Let's put it into words.

The Holy Grail of writing

What is good writing? I’ve spent many hours mulling this topic, countless more trying to practice it, and hundreds of hours editing and and polishing my text to make it shine. Also, I’ve dedicated several commutes researching this on my phone while the city I lived in at the time whizzed by outside the train window. What have I arrived at? Several things, and since I’ve spent so long putting this list together in my head, I thought it worth sharing. Perhaps it can save someone else time, so they can climb the writing ladder even faster. (But then again, sometimes reading about great writing tops the actual writing, so you may not want to skip this step…)

Let’s get closer

Good writing is targeted to the medium it was born to serve, but sometimes we need to look beyond the obvious meaning of this well-known statement. LinkedIn is not the medium we associate with the word personal, but the most successful posts I’ve shared there have had a personal element. Stories about business students that overcame challenges and made it all the way to the hat-throwing moment on graduation day were popular for a reason: deep down, we’re caring, and we want to cheer each other on. If we’re sensitive to what kind of element the story features, a personal victory story definitely has its place on LinkedIn.

Looking to learn

The reader learns something. We’re all looking to learn something, every day. It’s why we’re here. Why could drinking a turmeric latte every day boost your health? I loved researching this topic and piecing the results together to fit my client’s Body & Mind Coaching business. Since the blog’s tone of voice was light, there was no need to dissect the specific components, but that doesn’t mean the piece should be dumbed down – it just means that the article should be easy to read.

Shake it up

Good writing surprises. It shakes things up for us. These days, there’s so much content coming at us as soon as we open our phone. Google personalises our news searches based on earlier preferences and we’re used to being offered articles that align with our interests on a daily basis. To cut through the noise, headlines that claim something unpredictable stand out. Content for the sake of content is gone; the reader needs more in order to click. Why is a tiny house a treasure box holding everything you and your family needs? Answer the why, or the how, or the when or where, and you might just gain a reader.

Shoulder by shoulder

And remember this when you get that tingling, satisfying sensation of having produced something that will be a delight to read: any writing we do today rests on the shoulders of all those writers that chewed their pencils, erased and rewrote, typed and Tipp-Exed, printed and crossed out, mulled and put it aside and then returned to it. It’s all a loop, a circle, an interconnected web of readers, writers, students, teachers. Good writing comes from reading other writers’ work. As luck would have it, this is the most enjoyable part of the job.