Guest Post by Mark Davies

3 Ways to Fall in Love With Your Writing

I’m one of those people who stumbled into the writing business serendipitously, so when people ask me for tips and pointers on how to write, I’m stumped. In my book, writing is a skill that you either have or don’t, just like painting, drawing and other creative arts. However, if you have the basic skills, it’s easy enough to learn how to hone your writing and make it better.

Do you need a little help to fine-tune your style and iron out the creases in your writing? Here are some tips to help you truly fall in love with your writing:

• Continue to write. The best way to become a better writer is to keep at it; the more you write, the more you develop as a writer. I look at what I’ve written a few years ago, and I find myself poking holes in my style, finding fault with my flow, and picking out mistakes that my eyes did not see when I was writing them. I realized that one way to grow as a writer is to keep writing, about the things that you’re really passionate about and about any topic that takes your fancy. Writing does not have to be novel-length or even article-length; even a few paragraphs are enough if you do it on a consistent basis.

• Read as much as you can. I was and still am a voracious reader; books are my best friends, and I’m never seen without one. When old friends learn that I write for a living, they’re not surprised – they say that it’s an apt profession for me considering how much of a bookworm I was growing up. So if you want to become a better writer, read as much as you can -- different genres, different authors, and different styles. You’ll soon find that you develop a style of your own, one that is a blend of all that you’ve read, but which is unique to you.

• Pay attention to spelling and grammar. Most people don’t think too much about spelling and grammar as long as they’re able to think creatively and put down their thoughts on paper. However, when you read copy that’s riddled with grammatical and spelling mistakes, you tend to get immediately turned off. So work on polishing your spelling and grammar skills, and don’t depend too much on spellcheckers to see you through – they only alert you if a spelling is completely wrong, not when you’ve misspelled a word and ended up with another word that is correct, but out of context in your writing. For example, if you mean to write “tear” and instead type out “bear,” your spellchecker is going to completely miss catching the error. So go over your copy with a fine-tooth comb, and if you find that spelling and grammar are not your strong points, work on brushing up your skills or find a good editor to polish your copy and make it presentable.

Good writing is all about appealing to the reader and holding their attention from the first word till the last. If you want readers to fall in love with your writing, first of all you should fall in love with it!


By-line: This guest post is contributed by Mark Davies, who writes on the topic of Masters Degree Online. He welcomes your comments at his email: markdavies247@gmail.com.