How do you write?

“How do you write?”

This is one of the questions that we’re often asked. It’s also one of the most vague and difficult to answer.

Seeking the ‘How to write’ rule book?

If you’re not confident about the process of writing, it would be ideal to have some kind of rule book that would tell you how to put together prose and distil ideas into articles. Unfortunately, no such general guide exists.

There are books to teach the basic building blocks of writing, such as spelling, syntax, and grammar, but not for turning those into actual writing. There’s no quick and easy guide to write polished prose. This becomes especially difficult when you consider pleasing social media algorithms and search engine optimisation. If you write for marketing, how can you get your work to the front page of Google? More importantly, how do you please your target audience and produce memorable content that people want to read?

That’s the bad news.

The good news is there are some tips and tricks you can follow and steadily improve your technique. So, let’s give you some ideas for getting going with your own writing.

The same way you get to Carnegie Hall!

Firstly, and most importantly, you have to practise. Writing is a skill, and like any skill, it takes practice. Try to write something every day: take up poetry, make daily blog updates, start a journal; in short, do anything you can to find an excuse to apply the skill of writing every day. Alternatively, you can do a writing challenge, where you’re given a certain thing to write about each day for 30-days, designed to gradually improve your technique while not demanding much of your time.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it….

We’re setting you a challenge! Can you find a 30-day writing challenge? There are lots of challenges out there, all designed to help you improve your skills and build consistency in a specific field. There will be one out there that works for you.

TIP: Take a look at Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way. Don’t be put off by the title – it’s a great guide to becoming more creative in any walk of life.

Find a challenge you like and stick to it, then comment below with which challenge you chose, and why you decided on that one. Get in touch and let me know how your challenge is going, and what additional skills you’ve picked up along the way; you’ll be amazed how much your writing can improve just from doing it every day.