Sample Page
This is an example page. It’s different from a blog post because it will stay in one place and will show up in your site navigation (in most themes). Most people start with an About page that introduces them to potential site visitors. It might say something like this:
Hi there! I’m a bike messenger by day, aspiring actor by night, and this is my blog. I live in Los Angeles, have a great dog named Jack, and I like piña coladas. (And gettin’ caught in the rain.)
…or something like this:
The XYZ Doohickey Company was founded in 1971, and has been providing quality doohickies to the public ever since. Located in Gotham City, XYZ employs over 2,000 people and does all kinds of awesome things for the Gotham community.
As a new WordPress user, you should go to your dashboard to delete this page and create new pages for your content. Have fun!
Posted by Jennifer Powell on 9:12 pm in Uncategorized | 2 comments
Are you facing a blank screen? Have you typed and deleted and typed and deleted and still you don’t like what you have? Try asking questions. Put yourself in the shoes of the reader and interview yourself. What are you trying to tell me? Why should I care? What do I need to know? What do I need to do? How should I do it? When should I do it?
This little trick can be used when you are first getting started, as well as when you are moving along. You could even take this literally and write in a question/answer format.
Does that really work? It can be extremely effective because the reader knows exactly what to expect.
Is it hard to do? Generally, no. On the contrary, it can help focus your thinking.
Is it effective? Certainly, if you ask the right questions. It’s a very clear and uncluttered way to tell people exactly what you think they need to know.
Posted by Jennifer Powell on 3:25 am in Uncategorized | 1 comment
It may seem that in order to get better at the kind of writing you want to do, whether it is for blogs, newsletters or websites, that the best thing to do is to concentrate on doing that sort of writing and to do a lot of it. This is true. However, there is something to be learned from the sports world. Good athletes cross train. Runners sometimes lift weights. Football players take up ballet. (Okay, not too many do that, but they should ‘cause that’s a funny image.)
In writing, this means trying to all sorts of different styles and types. Try writing a Haiku or a Limerick, for instance. This pushes you to think more about words and how they sound together and how they can be used in different ways. It gives you a chance to relax and play with images and concepts. Although it ay seem totally unrelated to your mainstream writing, you will find over time that you have better control over your words, and you will have more ideas about how to explain your thoughts.
This concept was reinforced for me during a recent online Silly Drawing class I took with Carla Sonheim. (That’s actually the the name, not just a description). One assignment was to write Haiku. I resisted having long considered myself poetically challenged. But then I thought it couldn’t hurt to at least try, and so what if it’s awful, I’m not getting a grade after all. It turns out that it’s not as hard as I thought to at least come up with something, and it’s kind of fun to play with the words. It’s sort of like sprinting for a long-distance runner.
A Limerick is a five line poem written with one in which the first, second and fifth lines rhyme and the second and third lines rhyme. There is a certain rhythm too. They are generally meant to be funny.
There once was a writer named Jen
Who thought she was good with a pen
She tried to write a limerick
It sounded like a gimmick
Now she’s stuck trying again and again
Haiku is a short form of Japanese poetry with three phrases of five, seven and five syllables. (Although Wikipedia says they are “on†which is not the same thing as syllables). Also according to Wikipedia, there are some other restrictions about the juxtaposition of two images or ideas and a cutting word between them and including a seasonal word. I confess that my attempts at this do not follow this strict definition, yet.
Blank page beckons pen
Words flow easily with grace
Wind shifts mind goes blank
Posted by Jennifer Powell on 1:02 am in Uncategorized | 2 comments
At first glance, customer service seems pretty disconnected from writing unless you’re talking about writing as a way of enhancing customer service. There are, however, some principles of good customer service that can be applied to writing. Your customers are your readers. Rather than their money, you’re asking for their time.
To start with, good customer service requires clear communication. You need to let people know what to expect, which is a good thing to do when you’re writing. You can do this with the headline, the first sentence and/or a nutgraph. This is a short paragraph that summarizes the who, what, where, when, why and how of your story.
Good customer service requires that you care about the people you are serving and that you try to build a relationship with them, even if it’s brief. This works in writing too. If you care about your reader and how they perceive what you are trying to say, it will come through. This doesn’t mean that you should avoid controversy or not write about things that your reader might not like to hear. This isn’t about what you are saying, rather it’s about how you say it. Do you use clear sentences? Have you explained yourself well? Have you made the subject, whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, interesting?
Just as a good store owners needs to engage shoppers, you need to engage your readers. You do this by making sure that every sentence leads into the next one so that the reader doesn’t get a chance to walk out the door.
Posted by Jennifer Powell on 1:11 pm in Uncategorized | 2 comments
If you want to get better as a writer, you need thick skin. You need to be able to listen to criticism and not take it personally. Writing is a skill that can continually be improved. Even the best writers can get better.
For one thing, grammar rules are complicated. You may know them and be concentrating so hard on your thoughts that you mess up. Maybe there are a few you don’t know as well as you thought.
Even if your grammar is 100 percent correct, the sentence may be clunky or it may not convey what you thought you were saying.
If you want to get better, you have to be willing to listen to others telling you what they think you’ve done wrong. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re not. Sometimes they tell you in a way that’s easy to hear and sometimes they don’t. They may even come across as harsh or self-righteous. Let go of the emotion and learn what you can.
One very effective, albeit frightening, way to improve is to ask someone you trust to edit a piece you’ve written in track changes and to make comments about why they’ve made changes. Instead of just reviewing those changes, go through and revise your original based on them. It’s more time consuming, but it’s the difference between reading a map and using the GPS. Either way, you end up in the same place, but in following a map you are more likely to learn the route. The comments will help you to discover if it’s an issue of not knowing a rule or simply having been distracted. They may reveal if there are things you often do wrong. They will also help you to decide if you want to accept the change or not. In some case, even when it comes to grammar, it’s a matter of judgment rather than strict rule.
In going through this exercise myself recently, I learned that publically can also be spelled publicly, which is the more accepted form of the word. I also learned that the first letter after a colon is not always capitalized. It’s upper case when what comes next is a full sentence and lower case when it’s a list.
Posted by Jennifer Powell on 3:05 pm in Uncategorized | 0 comments
Recently I came across a book on decluttering called Clutter’s Last Stand by Don Aslett. Although it was published the year I graduated from high school, the advice is as relevant now as it was then. More so for me, since I’ve managed to accumulate so much clutter since then.
Reading books on decluttering is sort of a hobby of mine. It’s a great alternative to actually doing it. This one is different.It actually motivated me to let go of that bowl I’ve kept in a box for two decades and those travel books that I got before I had kids. Aslett explains how clutter weighs you down and sucks up your time and energy. Maybe you will need it someday, but will you be able to find it? And will you have spent more on dusting it, moving it, organizing it and thinking about it than just getting a new one when you need it? Yes, it was a gift, but if it makes you unhappy would the giver really want you to hang on to it?
What happens to our closets also happens to our paragraphs. We load them up with fancy words and extra phrases. It happens intentionally as we toss in favorite clauses and unintentionally when we’re thinking as we write.
As a collector, I’m all for gathering a whole lot of something. It’s great to have an abundance. But to really enjoy the collection, you need to pare it down to its essentials. It works this way in writing too.
Do you need this word? Do you need this phrase? Does it really make the sentence better? When you sort through your things, it’s not that you want to get rid of all your things. You should keep those that are useful or that truly make you happy. It’s the same in writing. Sometimes you want “extra†words to make the sentence sound a certain way. This, however, should be done deliberately. Yes, this takes time. No, it’s as much fun as when you first poured your heart out on the page, at least at initially. Once you start paring down and realize how much more smoothly your piece reads, however, you may find it even more fun.
Posted by Jennifer Powell on 7:38 pm in Uncategorized | 0 comments
Post by Scott VanVoorhis
I don’t care whether it’s a business memo, a marketing pitch or an article.
In order to write fast, and, even more importantly, to write effectively, you first need to take a step back and consider the landscape.
As a veteran newspaper reporter, I became known around the office as a fast writer. The compliment puzzled even as it pleased me – I am a barely passable keyboard monkey.
But my colleagues were paying attention to the number of stories I was producing, not how I clattered away on the keyboard.
My clumsy typing aside, I had to be an efficient writer to survive, with a highly competitive beat – real estate development, casino gambling, and sports business – that demanded two, three and sometimes four stories a day.
But I learned fast that when it comes to writing, planning and clear thinking always trump frenetic, frantic action.
As a freelance business writer, I follow the same simple rules today.
Here’s a cheat sheet.
• Clear your mind and jot down the subject and purpose of that memo or other masterwork you are considering.
• Draw up a simple plan for conveying that message, such as the four or five key points you want to cover. Do a short outline, nothing fancy, just No. 1, rising sales, No. 2, need for additional staff, and so forth.
• With that plan in place, now and only now is it time to start crafting your opening lines.
• Once the intro is in place, step back and reassess. If the intro sets the table for the larger discussion, move ahead into the meat of your argument. But if it feels muddled to you, then imagine how it is going to come across to your boss? Don’t panic, go back and rework – the time you spend now will more than pay for itself later.
Posted by Jennifer Powell on 2:51 pm in Uncategorized | 2 comments
I don’t expect everyone to like everything I write. Heck, I don’t like everything I write. The problem comes when you can’t quite figure out what’s wrong or worse when the person for whom you are writing just doesn’t like it.
The trick to fixing it is to figure out what’s gone wrong. Is it the grammar? Is it the fact? Is it the set up of the document? Sometimes the person (or you) won’t quite know. Sometimes they’ll say it’s “just bad.†Don’t get discouraged. It may not be true. A different person might think it’s great as it is. That’s really irrelevant when faced with needing to make this one particular person happy.
This is when I reach back to a game my mom used to play with us after every trip to a museum, circus, movies, zoo, or grandma’s house. It goes like this – everyone goes around the room and says what their “favorite†thing was.
In the case of writing, I try to draw out of people at least three things that they like about the piece. Usually, there are at least a few things. Often, you will find there are actually many things. If not, at least you will a little direction for the revisions.
This works when you are working for yourself too. Once you’re finished, as you read what you wrote, note to yourself what is good. This lets you build off your strengths rather than attacking your weaknesses.
Posted by Jennifer Powell on 7:12 pm in Uncategorized | 0 comments
My brother used to torture me with this little rhyme: “Pete and Repeat were out in the boat, Pete fell in and who was left?â€
Being the gullible little sister, I’d obligingly say “Repeat,†which he, of course, would do. Over and over and over.
In writing it’s easy to fall into repetition, getting stuck using the same words repeatedly throughout a piece. As the writer, you’re concentrating on the big picture and trying to tell the story. It’s easy to tune out the number of times you’ve used same word. After all, you know the subtle differences from one use to the next. But your reader will likely notice and soon get bored. Rather than grasp your wonderful ideas, the reader will get hung up on wondering what other delightful words you might have chosen.
If you’ve tuned out the repetition, how do you fix the problem? First, by being aware of it. As you edit the piece, pay attention to how often you have used the same word and sub in another. In some cases, it will be hard to find alternatives. In those situations, consider reworking the entire sentence or paragraph – you may come up with something even better than you had.
It’s true that this can be a difficult problem to catch if you don’t know you’re doing it. If you’re not sure, ask your editor – or a trusted friend with a sharp eye – to read your work being mindful of whether there is repetition.
Posted by Jennifer Powell on 3:18 am in Uncategorized | 4 comments
There will come a time when you are writing – for some it happens every time – when you are absolutely 100 percent sure that what you are writing is complete garbage. This especially happens when you are writing something long or something very important. You will hate it. You will wonder why you thought you could write in the first place. You will wonder why on earth you agreed to write this article/blog post/white paper. You will wonder if it wouldn’t just be easier to work in a fast food restaurant.
I am going to tell you a secret: It’s normal. Writers don’t talk about it very much because – well who wants to admit to writing garbage?
Two things to keep in mind:
1) It is very possible that what you have written is not garbage. It is possible that it is actually quite good and you are so consumed with wanting it to be good that you can’t see it yet.
2) Even if it is garbage, that’s okay – you can and will make it better. Just get the words out – you can rearrange them later.
When you hit the mud and you would rather eat worms than write another word, spend a few minutes wallowing in self pity if you must, but then try something radical. At the top of your page, write “I do not suck. I am a good writer. I write words that inspire/amuse/delight….you get the idea.
When it comes to writing, nobody gets it right the first time and nobody does it well all the time. That’s what the delete key is for – just don’t use it right away.
Feel free to share your tips for getting over the low confidence slump…
Posted by Jennifer Powell on 7:13 pm in Uncategorized | 0 comments
Writing is hard enough when you know what you are supposed to write about. But what about when the field’s wide open and there are no parameters – like when you have a blog, for instance? Or, you’re in charge of the company newsletter? Where do you start? Staring at that blank screen is intimidating. It’s like being in a candy story with just $1 to spend. You want to make sure you make the right choice!
Far from fostering creativity, having that much freedom can actually stand in your way. Having guidelines, limits and parameters can actually help you focus and produce. This is true if you’re blogging, writing an article or sending a note to a friend. The guidelines should be just that – guides – not hard, inflexible rules.
Here are a few tips to getting past “I want to write, I just don’t know what to write….â€
• Define your subject area. If you run a cleaning business, you could write about cleaning tips, cleaning products or the cleaning industry, for instance. If you run a writing business, you could write about writing.
• Define your audience. Who do you want to read the piece? Customers? Potential business partners? Friends? What do they want to know about?
• Define what you want to write. Create a list of the types of posts or articles you could have. A “how to†maybe, a book review, an interview with an employee or with a customer. Setting certain posts for certain days gives readers something to look forward to. A crafter could set up “Make it Monday,†for tutorials; a foodie could have “Table talk Tuesday,†with restaurant reviews. This applies to newsletters too. Define the content – a” letter from the director perhaps,” or “upcoming projects.”
The most important thing is to just get started. You can always change things later.
