Learning How to Write

When asked, I always tell people that one of my favourite parts of my job is how much I get to write. I remember excitedly telling my sister, when I first found out I’d got the role, ‘I’ll almost be writing for a living, how cool is that?’ Writing has always excited me; I loved making up stories as a child, and when I learned about writing for different purposes at school, I seemed to have a new favourite form every week.

Recently, I’d lost a bit of the buzz I usually feel from writing. I’ve still loved sneaking our Piratey language into applications, still loved ‘selling’ what we do because I truly believe in it so much, still loved the idea of someone picking up an application I’d written and thinking, ‘wow, these guys are amazing’. But the joy of writing had been missing. No particular reason: I guess that just happens sometimes.

With the best timing in the world, Caroline from LarkOwl, Expert Trust Fundraiser and Writer, hosted a Write This Way workshop this week. It was geared towards Trust fundraisers, but I think some of what she said could be applicable to any of us for whom writing plays a part in our role (so, most of us). Without wanting to fully plagiarise Caroline, here are a selection of my favourite tips, takeaways and highlights of the session:

• Be honest, even if it means being angry: I love our approach of relentless positivity as much as the next Pirate, but it wasn’t until the workshop encouraged me to be angry that I questioned whether my positivity might sometimes dilute the experiences of those I am trying to write about. I know there isn’t always a place for anger (if anger is even the right word? Frustration, determination, maybe something else entirely) in our work. But I do think it’s helpful and necessary to get fired up once in a while. I think I’ll be trialing starting with the angry draft, if just to let it all out, and then amending to make it more appropriate for the intended audience.
• It’s not about you: I know this is something we are mindful of all of the time. The work we do isn’t for us — it’s for the Young Pirates, their families, their schools and communities. But also, I am pretty proud of us for what we do achieve, and I want that to get translated to our supporters. As a result I have been, as it turns out, ‘we-ing all over my work’. A fun phrase, but I’ll be thinking very carefully about who my writing is centring in the future. Sometimes, it isn’t about us at all.
• Rethink your design: I loved this point, and I didn’t realise how impactful it would be until I put it into practice after the workshop had finished. It makes sense: if I feel uninspired at home, I move my bedroom furniture around. If I feel uninspired when I look in the mirror, I look at my hair, nails or wardrobe and consider what might need a refresh. Sometimes the exact same thing just needs to look different in order to inspire you. Don’t go wild (or at least, not without consulting Jenny) but why not move your paragraphs around; create more white space; put photos in where you wouldn’t normally put them; or turn 3 sentences into bullet points instead? If it’s made you think ‘wow, look at me go. I am so creative and innovative and great’, there’s a good chance it will make your audience think so too!

While I can’t take credit for the ideas themselves — only my interpretation of them — I hope they might give you a little bit of a boost for the next time you have a writing project, big or small.

Now, off to turn a funding application upside down!