Rule 1 of writing well: ONLY write on things you have a strong opinion on.
And strong opinions come from expertise.
And strong opinions come from expertise.
Rule 2 of writing well: in first few sentences, tell the reader things that she doesn’t already knows but is likely to care about a great deal.
Which means really aiming to give genuine insight and not making the writing about you, but rather make it about the reader.
Which means really aiming to give genuine insight and not making the writing about you, but rather make it about the reader.
Rule 3 of writing well: assume the reader is smarter than you but extremely impatient.
This means not talking down or using jargon. It also means structuring your writing with headings, images and bullets so it is easy to scan.
This means not talking down or using jargon. It also means structuring your writing with headings, images and bullets so it is easy to scan.
Rule 4 of writing well: writing is NOT putting your self-conversations/thoughts into words. It’s putting conclusions from those self-conversations into words.
Cut the verbosity and just write what’s essential to the point you want to make.
Cut the verbosity and just write what’s essential to the point you want to make.
To sum up my rules for writing well:
The world is full of words. Nobody has the time to read what you’ve written unless what you’re saying is different, insightful AND easy to read.
The world is full of words. Nobody has the time to read what you’ve written unless what you’re saying is different, insightful AND easy to read.
