How to make your writing tasty!

Happy Friday folks,

This week has been topsy-turvy.

Had some great wins, but took some mental beating trying to put together a customer-led interview piece for the first time.

The great thing is I got it done, and I am looking forward to my editor’s feedback and the tons of lessons I’ll glean from that process.

Today is about tasty writing!

Most writers, I included, suffer from sentence bloat.

Sentence bloat?

Yep, sentences that go on forever. Hurting your reader's brain.

Sentences that almost make your reader want to puke.

*Blllerrrrgh*

Do you know what causes sentence bloat?

Over-indulging in difficult words. Wordiness. Lazy editing.

And do you know how to cure sentence bloat?

Idioms.

Yes, idioms, my fellow writing Jedi.

Brittany Ryan (the best editor in the whole world) let me into the magic of idioms, and I haven't been able to get over using them ever since.

I am sure you’ll know what idioms are, so, I don’t need to define it.

Right? 😃

Great. Idioms help you:

Express Complex Ideas in a Simple Way.

Add Humor To Your Writing.

Keep Your Reader Stimulated.

Establish a Point of View.

Remove Repetitive Or Boring Descriptions.

Here are some examples of my favorite idioms that I love to sprinkle in my writing:

Idiom: “Every cloud has a silver lining.”Meaning: Good things come as a result of bad things.

Idiom: “Once in a blue moon”Meaning: Very rarely

Idiom: “Back to the drawing board”Meaning: Restart a process from the beginning

Idiom: “We'll cross that bridge when we come to it”Meaning: We’ll worry about that problem when it arises.

Idiom: “A penny saved is a penny earned”Meaning: It’s just as useful to save money as it is to make money.

But remember not to overuse it!

M‍y biggest takeaway this week 🚀

If you desire to be effective and efficient, start with saying no. Nothing is more effective than saying no to things that don't matter. Nothing is more efficient than doing this quickly.

What I’m thinking about?

As a general rule, forgive anything but malicious intent. An understanding and forgiving approach works best most of the time.

In other news,

Would you be interested in joining a community of African writers? (I reply all emails)

Stay safe & sane,

Dozie