Writing: The Skill Everyone Thinks They Have
Why write? Why make an account on a blog site like this? Why dedicate your valuable time to something without a clear end goal in sight?
Because everyone thinks they can write — and few people truly can. And unfortunately for you, already reading this, I am not one of those who can. Or at least not yet. But I want to be, because writing may be the most overlooked tool in the tool belt.
Everyone writes all day long. In texts, in emails, in status updates, in captions. We’re all writing all the time, but how many people write with the intention of “deliberate practice,” a term I’m borrowing from Cal Newport, author of So Good They Can’t Ignore You. His book is about “The Craftsman Mindset” and he says, if you continuously work on a skill, seek feedback and correct your mistakes, you will improve, you will own that skill and in turn, you’ll find yourself in a career that makes you want to get up in the morning.
As an optimistic 22 year-old, I’ll buy it. Moreover, I’ll put it into practice. But the first step, as Newport would suggest, is gathering background info. You have to know where others have been, to know where you’re going.
So what are the keys to good writing? Here’s my top 3, in order:
- Logically Ordered Thoughts
Because what’s worse than reading something all the way through, putting it down and saying to yourself, “What the hell did I just read?”
In my very first semester of college I was lucky enough to get one of those try-hard professors for English 125. Everyone at the University of Michigan hopes and prays for the ‘easy A,’ but hindsight is 20/20 and I’m very fortunate to have had Professor Hinken.
He starts the class by tearing apart the ‘5-paragraph format’ that every high school kid is accustomed to. For those that haven’t been to high school in a while, the ‘5-paragraph format’ is an intro, conclusion and three body paragraphs, which correspond directly to your thesis that includes three major points. It’s like giving a child a coloring book and just telling them to stay in between the lines. There’s no room for creativity, you just fill everything in as quickly as you possible can and hand it in to your teacher who will skim through it to make sure you checked off the boxes. While it seems archaic, my professor compared it to training wheels, because you have to know how to ride the bike before you can take them off.
But then we got into the real stuff, which for me at the time, was eye-opening. No one had ever said to me, organize your writing the way you want — the way it makes sense, the way you’d think about it. “When your thought is over, end the paragraph.” As long as one thought, one conclusion, logically leads to the next, you’ll continue to captivate the reader.
The first step, he said, was outlining. “Outline and order your thoughts,” as I so often do now. In turn, you’re creating your own lines within your own coloring book. Filling it in is the easy part.
I began creating my own coloring book — breaking up paragraphs in untraditional places, using conjunctions to start sentences and including short phrases for emphasis. Why not?! As long as it was clear, concise and had a logical pattern, the words on the page would resonate with the reader.
It was time to take the training wheels off. It was time for real writing.
2. Transition Invisibly
However, you have to be careful when you’re speeding down that hill for the first time with no training wheels. It’s pretty easy to crash and burn. How can you hold it all together?
Transitions. The segue between thoughts. If you go back and look at some of your favorite things to read, I’d bet good money on the fact that the transitions are spot on.
While the teacher’s guide to transitions will just tell you to use conjunctions such as ‘and, but, if,’ the difference between being good and great is the ability to transition without them. We all know what conjunctions are, so for better or worse, subconsciously your brain gets flagged when you see them. You know you’re moving onto the next thought in whatever you’re reading. Although, it isn’t always a bad thing, I particularly enjoy not knowing you’re on the next point till you’re already there.
One way writers do this is by mentioning something that already came up, whether it be a word or a subtle thought. My psychology professors would say they’re creating repetition in the working part of your brain, which if done enough times, will make it’s way to your long term memory where that little tiny piece of info can be stored forever. Professor Hinken would simply say the author is tying it back in.
But it’s those tie ins that create that moment when you’re truly trapped in a good book. Your mom could be calling you to say, “dinners ready,” but you don’t hear her. You’re so seamlessly being taken on a trip from one point to the next that you forget about life for a second.
To bring a reader to that place, you can’t interrupt their flow. You need seamless transitions.
3. Catch the Little Mistake That Can Fuck Everything
And part of not interrupting the reader is having 0 grammar or spelling mistakes. They’re so off-putting as a reader, but as a writer it’s so hard to catch every single one. Odds are I’m going to find one in this piece later, but that doesn’t mean I don’t comb through everything I send out.
While a piece like this doesn’t matter, when you’re writing that email to your next boss — it will. My friend Rachel shared a great learning moment with me once about a young kid who screwed up an email to a potential employer. The guy had a double letter in his name, and the kid missed one of them. He responded, “I would’ve helped, but next time spell my name right. Best of luck on your future endeavors.”
Brutal, but that’s life. Misspelling a name, a title, a company can be seen as so disrespectful, even though, regardless of the scenario it was most likely an honest mistake.
Spelling and grammar errors really are just that off-putting. If you read it casually in a published book, you’d stop and think to yourself, “Caught em!” If someone spelled your name wrong in an email, you may think to yourself, “Fuck that.”
All it takes sometimes is patience, spellcheck and a second read through, but I promise you, going through your email before you send it is worth it every time.
So why does this all matter? The WHERE we’re communicating no longer is the priority in today’s world when everyone is creating channels, trying to be the platform, so the HOW must matter. How you execute on that communication is everything.
It’s really hard to get across exactly what you mean in a text, because so much of human communication is non-verbal. It’s all body language, but ironically, you lose that when you need to write. So, your writing better be pretty damn good in today’s day and age if you want to get your message across.
Stick around on this writing journey with me and if you’re feeling inspired to write something, hit me up. If you agree, hit me up. If you disagree, DEFINITELY hit me up. This is all about deliberate practice and feedback must come from everywhere. Either way, stay tuned, I intend to stay at it.
