How to Write Well, Even If You Don’t Write for a Living
Take the fear out of writing.
Of all the skills you could attribute to high-performers–motivation, tenacity, creativity–writing rarely makes the list.
Yet, it doesn’t matter whether you’re leading a team, launching a newsletter, or building a personal brand, good writing is a superpower.
As Dave Girouard, CEO of Upstart and former President of Google Apps explains:
“Words and software share a wonderful attribute: Write them once and they can benefit an infinite audience at no additional expense.”
Writing is so much more than just a transference of information. Yet reaping the benefits of good writing is harder than it looks. As author Nathaniel Hawthorne so aptly put it (nearly 200 years ago) easy reading is damn hard writing.
After 10+ years as a writer and editor, I’ve faced more blank pages and bad first drafts than I’d care to remember. Through them all, however, I’ve discovered a few key steps that make writing easier and more powerful for both you and your reader.
