Writing YEAH! 10 WHOLE NEW Reasons to Get Jazzed About Writing

September 6, 2006 by Liz

Writing in Times of Cabin Fever

Artists, designers, painters, woodworkers, crafters . . . all of us who put our hands in our heads . . .

First we learn the habits and tools of what we do.
Then we take on the values they represent.

The real tools of writing are thoughts and ideas.
The real values are the relationships we make with them.
–ME Strauss

We call the time cabin fever. It’s the end of Chicago winter — no sun, not much sunshine in people. Everyone’s tired of being cooped up. One dismal Sunday last March, I wrote WritingÃ¢â¬âUgh! 10 Reasons to Get Jazzed about Writing.

Jazz helps when you’ve got cabin fever.

Then it was over. The sun finally came, and we wrote. We wrote through spring tulips, young love, and baseball season. We wrote through summer vacations, the World Cup, and fireworks. We got into some serious writing.

Like everyone who’s been busy writing, I didn’t stop to notice much. Until today, now I’m jazzed all over again!

YEAH! Now I’ve got . . .

10 WHOLE NEW Reasons to Get Jazzed about Writing

The original 10 reason still hold fast. Writing is a phenomenal tool. What I’ve discovered are new reasons are about how writing has made a difference in our lives.

Here’s what I see and why I’m jazzed all over again.

1. Writing has given us a place we can meet. We talk about writing — in public now.

2. Writing has led us to read more. In order to write, we read. Many of us read more than we ever did before. We read to find out what folks write about. We read to find ideas. We read to find out our own thoughts. We read more than we would if we didn’t write.

3. Writing leads us to read like writers. “If it’s in print, it must be true.” Remember that? Writing takes the shine off the coin and the glamour off the print. We’re not so quick to be taken in by words that “look” good. We’re separating fact from opinion more quickly and more accurately, and letting folks know when they get mixed up about them.

4. Writing has brought more of us to care about how we write. Good enough isn’t the standard any more. What once was a “have to” has become a “want to.” We’re learning to write for ourselves and our readers, not for our job roles and our teachers’ approval.

5. Wrting is making us better communicators. People talk back and push ideas forward. We’re having conversations we never would have had were we not writing. Each communication offers a secret something new that adds to what we already know about writing and people.

6. Writing builds confidence and expertise. Every piece we write is just that much better than the last — over time it shows. Go back and look. Have you stopped to see how much better your writing is since you started? . . . how much more you know? Other folks have. That’s why they read what you write.

7. Writing allows us to think more deeply — a crucial skill. People don’t spend time typing “small talk.” Only weather folks type about the weather, and when they do, they’re not having casual conversation. We organize our thoughts before we publish them. We consider the world differently in search of ideas and points of view to write about. We think about the folks who will read what we write. We no longer think on the surface of ideas. We’re learning to push past sound-bytes and infosnacks, so that readers have something to respond to.

8. Writing can make us better listeners and better people. We’re finding out people say the same things in different ways. Writing is the best way to learn that different doesn’t mean wrong, and letting go is the first step in learning. Sometimes folks send our message back in entirely new ways — they hear something valuable, but not what we said. We learn to listen to them and to ourselves as well.

9. Writing is contagious, builds relationships, and changes lives. Writing great content still means search engine ranking and link popularity. It also means people — real human beings. People come who take an interest in the writer. Writing begets writing. Conversations lead to conversations. Relationships grow between like minds, and people meet. How many folks have you written to in the last week? How many of those people will you meet in your life? How many folks have you met that you trust?

10. Writing can break down walls and build communities. Corporations are finding that customers write. Big companies are taking down their brick walls to listen and starting to write back to us. Walls are falling down all over the Internet. Communities are replacing them. There were 456 comments from people across the world who were talking to each other about their favorite neighborhood. Enough said.

You might find other ways on the Internet to communicate — podcasting, video — but they’re not the same.

Writing is interactive, individual and social, makes a person think first and filter out thoughts that don’t matter. What I realized today is the greatest way that writing is changing us.

We’re becoming literate people who know more about ourselves, the world, and each other.

Now . . . . I’m even more jazzed about writing than I was last March.

Can you blame me?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Writing Ugh! 10 Reasons to Get Jazzed about Writing

March 26, 2006 by Liz

Writing Is Easy When It’s Over

Writing is easy. All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.

—Gene Fowler , Screenwriter, Director, Author

Let’s face it. Everyone can think of things we’d rather do than write. Writing is work, even when it comes easily. We have to get the words down in the right order. We have to check that they’re all there and spelled correctly. We have to make sure that they make sense to people who aren’t us. Those are a lot of things to do when we might be doing something more fun, such as having a life.

Why do I write?

I just can’t let opportunities fly right by me.

10 Reasons to Get Jazzed about Writing

Why do folks write? They know that words have power. That a word well-placed and well-written can bring visibility and attention to them, their business and their brand. They know that writing is an incredible tool that reaches farther than other forms of conversation do. Even video, well-done, is written first.

We write because writing is power. Here are 10 reasons to get jazzed about writing.

1. In today’s universe, writing is your voice. Not to write is close to having laryngitis. The ability to write is critical. You learn it same way you learn to play the guitar–by practice. If you want to communicate when the spotlight falls your way, you need to be writing “solos” now.

2. Writing can reach an unlimited audience. More people can access what you have to say when they can read it. Your audience can read what you write on their own terms, in their own time frame.

3. Writing allows you to think before you speak. One beauty of writing is that you can edit before people hear what you say. The uhs and ums, the wild digressions, and off-base thinking can stay a secret between you and your delete key. You end up looking smarter, and your audience ends up thinking you are too. That’s power.

4. Writing lasts to become an asset. The words you craft today will still be available to you again and again. One investment pays you back with many returns. You can repurpose your writing to fit new situations. You can make it last to serve you and your business as long as you need it to.

5. Writing is free promotion. Offer quality, relevant content to an audience who needs it, and they’ll be coming back to see you again. Your name, your business, and your brand will gain a following from the writing that you did.

6. Writing increases the visibility of your brand. Writing great content means search engine ranking and link popularity. Whether you’re looking for a new job or promoting your business, high visibility is currency in the knowledge universe. Employers and clients are using search engines to check out relationships. You do it. Don’t you?

7. Writing lets people know you as an individual. You become the one and only you. If I never wrote a word on this blog, how would you know who I am? Need I go on?

8. Writing forces you to think through ideas. When you leave your ideas in your head, it’s easy to think you know them inside out. Often after writing something, we know it better than before we started.

9. Writing lets you define the big idea of your brand. Whatever subject you write about will soon become what you are thought of as an expert on.

10. Writing is networking with content. Writing opens doors. People read and answer back. All people tend to see others who think like they do as being smart. Some of those readers will become friends and business contacts.

I can think of so many reasons to write, and I get jazzed about the doors that each piece I write might be opening. Now as I finish this post, I have one more page in my archives. It’s like one more dollar in my promotional bank account. I can repurpose it and use it again and again. People can read it whenever they want to find out more about who I am.

Funny . . . . I’m even more jazzed about writing now, than I was when I started this post.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Check It Out–For Your Readers

March 8, 2006 by Liz

The rule is

Allow half again as much time for editing.
If it took 20 minutes to write it, allow 10 more to check it out.
For me, it works the opposite, if it took 20 minutes to write,
it will take 40 minutes to check it out.

Why I Know What I Know about This Step

I’m probably the last person who has any credibility in writing about this topic–but maybe that makes me the one to whom you should listen. You see I have so many strikes against me in this area–I come from a family of dyslexics. I suffer from the writer’s curse of seeing what I meant to say, instead of what’s on the paper. I’m a big picture person, which means focus on details takes an extra effort–that I’ve had to find ways of building in safety nets to avoid embarassing myself and the people I work for.

Reading for Your Readers (2-4 minutes)

The writing is done, but it’s not over. Time to check for all of the little glitches that occur when words move from your head down through your finger to the screen. We owe it to our readers to give what we wrote a good and thorough reading. Here are some power steps to follow to make sure that you catch all of the errors in the shortest time possible.

Switch your document into the preview mode.
Set your browser to a type size at least two sizes larger than you’re used to reading.
Print the document and read it on paper.
Run a spell checker on the document.
Use a checklist to guide you through longer articles.

Printing and reading the document in a larger type size on paper as opposed to on the screen will help you see errors more quickly. Read with a pencil and point to each word as you read it. That will help to prevent your mind from filling in words that you expect to be there but, in reality, are not on the page.

Try to get the basic grammar rules correct, but know this about commas–even the most experienced copyeditors have problems with commas. Be consistent with your use of punctuation and your readers will be able to understand your message.

At this point I copy the document out into a text editor for a spellchecker. I find WordPress spellcheckers to be unreliable. Even if I spellchecked in an offline editor before moving to my blog software, I make changes that haven’t been checked. Checking again is one more safety net that only takes a few seconds, and saves me errors that others would see.

Inputting Changes (2-4 minutes)

If you’re like me, you’ve probably found an error or two. Actually, if you’re like me the number is probably closer to 20 errors. Know this before you start inputting changes. There are three risks I’ve observed from working with professional inputters who have input changes from whole departments of editors.

Look closely again near any error you found. It’s human nature to feel so good about finding one error that we miss one right next to it.
Tick off each error as you input the change . Missed changes are a common problem with inputting corrections.
Introducing new errors at this stage is often a problem. Watch what you input that you don’t accidently add or delete too much. A common mistake is to change a verb that affects the use of the word “to” later in the sentence. For example, if the sentence Ask them to stop. becomes Have them to stop. it is common for folks to forget to delete the word “to” in the second version.

Do yourself and your readers the favor of printing and reading the document again to check that all of the changes have been made and that the document reads smoothly. If you’re as impatient as I am, you want to just publish it . . . but use the few seconds it takes to read it anyway.

The ethic here is spare the reader.

Your readers won’t notice if your work is a few minutes later, but an error will be there until you find it and fix it.

Let me know if you have any questions if your process works in a different way. You might have ideas that will help someone else be a power writer.

Remember every writer’s process is personal. Hope this helps you find out what works best for you.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related articles:
Introducing Power Writing for Everyone
DonÃ¢â¬â¢t Hunt IDEAS Be an Idea Magnet
Why Dave Barry and Liz DonÃ¢â¬â¢t Get WriterÃ¢â¬â¢s Block
Editing for Quality and a Content Editor’s Checklist

Got the Idea. Now What Do I Do with It?

March 7, 2006 by Liz

A quote I like a lot says

I hate writing. I love having written.

Make a Five-Minute Writing Plan

You can at least get to be friends with writing, if you start with a simple writing plan.

I’ve got a pile of ideas. Writing the article should a breeze. Right? Well maybe. But sometimes, it isn’t. Why is that? Usually it’s because I haven’t really decided what it is I want to say. This is how to avoid that problem by making a quick writing plan.

Decide What You Want to Say (1 minute)

Choose the idea you’re most interested in.
Write one sentence stating why readers need to know about it.
Use that sentences a working title for now.

Plan How You’re Going to Say It (2-4 minutes)

Sketch, visualize, or tell yourself what three main points of the article will be. “I’ll say this and this and this.” Most articles that aren’t how-to articles only need 1-3 points well-said.
Add something from your personal experience–one bit– that will make a point more clearly or make the article more appealing.
Let the research sit there, unless you need it to look something up. It’s served it’s purpose. (See DonÃ¢â¬â¢t Hunt IDEAS Be an Idea Magnet.)

Five are minutes up, time to start writing!

Starting, Going, Done in Minutes

When I write I think about my audience–one person that I might be talking to. That makes it easier to frame my message. I picture a prototypical reader–always someone who likes me. Why start out with someone who doesn’t? Then the writing would take on a defensive tone. I want my writing to be friendly so I choose a friendly audience. It’s as simple as that.

Middle, Beginning, Ending

Ever sit down to tell a story and not know how to start it. Inevitably a listener will say, “Start at the beginning.” But just where is the beginning? Sometimes the beginning is the hardest part to see. That’s why I start from the middle with the main points that I just sketched out.

By starting from the middle, no blank screen can intimidate me. I know exactly what I’m going to write and in what order. I get my ideas on paper and flowing. I begin to see the article take form and imagine my readers reading it. I also get a feeling for what exactly it is that’s working.

Write Until You Need to Walk

While I write I add flourishes–metaphors and explanations. Occasionally my mind gets stuck on a word or an idea. It’s that feeling where I know what I want to say, but just can’t seem to find the words or the image to express it. That’s when I move around. Movement helps let the ideas gel. I walk around the apartment, looking at the floor and thinking–this is a no talking, no listening time–it’s sort of like putting my brain on a swing set. The sentence I am trying to write plays in my head–over and over in new versions. When I get back and sit down, I’m ready to write again. In fact, that’s how I got from the words Sometimes I walk in this paragraph to here just now.

Beginning, Ending

When I get the Middle set, I stop to read it and set the subhead. Then it’s time to tackle the Ending and Beginning, which are usually about the same thing–why the heck should people read this and why the heck should they be glad they did?

As the old presentation adage goes:

Beginning: Tell them what you’re going to tell them (and why they want to hear it.)
Middle: Tell them what you said you’d tell them.
Ending: Tell them what you just told them (and why they should be glad they heard it.)

So that’s exactly what I do to call the writing done.

What I Just Told You

Starting with a simple plan–a sketch what you want to tell your readers–and starting in the middle are two ways that you can get yourself into the writing with less pain and more productivity.

Only two things here are critical: know what you want to say and a change of venue when you feel stuck. Don’t feel a need to follow my process. A writer’s process is fluid and personal. Find the gems in what I do that work for you and toss the rest aside.

As always, I’m here if you want to talk about this. Writer’s have so many cool techniques and strategies. I’m really interested in what works for you.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Introducing Power Writing for Everyone

March 6, 2006 by Liz

Last year I served as Editorial Director for a major revision of the textbook program that was the same textbook I learned to write from–Voyages in English, Writing and Grammar (Loyola Press, 2006). The goal of the revision was to return the program to its orignal rigor and to bring it into the light of the 21st century–to help kids understand from the beginning how important communication is to their place in society. We worked with a great team of authors, editors, and designers, and we succeeded.

In the introduction, I wrote these words on behalf of the program.

Our ability to navigate the world is nested within our ability to communicate. Words enable us to share who we are, to tell what we think, and to express what we believe. No, we are not merely what we say, nor are we people on paper. Yet, it has become normal for us to sort each other by first impressions and sound bites.

The working world defines us by our skill sets and judges us by our communications. Our dexterity and speed in accessing information and our accuracy and creativity in sharing it are highly prized. Bits and bytes the words we say and the words we write, delineate our potential to earn a living. The appropriateness and clarity of thos words convey how we fit into the world, how we might contribute, and how we might lead others.
—Liz Strauss, writing for Voyages in English, Loyola Press

When I researched that program I learned that American corporations spend an estimated $3.1 billion a year teaching employees how to write.

Power Writing for Everyone

The success of the post Why Dave Barry and Liz Don’t Get Writer’s Block and the daily visits to other writing posts here has led me to develop a writing series.

Power Writing for Everyone will take readers through the streamlined writing process–the one that works in the real world. I’ll share in detail the how, what, and why each step and how-to bundle things for maximum productivity. The series starts getting ideas and keeps going through to publishing and cross-purposing content.

It’s important because whether you’re a CEO, a crane operator, or a cab driver . . .

In a global economy, speaking and writing are requisite skills for any life plan.
—Liz Strauss, writing for Voyages in English, Loyola Press

My job is to make your job easier and take road blocks out of the way. Power Writing for Everyone is meant to do just that. Let me know if anything is missing.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Don’t Hunt IDEAS — Be an Idea Magnet

March 6, 2006 by Liz

Ideas Get Things Going

The question that professional writers are asked most is Where do you get your ideas? The answer they always give is Ideas are everywhere.

It’s true that ideas are everywhere, but . . . that’s not much consolation when you look everywhere, and you seem to find nothing.

Yet ideas are the stuff from which quality content is crafted, and quality content is what builds relevance. Relevance draws people to read us, to add to the conversation, and to share our ideas with others. Quality content packed with relevance also leads search engines to show us off in their rankings. So solid ideas are critical to blogs, websites, and all online businesses.

Ideas are what gets the whole process going. But . . .

Sometimes the very idea of getting an idea can be intimidating.

Be an Idea Magnet

Looking for ideas can be a lot like looking for a white shirt in the Mall of America. If you don’t have anything to narrow your search the task can be overwhelming. Too many kinds of white shirts to choose from and soon they all seem to have the same value–none at all. Ideas work in much the same way as that. Without some sort of criteria to sort them you can look all day and not find a single one.

Ideas really are everywhere. The art is in training your mind to see the ideas and pull them in before your thoughts pass by them–to make your mind into an idea magnet of sorts.

Many Ideas At Once

Sometimes I’m asked to write a book of ideas for teaching some skill set or group of strategies. You might be surprised to find out how I go about such tasks. I identify pages of ideas before I start writing. One idea at a time is just too much work and too painful for me. I approach the task as I approach doing dishes. Wash all of the dishes first. Then dry them all.

Attracting Writeable Ideas

When I write for my blogs, I figure if I’m going to find one idea, I might as well find many. That way I’m set for a while. With a pile of ideas, I can switch my brain over to concentrate on the writing and editing–that’s work enough for me.

Whether you’re looking for one idea or many, or trying to find a spin on a topic that’s too big to write about, the process for getting to a solid idea is basically same.

Here’s how to get your brain to open up to 4-5 ideas at once.

1. Gather resources with a yes or no look. (60-90 minutes max)

Limit research time–the more ideas the less time spent per idea.
Use a variety of resources online, magazines, newpapers, and books.
Check only headlines and take only a quick look.
If what you see doesn’t grab you. Move on.
If it catches your interest, print it or tag it to come back to.

It’s important not to read at this point. Just let the headlines soak in. The variety of resources offers a visual change that helps to keep your mind fresh and tends to bring in a wider variety of points of view. You might find yourself seeing connections between one piece and another. That’s good.

2. Read with a highlighter, a pencil, and a pad of paper. (30-60 minutes)

Highlight keywords.
Jot key points in the margin using 3-4 words you might say if you were restating the point to a friend.
If you get article ideas, mark them on the piece that inspired them.
When you notice connections between pieces you’ve chosen write them on the pad of paper.

Do these things quickly to let your mind capture and collect information without filtering it. You’ll start to make further connections to your personal experiences. Note those on the writing pad too. What you’re doing is guided brainstorming. (I made that term up.) Feel free to throw out any resources you know just won’t work.

3. Sort your resources into like piles by topic. (5-15 minutes)

Give each pile a working title.
Add to each pile a bulleted list of events, thoughts, or learnings from your experience that fit with that idea.
Choose the idea that you find most useful to your readers and put the rest in a folder.

Also do this quickly as a “brain dumping” exercise. Write what comes to mind and keep going until you have a list–however long or short—for each pile you made. Now you have some solid ideas. Keep them all, even the ones that seem thin or uninteresting. After a day or so you might find uses for those that you don’t like right now.

The Benefits of Working Out Once a Week

This workout shows results immediately. In just that much time I have ideas I can write about. I do this “workout” about once a week when I’m not under pressure to write something. The workout takes away the rush and tumble of having to push through my feeds with deadlines hanging over me. Even when I want to cover breaking news. I have ideas ready to go if I want to post a quick article before I start researching.

The relief that comes from knowing I have many ideas in the hopper makes writing exponentially easier. When I sit down to write, I can concentrate on what I’m writing about. I know it’s a fully vetted idea that will work, rather than one I have to hope will work out. I can use the time I might have spent looking for an idea and use it to check my work.

Writing’s more fun when your brain is free of that voice that keeps saying, “I need to get this done. I need to get this done. My readers are waiting for me.”

A brain is a writer’s instrument in the same way as a voice is a singer’s instrument. Why shouldn’t writers train just as vocalists do?

Power writing is a very cool thing.

Try it and let me know how it goes. I’m here to help any way that I might.

After all, I’m the nice one. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss