Have you got a story to tell?
I’m helping to create a new kind of news website. It’s called Nyouse.com and it aims to put you back in the centre of the news. There won’t be journalists or editors. There’s just you and me and everyone else. We are the people and we are the news.
If [...]
Just write.
Write emails, blog posts, articles or letters. Everything you write makes you better at writing.
This isn’t Earth-shattering advice, but it’s important enough that I made it my #1 writing tip.
Show me a bad writer and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t write much. It’s as simple as that.
Copywriters are lucky in that they get [...]
Writers don’t have to read every classic. You can read anything, but you must read something.
If you don’t read you will never understand how writing works, or how it can fail.
Be adventurous with your reading. Avoid re-reading the same few books.
Reading a variety of styles and sources will strengthen your writing, improve your vocabulary and [...]
It can be hard to hand over your writing to someone. New writers often get very shy about their work, and nervous of what people will think.
But it’s important to get started with the process of finding readers.
Your first readers may be family, then friends, or anyone who will take the time. But whoever these [...]
Grammar and spelling are a writer’s tools. Just as a plumber must understand and own a set of tools, writers must have a good grasp of grammar.
If grammar troubles you, I recommend reading Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. It’s a classic (and very short) book on using English well.
Once you get writing, ask another [...]
Blogging has revolutionised the way organisations communicate with their clients and peers.
CEOs are blogging about their work. Organisations are opening up, creating greater transparency in their dealings with customers.
Anyone in business that wants to blog must understand that the key to a blog’s appeal is honesty.
Readers accept that the CEO may need an editor, but [...]
Your imagination will not feed itself.
If you want to write, you’ll need ideas to fuel your writing.
If you fill your brain with lots of interesting stuff, interesting stuff will come spilling out.
Consider your inputs as imagination fuel. What kind of things are you exposed to? Do you have a life filled with routine? If you’ve [...]
“Instead of stretching minds, worlds - including the world of words - are being shrunk to fit them.”
So writes Lynsey Hanley in the Guardian.
Lynsey’s article discusses society’s growing inarticulacy, and the way in which our education system is designed to suit capabilities rather than challenge them.
This got me thinking because copywriters are taught to use [...]
A creative writing tutor once told me that the only difference between myself and Steven King was that Steven King had sat down, many times, and written.
Steven King had written a lot. I had written a little.
You can’t be a good writer if you don’t write.
So get started.
Many “writers” are people who call themselves writers [...]
I’m starting my series of 7 writing tips with something a little unconventional. You might not find this in writing manuals but it works for me, so it may work for you.
If writing feels like hard work, it may be because your body is struggling as much as your mind.
The secret to unlocking your creative [...]