3 Quick Ways to Improve Your Writing
3 Quick Ways to Improve Your Writing
Everyone writes. E-mails, notices, letters and memos. Want to make them better? Here are 3 Quick Ways to Improve Your Writing.
1) Start with the end in mind. What do you want the reader to think, feel, know or believe? Most people ramble when they write, jumping from topic to topic because they do not think of the impact on the reader.
2) Outline or list key points first before fleshing them out. For an e-mail to your team, after, `Dear QC Team:`, write the 1, 3, 6 key words or thoughts you want to get across.
Example:
Dear Team:
Last meeting (return key)
Problem 1 (return key)
Problem 2 (return key)
Opportunity with X (return key)
Request suggestions.
Go back and type out what happened at the last meeting, the nature of each problem, opportunity you want to share and your request for suggestions. Organized and easy to follow. Leave a space between each point.
3) Cut any excess and be more active in your voice. Instead of `We may have been looking at two options but have since narrowed them down and settled for one.` Change to, `Two options became one.` Instead of, `Our growth has been at around 4% for the past 3 quarters and we are currently hoping to increase this figure to 5% in the coming quarter.` Write, `We need 5% growth next quarter.`
It is all about brevity for clarity. We all have TOO MUCH to read and what we read is rarely written in a clear and concise manner.
