Smash Your Writing Goals With The Writing Improvement Cycle
How following this three-step pattern can turn you into the best writer you can be.
All writers want to become (or at least should want to become) better at their craft. I’m constantly in search of how I can better myself as a writer. To that end, I was searching YouTube for video tutorials and came across this little gem. The video suggests that to become a better writer you should use the writing improvement cycle. I tweeted about this but thought that it would also provide great value as a full-length article.
What is the writing improvement cycle?
The “writing improvement cycle” is the name the video gives to the awareness ->practice -> feedback loop.
Simply put, you gain awareness, put it into practice, and obtain feedback. The feedback gives you awareness and the cycle begins again.
1. AWARENESS
Awareness is the know-how of what to do, and how to do it.
It is the understanding of what works.
Where do you get it from?
a.) Books like:
“The Elements of Style” by Strunk and White.
“On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” by Stephen King.
“Building Great Sentences” by Brooks Landon.
b.) Platform-specific/medium-specific writing programs from individuals such as:
and who run Ship30for30 as co-captains. who runs Summit 21. who has a Medium writing course.c.) Other resources such as:
Courses on Udemy and Coursera.
Tutorials on YouTube.
Observation — looking at high-quality writing in books, and periodicals such as the Wall Street Journal.
2. PRACTICE
This is the part where you implement what you are aware of. You iterate. You execute in public.
a) Twitter:
Twitter is the world’s leading microblogging platform. Its reach is huge. The character restriction per tweet gets you to develop a Hemingwayesque to-the-point style.
b) Quora:
Quora is essentially the world’s largest question-and-answer platform. It sees hundreds of millions of visitors every month. One of the best parts about Quora is that you don’t have to think about prompts. They are already there in the form of questions asked by people.
c) LinkedIn:
Linkedin allows you to network professionally with people and follow them. It also allows you to create short posts, and comment on other people’s posts. You can write full-length articles of your own as well. There is a huge built-in audience on the platform. Your immediate audience is your professional circle of contacts.
d) Medium:
Medium is a social publishing/blogging platform with a large audience. Anyone can write there and you don’t have to worry about setting it up like you would with WordPress.
3. FEEDBACK
As you practice, you will get feedback. Sometimes this will be in the form of comments & likes. Sometimes it will be in the form of views.
I wrote a comprehensive piece on Medium about how to ace law school exams. It has a total of 4 views. Guess what I won’t be writing about again?
The feedback you get will generate additional awareness in you. You will then use this awareness to practice more and get more feedback. Your abilities will improve every time you go thru this cycle. You will become a better writer each time.
Do you think the writing improvement cycle is an effective strategy? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
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