In a crowded market, clients will be seeking personality as they read what you've written -- they'll click right past pages that feel "been there, read that." They're looking for a voice that says, "Hey, client, this is me!"
They want to know not just what you deliver -- but how. Will you be funny or serious? A perky cheerleader or a sardonic commentator? Will your view of life be based on "believe and it happens" or "what you see is what you get?"
Here are some tips to add your own voice to your writing.
1. Write from the heart.
Too excited, passionate or angry to sit still? Best time to connect with your voice. Grab a pencil and scribble ideas as you jump around the room.
2. Say something new.
After forty articles on time management, your readers know about cutting projects into manageable chunks and setting priorities. Ho hum. Try "better than zero" or "turn your life into a time warp."
3. Tape yourself talking to a good friend about a product.
Do your words sound different when you speak than when you write? Transcribe the tape into an article for easy reading.
4. Picture your ideal client (you do have one, don't you?). Imagine that she is gushing about your service to a friend -- highly recommending you. What words does she use to describe your services? What emotions come through?
5. Cut. Then cut again.
When you have to trim your piece to meet a word count requirement, notice that you're left with the most essential words -- all yours.
6. Write fast. Get the words down before your inner critic has a chance to participate. Edit later.
7. Reveal yourself: family, mistakes, secret dreams. When you feel just a bit embarrassed, or feel your private persona has become more public, you've probably just touched your audience's heart.
8. Be concrete -- not abstract. As writing guru Natalie Goldberg would say, "It's a geranium, not a flower."
9. If you've had voice training, be especially alert to creating the bland and the blah.
Julia Roberts could hold an audience while she reads the telephone directory. Your copy has to stand alone, without dramatic oratory.
10. Don't be afraid to break the rules: use slang and contractions. And it's okay to begin a sentence with "and" or "but."
Just tread carefully on the rules of grammar and spelling. "Your about to head off for you're great adventure" can be a credibility-buster.
About The Author
Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker and career/business consultant, helping midlife professionals take their First step to a Second Career. http://www.cathygoodwin.com.
"Ten secrets of mastering a major life change" http://www.cathygoodwin.com
Contact: http://www.cathygoodwin.com 505-534-4294
Culver prom limo ..In the current job market, many editorial workers have turned... Read More
I'm in the process of moving from one computer to... Read More
1. What Is A Premise?A premise is the point you... Read More
Since the headline is the first contact your readers have... Read More
We all know people who ramble. They include every boring... Read More
WRITING THE PERSONAL STATEMENT TO GET INTO UK UNIVERSITYHOW DO... Read More
Everybody knows writing a story is not easy. Like the... Read More
Sometimes there is confusion about the exact meaning of the... Read More
In reviewing and browsing web sites over the years, I... Read More
10 - You will always have a job. As long... Read More
Short Story Writing Tips -We've established what a title should... Read More
Most books aren't rejected because the stories are "bad." They're... Read More
It's the funniest thing. When someone asks me what I... Read More
"The Magic of Layout..."???Okay... "magic" might seem a bit over... Read More
One day in the mid-1970's a young man stumbled into... Read More
Many of us dream of writing a book. Why not.... Read More
For several years before I left teaching to write full... Read More
Around eighty percent of nonfiction books today are written by... Read More
The big question. Do you submit directly to the publishers,... Read More
My Dad has this old joke that goes, "What's the... Read More
Creative Writing Tips ?Whichever theme you choose, all the elements,... Read More
It is satisfying to be a part of such a... Read More
It's easy to feel overwhelmed by marketing. First, there's so... Read More
Agents and publishing houses have their best interests at heart,... Read More
If you have an online home based business you know... Read More
Wood Dale limo ..As a student of Spanish, my goal was to think... Read More
So you've got your plot outlined, a title lined up... Read More
Back in my school days, if the teacher demanded a... Read More
It would be very selfless or noble of me to... Read More
Your struggling to sell just a few copies of your... Read More
The first step in the writing process is to put... Read More
When a writer is working on their next literary masterpiece... Read More
Prolific authors write; they don't just dream about it. A... Read More
There is an image most people carry of the artist... Read More
Business etiquette is fundamentally concerned with building relationships founded upon... Read More
In one of the exercises in my "Getting Started as... Read More
At some point along the way, most of us have... Read More
If you find your sentences filled with commas, and they... Read More
The self-indulgent writer listens only to the mumblings of sycophants,... Read More
A certified proofreader is one that has taken a few... Read More
You wrote a tips booklet. Maybe more than one. Oh... Read More
Freewriting is a release from the prison of rules. It... Read More
I recently set up a website to promote a new... Read More
Language Training - A key to Global CommunicationLanguage Training is... Read More
Creative Writing Tips ?What a plot is and what a... Read More
The big question. Do you submit directly to the publishers,... Read More
Your computer is a writing machine, a word processor, a... Read More
Writing is a muscle that needs exercise to stay in... Read More
If you want happy customers to use your service or... Read More
Did you know that your back cover information is, after... Read More
Writing |