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3-2-1 Fridays: 3 tactics to amp up your writing style
Welcome to today’s issue of Efikó, a weekly newsletter by me, Dozie Anyaegbunam, focusing on all things content marketing and living your best life. THANK YOU for being here! I appreciate you!
My people,
How’s everyone doing?
I interviewed Justin Simon of Metadata this morning. And it was terrific. I can’t wait to share this guide with you when I am finally done.
Let’s get to it!
3 Things I Learned This Week About Creating a Great Writing Style
i.
One of the best ways to turn up the heat when writing is to alternate between complete and incomplete sentences.
Yes, I know your secondary school/high school teacher said you couldn’t use incomplete sentences. But remember:
RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN.
So, use a mix of complete and incomplete sentences. Think of incomplete sentences as your drumbeat. They allow you to add a rhythm to your writing.
But don’t overuse them. Your writing should be 90% complete sentences. 10% incomplete sentences.
A refresher on complete sentences:
Complete sentences express a complete thought
And have a subject and a predicate
Here’s an example:
“Dozie slept through the meeting. Oh, Dozie. Loud. Well-read. But still unable to keep his eyes open long enough to know when he’s called up to present his thoughts.”
ii.
Show, don’t tell
This is probably obvious. But a good reminder.
Going straight to the point is excellent. But don’t forget to describe:
The situation
Person
Or thing
For example, don’t say:
“UserGems is great for pipeline generation.”
Say:
“UserGems helps you automate pipeline generation by turning buyer job changes and relationship insights into qualified pipeline.”
iii.
Let it flow
Have you ever been in a situation where you are thinking hard about a problem and can’t seem to come up with a solution? But once you let it go and do something else, boom.
An answer miraculously shows up.
Well, settling on a writing style is no different.
Let it go. Let it flow. It’ll come in due time.
Don’t waste time trying to copy the style of others. You might come off as a tad robotic or authentic.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t study their style or mimic how they use words. But don’t stress it.
Just focus on writing well. Your style will find you.
2 Things I am Thinking About
i.
"The first step—perhaps the most enormous step—is to find what you are genuinely interested in.
If you are genuinely interested, you will discover endless opportunities for improvement. But if you are disinterested, even obvious improvements will feel like a chore.
And, if you can maintain your genuine interest and curiosity as the years accumulate, you will become hard to compete with because you will have the skills to go with your passion. If you're interested, you're dangerous."
James Clear
ii.
“I have a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”
Mark Twain
1 Book Recommendation
Justin Simon recommended this during today’s interview —- Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen. And I have to agree. This is one of the best books out there if you are looking for a practical storytelling framework.
Content Writing Jobs - September
All the best, folks.
P.S: I’m just the messenger. I know nothing more than what I include here.
Thanks for reading this far. I am grateful!
Be good out there. If you can't be good, be careful
I’ll be back on 9/23.
Dozie
PS: If my newsletter lands in your promotion tab, please could you move it to the primary tab? Thanks.