Overcoming the fear of writing
To many people, the fear of writing is paralyzing –– fear of embarrassment, failure, exposure, ridicule. People feel uncomfortable doing what they don’t think they can do well.
Confidence comes from competence, easy to say and almost as easy to accomplish. The secret is thinking before you write, which when done well, makes the writing so much easier.
Here’s a sequence that will help, whether you’re writing a short e-mail to update your supervisor on a project or a long proposal to adopt new software
Audience: Who is your audience, and what do you want that audience to learn or do? In the business world good writing is governed by the readers. An e-mail to the boss will have a different tone than an update memo to your team members.
Theme: What is it you want to say in your e-mail or memo? Can your reduce it to fewer than ten words? If you can’t that’s a reliable predictor that the piece is likely to be unfocused, disorganized and confusing, not exactly the result you set out to achieve. This sentence is called the “theme.” It may not actually appear in the document, but it sets the tone and direction.
For the supervisor’s e-mail, the theme might be: “The project is on budget, but not on time.”
For the software proposal, the theme might be: “We have three choices, all of them flawed.”
Key Points: With a well-focused theme in hand, you then use the storytelling model to list your key points. What do you need to say to begin the essay beyond a “once-upon-a-time” setting of the scene? Perhaps not much. Key points tend to cluster in the next two stages of storytelling: “Suddenly” and “Fortunately.”
“Suddenly” is the twist that creates the tension, the problem to be solved:
“Just when we thought we had chosen a system, we discovered a hidden shortcoming.”
“Fortunately” moves the story toward resolution:
“After weeks or research, we we’re able to rewrite the code to make the system function effectively.”
Each stage of the storytelling will usually have two or three key points that must be made in that stage. Now you can begin writing. You have identified your audience and what you want that audience to do or learn. You have settled on a theme, which also means you’ve eliminated other possibilities that would distract the reader from your purposeful focus. And you have lined up your key points within the storytelling model.
Sounds easy, doesn’t it? It is easy. Understanding your audience, theme and key points makes the writing flow and reduces the reluctance and fear that inhibit good writing.
Want to improve writing in your company? If you'd like to learn more about how better writing can improve your company's performance, send me an e-mail. I'd love to talk about how I can help.
Confidence comes from competence, easy to say and almost as easy to accomplish. The secret is thinking before you write, which when done well, makes the writing so much easier.
Here’s a sequence that will help, whether you’re writing a short e-mail to update your supervisor on a project or a long proposal to adopt new software
Audience: Who is your audience, and what do you want that audience to learn or do? In the business world good writing is governed by the readers. An e-mail to the boss will have a different tone than an update memo to your team members.
Theme: What is it you want to say in your e-mail or memo? Can your reduce it to fewer than ten words? If you can’t that’s a reliable predictor that the piece is likely to be unfocused, disorganized and confusing, not exactly the result you set out to achieve. This sentence is called the “theme.” It may not actually appear in the document, but it sets the tone and direction.
For the supervisor’s e-mail, the theme might be: “The project is on budget, but not on time.”
For the software proposal, the theme might be: “We have three choices, all of them flawed.”
Key Points: With a well-focused theme in hand, you then use the storytelling model to list your key points. What do you need to say to begin the essay beyond a “once-upon-a-time” setting of the scene? Perhaps not much. Key points tend to cluster in the next two stages of storytelling: “Suddenly” and “Fortunately.”
“Suddenly” is the twist that creates the tension, the problem to be solved:
“Just when we thought we had chosen a system, we discovered a hidden shortcoming.”
“Fortunately” moves the story toward resolution:
“After weeks or research, we we’re able to rewrite the code to make the system function effectively.”
Each stage of the storytelling will usually have two or three key points that must be made in that stage. Now you can begin writing. You have identified your audience and what you want that audience to do or learn. You have settled on a theme, which also means you’ve eliminated other possibilities that would distract the reader from your purposeful focus. And you have lined up your key points within the storytelling model.
Sounds easy, doesn’t it? It is easy. Understanding your audience, theme and key points makes the writing flow and reduces the reluctance and fear that inhibit good writing.
Want to improve writing in your company? If you'd like to learn more about how better writing can improve your company's performance, send me an e-mail. I'd love to talk about how I can help.
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