Category: Editing

How to Feel Good about Your Writing

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 25 Comments

Admit it. There are few things as intimidating as the blinding white of a blank page.

It makes no difference if it’s an empty sheet lying on your desk, or a blank screen aiming between your eyes. Defeating “nothing” by subjecting it to “something” with our words is what gives a writer breath.

Whether to pay our bills or please our muse, eventually words must spill. Here are ten tips to help plow past this nagging feeling of insecurity and feel good about your words.

Continue reading “How to Feel Good about Your Writing” →

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Write Like Yourself

~ Jordan Peters ~ 39 Comments

Let’s face it: most people can’t write their way out of a paper bag. Further, most bloggers are boring, most journalists are so heavily edited that any personality they’ve added to a story has long since been weaned out by the editorial process.

I want to let you in on a secret, though: it’s not really that people are boring, but that too many have been taught that you shouldn’t write the same way you talk. I blame our educational system, actually, with those 5th grade teachers who drilled us on adverbs, pronouns and the minutia of grammar, coupled with too many boring, tedious academic books that we all suffered through while in college.

Instead, I suggest to you that the best way to write clear, coherent, engaging and enjoyable content is to write the way you speak, to recognize your spoken voice and pour it out onto the virtual page of your computer screen and weblog. Continue reading “Write Like Yourself” →

Why You Should Use Quotes in Your Blog Posts

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 12 Comments

“Everything of importance has been said before by somebody who did not discover it.” – Alfred North Whitehead

If you follow my main blog, you probably noticed that most of my posts start with a quote.

A great quote is gold to a perceptive writer. You can instantly boost reader engagement with the right bit of wisdom or wit. And when writing to persuade, you can bolster your arguments by using the words of the rich and famous.

In other words, author Anatole France nailed it with this:

When a thing has been said and well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.

Continue reading “Why You Should Use Quotes in Your Blog Posts” →

The (Very Short) Ultimate Guide to Blogging

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 18 Comments

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of writing guides out there. But in my opinion, none surpass the simple, direct advice of The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B.White.

This classic serves up much good advice, especially in the last 20 pages in a section titled “An Approach to Style.” Nowhere have I seen more helpful advice in so few words and with such precision.

If (for shame) you don’t already have this reference in your library, I will leave it to you to explore it in depth. But I would like to provide you with eight important writing tips as they apply to blogging. Continue reading “The (Very Short) Ultimate Guide to Blogging” →

How Long Should Your Blog Posts Be?

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 23 Comments

Ever since blogging became mainstream people have been debating about how long blog posts should be. A lot of bloggers may read one or two posts on it, and try to follow the rules – never revisiting the issue for as long as they blog. This can be a mistake.

For a definitive answer, the following are three things to consider when you’re trying to decide how long your blog posts should be. Continue reading “How Long Should Your Blog Posts Be?” →

Don’t Think, Just Write!

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 4 Comments

If you’ve done the proper amount of research on your topic, you know what your audience wants, and you know what you want to say, then taking action and starting to write should be simple and require no particular effort. Right?

Not quite. All writers know too well that sometimes this just isn’t the case. Getting down to the physical act of writing can take a lot of will power.

Almost everything else seems more attractive than starting to write.

How can we get ourselves to stop procrastinating and move straight to action?

Here are a few ideas that have worked for me: Continue reading “Don’t Think, Just Write!” →

How to Write a Brilliant Blog Post per Week

~ Cristian Mihai ~ 9 Comments

Today’s post is all about writing that great post. The one that is going to attract new readers, build trust with the old ones, and engage every one who stumbles upon your blog to comment…

We’ve already talked about writing a blog post in 15 minutes, which is a great skill to have, and we also tackled the issue of being consistent.

Consistently creating great content is the backbone of any blog.

But how can you make that happen? Well, one option is to caffeinated yourself to the point of near death and stay up late the night before you publish your post.

But the better option is to spread the writing and editing process over a few days. Sounds good? Continue reading “How to Write a Brilliant Blog Post per Week” →