Hi, and welcome to Part 2 of my article on writing! I’m happy you’re here. In case you missed Part 1, here’s what we discussed: 1.) mindset, 2.) keeping your readers’ needs front and center, and 3.) how to overcome writer’s block. Today, I’m going to cover two more tips for improving your writing. Ready? Here we go.
4. Start with a rough outline. Ugh. I’m sure you didn’t want to hear that. But luckily, I’m not talking about a “real” outline, like the one Miss Fisherman made you do in middle school before you were allowed to write your term paper. (She wasn’t wrong, by the way. It’s just that you can accomplish the same thing much more simply.) In this case, I’m talking about merely jotting down a few brief words so that you’ll be more efficient and organized when you begin writing. And did you notice that I used the word “efficient?” Yes, a quick outline will not only make you a better writer, it’ll actually make you a faster writer, to boot! You’ll know where you’re going without having to pause as much to ponder your next point.
Here’s a tried and true way to create a quick outline, which I’m sure will sound familiar to you—thanks, once more, to Miss Fisherman: briefly work your way through the “Five W’s of writing.” Remember those? (Actually, it’s the “five W’s and one H,” but no one ever calls it that.) So, before you begin, ask yourself “who, what, when, where, why, and how.” This simple query can serve nicely as your outline, and just as importantly, it helps to ensure you’re not leaving out any important information from your document. If you’ve successfully answered all these questions, you’ve got it covered.
Just so you don’t become dismayed by this tip (and then decide to ignore it), here’s a quick example of what I might write as an outline before I begin a letter:
Who: my clients
What: a new investment opportunity
When: being released next month
Where: with X Corp
Why: it’s going public and Warren Buffett says it looks like a great investment
How: call me and we can prepare to transfer funds
It’s that simple, and it works. And by writing this outline, you’ve practically already written your letter!
5. Rewrite…everything! Are you groaning again? Well, I speak only the truth. Great writing never happens in a first draft. I’m going to give you some tips for how to ideally polish your writing—and then a few tips for what you’ll probably do instead. But first, the ideal scenario:
You write your letter, memo, grant proposal, whatever. You go away for a while. Ideally, you take a trip to Paris and have dinner along the Seine. (Hey! I said I’d start out with the ideal.) Then you come back and reread what you’ve written. Lo and behold, you discover all sorts of ways to say it better. You might move some paragraphs around. You might omit parts that sound confusing or uninteresting. You might add some clarifying information. You might totally tear your document apart and put it back together. This step is called “rewriting” and it’s totally worth the time and trouble, because your finished product with be oh-so-much better.
Next, you move on to “editing.” (And once again, if you can walk away from your document and then come back to it a bit later, you’ll have a much clearer perspective.) In this step, you read over your document and search for ways to make your point using fewer words, better words, or clearer words. You do your best to get rid of “passive voice” (“an agreement has been reached” becomes “we’ve reached an agreement”). You eliminate any phrases, sentences or even complete paragraphs that are superfluous, unnecessary, or simply don’t work. You simplify your writing by getting rid of obscure or uncommon words (“prestidigitation” becomes “magic”). You move words around or shorten phrases to make your writing more readable (“The purpose of the upcoming meeting will be to introduce our newest product line” becomes “We’ll be introducing our newest product line in the upcoming meeting”). In general, you polish the document to make it pleasant, clear, and easily understandable.
Editing is completely different from the next step, which is “proofreading.” When you proof, you go back over your document once more, this time for technical precision. You’re correcting any mistakes in spelling, grammar, syntax, document consistency, and you’re verifying the accuracy of charts, graphs, and fact-reporting. By now, you’re not moving words or paragraphs around; your goal is to make sure your writing is error-free.
The important takeaway: rewriting, editing, and proofing are each separate from one another, and the three should not be performed simultaneously…
…except that you probably won’t really do it that way! Here’s a confession: neither do I, unless it’s a really, really important document, like maybe I’m writing to Her Majesty, the Queen. (And oh, how she does love a jolly-good memo.)
So, let’s say you don’t have time to complete all these steps. You can’t walk away and head to Paris. You can’t even run to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. You’re on a deadline and you need to write your letter, hit “send,” and get on to the next task. In this case, here’s my honest advice: you must still give your document a once-over! (And a twice-over would be even better.) If there’s no other way, you can rewrite, edit, and proof all at once—you simply won’t be as good at any of these steps as you would be if you were to do them separately. However, if you clear your mind, work slowly and painstakingly, and really focus your efforts, you can do it. Any improvement is better than no improvement at all, so always take a look at what you’ve written before you send it. I can almost guarantee that you’ll always be glad you did—even if it’s just to confirm that your document is already the essence of perfection!
And if that ever happens, congrats. You’ll be unique in all the world as a one-draft writer. By contrast, want to take a guess at how many times I’ve rewritten, edited, and proofed this very article? The answer is lots more times than whatever you may have guessed. But you, my dear reader, are worth the effort—and then some. Which means that at least to me, you’re just as important as the queen.