep hearing that you need to have video on your site, but then I see yet another schmuck reciting a clunky script into a web cam. Please, I grew up on television. I expect better. At least adjust the lighting, dress the set and rehearse.
I’d rather be reading, listening or depilating. Sure, some blow my mind. But most of the DIY videos of earnest people hyping their latest breakthrough just make me laugh. As do the Flash-y promos, full of exploding type and dizzying effects, so overblown they look likes parodies of movie trailers.
But when I kept encountering places where I’m supposed to post a video to promote my book, I knew I had to go over to the dark and grainy side. I love a live audience and a microphone, but not a camera that can’t contain my energy. Even when I was younger and marginally hot, I made faces, swayed and fidgeted too much.
Then there was the issue of budget. If I were going to do a video, it would have to have the high production values of the ones I’ve worked on for corporate clients or marvelled at on YouTube. But I cannot afford a technical crew, let alone a stylist or editor.
So I went with what I know. Good old PowerPoint, that I could convert to a video and post. Not the mind-numbing, text-filled slides of corporate presentations, not masterful like An Inconvenient Truth, but fun with photos that pull at heart strings and just enough words.
And of course music. I wanted the pictures and bits of text to do the talking, not me. But I needed a soundtrack to create mood and move along the story.
I had so much fun creating the presentation that I didn’t mind working evenings and weekends on it. That is, until I ran into technical problems transferring the audio from PowerPoint to video, which took weeks to solve. Mind you, every time I tried something I had learned on Google, YouTube or a friend, I would also get better ideas for the slides.
When I would convert my presentation to a video for Windows Media Player, I would lose the music that I was convinced would hypnotize millions into buying the book. The trouble was that if I stuck with my musical PowerPoint, then Skydrive, Slideshare and other possible hosts would not only strip away the music, but also the animations and transitions.
Finally, I discovered that I could add a soundtrack to a silent PowerPoint-based video with Movie Maker. So I did. My slick transitions disappeared, but by this point I knew compromises would have to made if I was going to have time for anything else. And to get the damn thing up.
Learn to Write Like You Talk Only Better in One Minute will not go viral. But it’s better than watching my eye lid twitch. It cost only time that was mostly enjoyed.
As a professional who communicates mostly through written words, I was inspired by the challenge of conveying ideas through images. As someone who hates the technical side, I was proud of myself for hanging in.
I’m not expecting a stampede of sales because of my hybrid PowerPoint-video that I refer to as my pideo. But at least now I can tell the cool kids I have video on my site.
Plus I have accepted that video is here to stay. I have signed up for lessons. Now if only I can sit still.
Thanks for the photo, Smussyolay.
In your office, people spend lots of time and money on initiatives to boost productivity, satisfaction and engagement. Unfortunately, they’re too busy to see the three elephants who are blocking their path.
But these elephants–Confused, Too Much Time and Stay Away–could once again destroy the village and crops.
This happened in 2008, when Confused made highly educated people pretend to understand “collateralized debt obligations” and “credit default swaps,” triggering the financial collapse. The recovery was delayed, because Too Much Time gave the politicians stimulus legislation that took too long to read. By showing more concern for the big bad banks than the grocery-buying voters, Stay Away pissed off the people, driving many to the Occupy protests or the Tea Party movement.
Think about what could happen with the current European crisis, even if we pretend everyone speaks English. What if one nations writes “I except your proposal” instead of “I accept?” What if the communiques take so long to read that an agreement is never signed? Or what if the hot Greeks and Italians feel alienated by the cold tone of the Germans and French?
Blame the elephants. If they keep growing, the disasters will multiply, not only in the corridors of power, but in your office too.
By following orders only from Spellcheck, Confused leaves employees wondering every time they read about “it’s results.” The IT department’s? Or maybe “It is results” is the hot new slogan they’re supposed to know?
Too Much Time, who is already wasting many hours every day with emails that don’t get to the point, is growing fatter off SharePoint, Twitter and social tools.
Despite all the emphasis on “friends” and “like,” Stay Away is waxing on about “authority endorsements,” extending “best regards” and spraying other gross stuff out of her trunk to keep people at a safe distance.
Everyone seems too preoccupied with new apps to notice how fat and mighty these elephants are growing. But before anyone else gets hurts, they need to learn a lesson from Busy Bee Inc, where one of the drones was smooshed by the weight of email messages from Too Much Time.
Something had to be done to tame the beasts, Queen Bee decided.
She focused on training Confused to think and stop blocking the path to understanding. She put Too Much Time on a diet that hinged on careful portion control. She became an elephant whisperer, appealing to Stay Away in a friendly tone with words that mean something to her.
She averted another smooshing. Better still, the elephants are eating out of her hand. Busy Bee’s productivity, satisfaction and engagement scores have soared. Business is hiving, I mean thriving.
Another happy ending made possible by people writing precisely, concisely and nicely. Will your office’s story end happily too?
At a webinar this week, I was shocked to hear that the moderator, and the two co-hosts, all hate to write. Ironically, these smart, articulate men were talking about writing ebooks. As many of you know, I’m writing a new edition of Write Like You Talk–Only Better, which will be soon available in print and for e-readers.
That’s it for the commercial. Stick around for the fun.
You see, fun is what writing should be, according to people like me who choose this path. Then again, people like Dave Williams think doing cool things with web cams is a hoot.
Because I want Dave to see how comfortable writing can be, after the webinar I sent him an almost-final draft of the book and my post on what’s involved in competing with the oncoming flood of self-published ebooks. It’s a lot more difficult than snapping together Lego blocks, one of Dave’s metaphors.
We set up a time to talk, with a web cam of course. I even practiced looking at the camera while I talked, though as usual my eyes mostly stayed on my keyboard. That will change as soon as it becomes fun. And once I’ve figured out how to fake a glamor shot.
In addition to our lively discussion about how well ebooks can work for businesses that are based on expertise, Dave generously shared some suggestions for the web page about my workshops, which has an embarrassing conversion rate. I fixed it immediately. To say thanks, I am writing this advice for you, Dave.
As he explained in the webinar, the Lego blocks that make up an ebook can come from transcripts of the podcasts, videos and webcasts, the spoken communication that Dave and the guys call fun. So let me start there.
1. Focus on the golden 20 per cent.
Remember the 80/20 rule, also known as Pareto’s principle, as in 80 per cent of your business comes from 20 per cent of your clients. This also applies to anything you record. Other research too. Instead of transcribing the whole she-bang, note what the timer or other indicator says when there’s something you might want to use. Have that part transcribed, which I bet will be about 20 per cent of the total.
Selecting what you want to transfer from talking into writing is a big step toward getting it on the page. And think of the transcribing and editing costs you’ll save.
2. Have a snappy theme that’s relevant to your readers.
Express this in a clever working title that you may fine tune a million times before you finish. Your theme describes what you want to build from the blocks. If you want to sell books and gain respect for your expertise, you can’t randomly snap together blocks. Like Lego, you need a plan for a robot or castle. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a structure that fails to impress and probably collapses, as I know from my Lego experiences when my kids were little.
In addition to guiding you and unifying your content, this theme will help you write, or at least collaborate on, the ebook promotion. Yes, the writing does not end with the book, so you’d better start having fun if you want to feed the ravenous content marketing machine.
3. Write like you talk.
Okay, I promised no more commercials, but you really have to take this seriously. Just think about the best podcasts, videos and webinars you’ve done, then write like you’re having a conversation about them. No peeking at transcripts, though you should indicate where you want to insert those sections you decided to keep. What’s important is there for the picking from your memory.
By going back to talking, your first and favorite way to communicate, your writing will flow. You’ll intuitively know how to connect those blocks. You’ll remember most of the rules that matter. You’ll be your natural social self.
If you still can’t go from mind to mouth to mouse, even after you’ve practiced with the worksheets in my book, record yourself. As with the transcripts, look for the golden 20 per cent. That is your content.
4. Relax.
You are not back in school with a teacher waving a ruler at you. You are sitting in that lovely office where you have so much fun talking. No one is judging. Just write like you’re having a conversation, much as I’m continuing the conversation with you.
Follow these four tactics and there is hope for you, Dave and the other guys who hate writing. Just like there’s hope I’ll get comfortable talking to the camera light on my monitor.
I was flattered when I received Dee’s guest post pitch. After all, this is not one of the big shot blogs with a queue of eager writers wanting to make a name for themselves.
But my antenna should been gone up at the mention of “free” in the subject line. The alarm bells should have sounded when her submission contained the words “peak” when she meant “pique” and “reign” instead of “rein.”
What should have stopped me dead in my tracks was her request that I re-insert a link I had omitted because it had nothing to do with the post. Ironically, Dee had ranted against superfluous links.
When I spotted the “reign” mistake again in a blog an expert tweeted I simply had to read, I figured maybe I was being too tough. However, I made sure these examples were included in the list of common sound-alike confusions I provide in the new edition of Write Like You Talk–Only Better.
From running another blog, for the Toronto chapter of IABC (International Association of Business Communicators), I know that newbie bloggers can be sensitive souls. I want to help them. And I don’t like to look like Mrs. Cardwell, my grade seven English teacher, who would stamp her kitten heels in frustration when we kept making the same mistakes over and over.
When I refused to add the meaningless link, Dee complained about not getting paid for the link after she’d spent all that time on the “free” post for me. At her request, I took it down.
I don’t feel bad because I’m against sleazy link-building practices. Solid links are tough to earn.
But from all those “$20-a-post” ads I see, I know that many McWriters are toiling for these content farms, whose mission is to hoodwink the search engine giants with misbegotten links.
Writers have long kick started their careers with low-priced prose to magazines and other prestigious publications. But the writing had to be good. One “peak” or “reign” and the editor would stop reading.
The payoff was being able to show prospects that the big shots had published you. Today you also earn a prized link.
Highly regarded newspapers such as the Globe and Mail have gone from paying peanuts to saw dust. But I still send them articles occasionally because their circulation is huge and includes the kind of people I want to impress. The last time I published there, I immediately received a call from an occasional client who is now sending a stream of quality work. I also vie to provide guest posts for blogs like Problogger and Ragan.com because they always deliver new subscribers and attention to me.
So Dee, here’s my my advice if you want to go from being a McWriter to a white table cloth writer like me: Hone your craft, by avoiding sound-alike confusions and other common mistakes. You can do this, and earn more, by getting a job with an organization where the boss knows how to write well. If you dare, write quality posts and articles for big shots.
Google and other search engine keep changing their algorithms to discourage the content farms. You’re not helping your career by slaving for them. Don’t blame me.
And thank you, Dee, for reminding me that nothing in life is free. Now if I can only cast off the spirit of Mrs. Cardwell. And why do I still remember her green suede shoes?
Thanks for the photo, Floyd Brown.
I was nervous when the top executive asked me to come into his office to talk to me about the message I’d written for his annual report. Although he was a new client, I’d felt comfortable interviewing him and confident I’d captured his engaging message and warm personality.
But as I walked into his office, my eyes locked on the page in front of him: lots of words crossed off with thick black marker, as if he were redacting state secrets. As I sat down, he passed the paper across the desk and looked me in the eye. “Barb,” he stated. “This is a ‘we’ business.”
On the ink-pocked page, he had covered up every instance of the word “I.” In the margin, in the same stubby marker, he had written “We!!!!!!!”
He thought the use of “I” was so ego-centric. The company, he insisted, was all about the customers, suppliers and employees. I understood the sentiment. From all the nice things I’d heard about him, I knew he was sincere.
Besides, I don’t usually argue with strong opinions from confident executives. Easy to change. And he was happy with everything else.
But as I drove back, I kept thinking about how he would have come across as more human to these customers, suppliers and employees if he had allowed me to ghost write as “I” to “you.”
I’ve had similar conversations with many clients over the years. Old-school word stylists don’t feel comfortable budging from the traditional editorial “we.” Often content is intended to be an objective report from a faceless organization.
But when people want to bond with other people, especially with anything that bears their signature, they need to communication as “I” to “you.”
In this morning’s Globe and Mail, in an interview about the psychological impact of pronoun use, James W. Pennebaker, author of The Secret Life of Pronouns, cited the example of Rick Guiliani. The former New York mayor had appeared cold and distant when he used “we” before his heart attack, but as human and caring after switching to “I.”
According to Pennebaker’s research, “we” is the voice of liars and politicians at war. He also found that people who use the same pronouns and other language preferences are more likely to be compatible. Hmmm. Another book to read and ponder.
Thanks, Dr. Pennebaker, or should I call him Jim? More support for my position, expanded on in Write Like You Talk–Only Better, that you need to write as “I” to “you” and with the same words and style as the person you want to connect with.
And more reasons why I should get more assertive with the next well-intentioned client who wants me to write as “we.”
What do you think?
People who rely on spell check too much often mix up words that sound the same but are spelled differently. If you want your readers to understand you and think you’re smart, you must avoid sound-alike traps.
Although there are way too many to list here, here are some of the common ones:
accept except
affect effect
alternate alternative
boarder border
cite site sight
complement compliment
chord cord cored
council counsel
coarse course
discreet discrete
elicit illicit
epic epoch
farther further
heard herd
insight incite
peak peek pique
pedal peddle
principal principle
storey story
than then
verses versus
If you want to stop embarrassing yourself and confusing your readers, write a list of words you have confused and tape it prominently in your work space. If you are the slightest bit confused about any of the words on this list, start with them.
When you have a smidgen of doubt, check that you’re using the correct word by highlighting it and clicking on spelling & grammar or research in Word or the equivalents on other word processing programs. It takes only a few seconds, much less time than we used to spend hauling the fat dictionary off the shelf and leafing through.
Once you’ve caught yourself a few times, using the correct one will become automatic. Then you can cross it off the list. As long as you haven’t had to add too many new ones, you will feel good.
Don’t get me started on sound-alike pronouns, as in its and it’s, which I dumped on here.
You may not be aware of these slip-ups. So when a sound-alike mix-up is pointed out to you, usually by a baby boomer and anal person, don’t be defensive. Thank them. Add the words to your list.
Do you have any to add to mine?
Thanks to Graham Ballantyne for the photo.