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One of the toughest things to do for those of us who are not professional writers is to write. Selecting a topic, flushing out the key points, adding credible third party reference material and editing can be very challenging.
The entire concept of writing can freeze even the most proficient and professional of writers.
But writing is the core of producing an ebook. And newsletter. And sales proposals. And so much more.
How to you get past the idea stage and begin the actual writing? How do you break through the fear of other people judging your writing, your message, your style and YOU?
Here’s how I do it. By no means am I a professional writer. If I have a style that describes my writing it is conversational.
First, I try to be as genuine as possible. I tend to write in a similar fashion that I use for verbal conversation.
Next, I try to pick topics that I feel readers want to learn about, or of which I feel I can help educate them. This means that I choose topics where I have confidence and comfort that I know what I’m talking about, or that I have thoroughly researched.
Picking the topic can often be the most difficult aspect of writing for me. Such is the case often with this newsletter.
There are so many topics surrounding the ebook theme.
To be honest, I often feel most comfortable writing about or from my experience. Such as “here’s what I did” or “here is what my experience is/was”. In writing from this basis, the information is accurate and true. It was my experience.
Next, I will try to find issues where I can proffer an opinion or two. This angle brings forth my beliefs, which again, are true (to me). In the reader’s eyes they may or may not be truth, but they are to me.
Then I usually go out and research some news and industry websites to learn of some latest developments or hot issues of the day. Those websites provide lots of ideas that can be used to relate your experience to, offer opinions about or blend the two into a unique essay that brings the concepts together for the reader.
Ultimately, you want to educate your reader. If you can offer ‘how-to’ information, you’ll endear yourself to readers who don’t know what you know. If you are not taking an educational angle for your writing, then raise important issues and take a side.
By writing your opinions, you will stimulate ideas and emotions with your readers.
Lastly, write. Publish. And keep at it. When I launched Knowledge Download back in May 2002, I was fearful and scared to put my thoughts, experience and opinions out on the world wide web and in a newsletter.
No longer.
Practice doesn’t make perfect with writing as a skill. But my experience is showing me that by practicing and performing the act of writing, I FEEL that I am gaining confidence and learning to write better.
The bottom line is that you will get better at anything you practice at. Our order rates and customer subscription growth is indicating that SOMETHING we are doing is having a positive impact on people.
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