Comments on: Rewriting Your Writing: How to Be a Better Writer

By: How Not to Write Like an Idiot | Men with Pens

How Not to Write Like an Idiot | Men with Pens — Fri, 13 May 2011 05:02:50 +0000

[...] to do a final proof. Note: saying “final” proof implies prior proofs. You did do some preliminary rounds of proofreading, didn’t [...]

By: Freelance Writer

Freelance Writer — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:52:27 +0000

Ok I will try to rewrite and rewrite my writings until I will master it!
Thanks for this very use guidelines.

By: How to Finish a Writing Project | Men With Pens

How to Finish a Writing Project | Men With Pens — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:25:08 +0000

[...] group that meets weekly. They let me know when they care about my characters. They also let me know when I need to rewrite or work on a section a little [...]

By: Friday Link Love – Some great blog posts I enjoyed this week past | Monetize

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:04:49 +0000

[...] Rewriting your Writing the always entertaing men with pens give us some writing tips to improve our writing using existing copy. Share and Enjoy: [...]

By: Larry Brooks

Larry Brooks — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:48:08 +0000

Rewriting is like personal hygiene, you do it like you it. If and when you feel you need it. Or not. The world then gets to judge how you're doing on those counts. There are no rules, and you get to decide. What works for one doesn't necessary work for another. The real issue, I think, is what and how do we rewrite. How to be a better blogger? Focus on the main issues of successful blogging, which can be simplified and expressed in this forumla: x + y = readership. X is your writing style, your attitude. Without Y (see below), it's all just mouthing off. Imbue your writing style with an edge, make it personal, get in their face, make is self-deprecating, and make it anything north of boring. And use words like "imbue" when you can, only very carefully. Y is value. Some call it content, but you can have content that is rehashed and watered down, and that's not value. Present something the reader can use, can actually take forward to move forward. Like, X plus Y equals Readership. Hope this helps. It's helped me. Larry Brooks´s last blog post...Writing Better Fiction: Inside the Six Core Competencies

By: Gary Blake

Gary Blake — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:20:53 +0000

Having been a freelance journalist for 8 1/2 years in the past but never being a blogger. I think this is a good time to start and this seems to be a good place to learn as any. Rewriting for web content seems to be more personal and yet as professional as anything in the print industry. Let the games begin. Isn’t learning a new direction for writing fun? Honest I didn’t do that. That stain was there before I got here.

By: James

James — Sun, 24 May 2009 21:51:23 +0000

@ Haris – You’re very welcome, and thank you back!

By: Haris

Haris — Sun, 24 May 2009 21:39:36 +0000

James, thanks for the clear and concise post on how to become a better writer. This is one of the best post in that category.

I absolutely love the way how you wrote this article, it was a mix of both, the writing tips and the motivation required to actually put it to use.

Haris´s last blog post…Go Green WordPress Theme is Here to Rock Your Blog

By: Note Taking Nerd #2

Note Taking Nerd #2 — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 02:44:32 +0000

As a copywriter who’s barreled through almost every big league copy coach out there I’ve heard repeatedly we should rewrite classic ads so we unconsciously absorb how a real deal presentation goes down.

This technique seems like it could be applied to writing top notch content for blogs too.

Find sites who get mega views and who have cult like followings. Look for the legendary posts that’ve inspired a gang of comments (like this one). Copy and paste ‘em into word and rewrite ‘em.

By re-writing these, preferably by hand, you’re feeding the DNA of posts that generate response into your subconscious. In my opinion this is the richest content flows from.

But if don’t upload awesome material for it to assemble kick ass content we can expect blah.

Stephen King in his book “On Writing” suggests there’s two ways to improve your writing. Reading and writing.

Now after you’ve squirreled away a nice little stash of these hits look for a pattern you can model.

By doing this with a wide range of writing styles in copywriting I’ve seen my voice develop into it’s own skin instead of parroting the one copywriter I kept modeling.

Another idea I’ve found extremely helpful as well as entertaining when it comes to improving my writing is to step away from writing that sounds, well, like writing.

This means the world of fiction.

Who besides me has blasted through a 300+ page fiction book in a couple of days?

Hypnotic fiction is lubed.

Night and day difference between this and content written by someone who hasn’t written since they left school.

Magnetic fiction doesn’t land on your mind like writing. It flows like creek water because it sounds like we talk. Especially when it’s dialogue masterfully mimics the slang of the characters.

If someone is new to writing or wants to let their degrees in English lit shine through, their writing sounds try hard.

I’ve found myself re-writing key sections of dialogue or descriptions from fiction written by Robert Parker and Elmore Leonard. And I believe my writing is better because of it.

Hey, I know these ideas sound like work and it is. And this is why 80% of people will never use them but I trust the 5 – 20% who do take action on them will profit immensely.

Til next time,

Note Taking Nerd #2
http://www.mynotetakingnerd.wordpress.com

Note Taking Nerd #2´s last blog post…Long Haired Mexican Pot Head Shocks This Marketer With His Common Sense Sales Persuasion Tactics

By: Bamboo Forest

Bamboo Forest — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:56:05 +0000

Nothing easy about writing good content. I'm constantly striving to improve my ability. I think the best writing comes down to how persuasive it was. Bamboo Forest´s last blog post...How to Prevent Being Struck by Your Mindâ€™s Immobilizing Arrows