Writing | Words For Hire

Why Writing for Your Readers is a Bad Idea

September 13, 2010 by Karen Swim

: Image by Jill Clardy via Flickr

In online publishing there is an oft repeated mantra about writing for your readers. While it is true that you should write for your readers rather than search engines, there is a gaping hole in the advice. When you face the blank page to tell your story, the last thing you need is an audience, even when the audience is only in your head.

Even the most experienced writer often faces the nasty inner critic, who shows up to heckle and deter you from your writing process. If you allow readers into the room you can guarantee that at least one of them will be a critic. In his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft , author Stephen King advises that you tell the story to yourself first. It is advice that helped me get my first novel onto paper. I had to shut the door and lock out the readers, and the critics in order to first tell the story.

Writing is one of the few tasks in which focusing on the end result can hinder rather than help. You cannot sit down to write a New York Times bestseller or a viral blog post. Initially it is you and the story, whatever that story may be. When you have told the story then you allow the readers to help you refine and polish it.

Writing without an audience can yield surprising results. You may discover stories or storytelling elements that never would have blossomed without creative freedom.

Whether or not you are a writer, we all have to write – reports, presentations, correspondence – and we have all faced the critic that makes us anxious about the end result. How would you apply King’s advice in your writing? Would it ease the task of writing if you did it without thought about the end result?

5 Tips to Instantly Improve Your Communication Skills

September 1, 2010 by Karen Swim

This is the third post in a series on communications in the digital age. You can read Part I and Part II here and here.

I ran across a statistic at the HBR website that drives home the need for being able to communicate well. According to a recent survey of 120 blue-chip American companies poor writing costs businesses $3 billion a year to correct. This is the result of only two-thirds of employees being able to write well. Is poor communication costing you money? Are you spending time mitigating the fallout from a poorly written email? Are you being perceived as a poor leader because you are unable to convey clear expectations to your team? Have you been passed over for a promotion because of your communication style?

Great communicators rise to the top in corporations. It is a valued skill to be able to articulate ideas, messages and thoughts clearly and succinctly. This translates well in our personal lives as well. How many family disagreements arise from communication failures?

: Image by elycefeliz via Flickr

Communication IQ is comprised of the ability to:
• Clearly convey thoughts and emotions
• Listen actively
• Demonstrate empathy
• Recognize emotions
• Walk the talk
• Use conflict constructively by being solution focused
• Gain respect through ethical and respectful behavior

Source: Effective Communication & Communication IQ | eHow.com

Improving our communication intelligence is not as complex as it may seem. The tips below will help you instantly improve your communication.

Communicate to be understood. You can instantly improve your communication skills by focusing on the listener, rather than broadcasting a message or making a point.
Be attentive to the spaces between the words. We have the ability to say much more than the words we speak or write. If you’re angry, calm down before sending that “professional” email.
Two ears, one mouth. Listen twice as much as you speak and you will boost your communication skills overnight.
Match the message to the medium. Save long, layered messages for real interaction. Use email, text and other short form communication for easy to communicate messages, ideas and updates.
Receive with grace. We can avoid communication conflict by managing our own emotional reactions. Rather than respond in kind to a terse email, leave the emotion out of it and respond with grace. Remember that not everyone is a skilled communicator.

Do you have tips to add to the list above? Have you ever been on the receiving end of poor communication? What was the impact and how was it resolved?

Exploring the Heart of Writing

August 9, 2010 by Karen Swim

: Image by Vanessa Pike-Russell via Flickr

Last week, I read a post by Joanna Paterson at MidLife Journal on Facebook in which she distinguished writing with a capital “W “from writing. The phrase resonated with me and I found myself thinking of it, turning it over, and journaling about it.

Joanna wrote:

“…writing doesn’t need to start with a capital W. There’s a role and a place for that kind of writing, of course there is, and I know many of us dream of getting our work ‘out there’, published, and read.

But there’s a whole lot of other writing that isn’t ever going to end up on someone’s bookshelf.” (Writing and Pathways of the Heart)

We all have our capital W writing – business communications, proposals, presentations, white papers, emails and more. It is the writing that is defined by the intended reader. We craft it with carefully chosen words and phrases with the knowledge that it will be read and in essence will be a reflection of our knowledge and talent.

While the capital W writing certainly has its place the professionalism of it can actually get in the way of the words.

Small w writing for me most often happens with a pen. It is “soul writing,” that comes from a place deep within where raw honesty supersedes style and content. My pen functions as a pipeline to my inner being where thoughts, ideas and feelings drain freely onto the page. In this haven of uncensored thought, the inner critic does not exist. There are no rules and thoughts are allowed to shove their way in uninvited even if the result is a page of seemingly fragmented nonsense.

If you have ever written a letter with no intention of sending it, or poured your heart out in a journal then you know the intensity and satisfaction of small w writing.

Some small w writing should remain private, a safe haven where you can work through the inner complexities without over analyzing the content of your message. Yet, I can’t help but wonder how much better we would communicate if we allowed at least a little of this into our public writing. Would we see posts and articles that were passionate and pure? Would we forgive less polished writing for writing that was heart felt and intense? Would we move past convention as we focus on communication?

I am convinced that writing from the soul always has a place whether is it done with a capital W or small w. How about you?

One Lovely Blog

August 6, 2010 by Karen Swim

Thanks to the gracious Lillie Ammann at Lillie Amman, Writer and Editor for the One Lovely Blog Award. Lillie is a wonderfully talented published author who consistently delivers informative and uplifting posts. She is a great champion of the writing community and never hesitates to share information that will help new and seasoned writers. She is also a crackerjack storyteller! Thank you Lillie for your continued support and guidance!

Recipients are asked to pass the award along to 15 other blogs, preferably blogs new to us. I follow hundreds of blogs many for business reasons but also devotional or pure entertainment. The list below is a mix for your reading pleasure,and I hope you’ll find a new blog or two to add to your own feed reader. I have been guilty of getting too busy to pass on these awards so if you’re selected no pressure to pass it on, I am just honored to have received it and want to recognize blogs that inform, inspire and entertain me.

The criteria for accepting the award are as follows:

Post it with the name of the person who granted you the award along with a link to her Web site.
Pass the award on 15 blogs that you have newly discovered (if possible).
Contact the bloggers to notify them they have received the award.

Here are my choices (in the order they appear in my feed reader):

Work Happy Now – This site focuses on work place happiness and its author, Karl Staib radiates optimism. He is one of the nicest people online with a true passion and enthusiasm for work feel like play for everyone. This one is not new to me but I could not resist including it.
Business As Mission Network – I discovered this faith based site about a week ago. Each post focuses on leaders and businesses who are ” using their skills in administration and business to meet needs and be a light for God’s kingdom.” It presents insights that challenge and inspire us to be servant leaders.
The Mid Life Journal – Joanna Young of Confident Writing authors this site that offers creative ways to get through the middle of life. It is not a site about hot flashes and mood swings but one that coaches and inspires us to harness our little w writer to navigate with joy through the middle season.
The Fight Against Destructive Spin – Just discovered this site a couple of weeks ago and can’t get enough of the posts. The content is lively and informative and I felt welcomed right away. I am always looking for good PR and communications blogs and this is fast becoming one of my favorites.
Kommein – Deb Ng, formerly of Freelance Writing Jobs continues her legacy of incredible content and community. She is the epitome of a lovely person and proves that whatever she touches is golden.
Jan McInnis Comedy Writing Blog – I learned of Jan from the wonderful Peter Shankman. I bought her book and was delighted to connect with her blog recently. Jan is funny, but even better she can teach other people to be funny. Her posts are smart and informative and tailored for business audiences.
Sandra Heshka King – While writing this post this week, I discovered this blog through the High Calling Blogs Around the Network post. Sandra is a warm and talented writer who writes about God, family, writing and even shares poetry. It was love at first sight.
Annarchy -Ann Handley is nott new to me but I am in love with Ann’s writing. This is her personal blog and the posts are not frequent but whenever a new one shows up in my reader, it feels like Christmas morning. This woman is one of the most talented storytellers who I know with an ability to wring depth out of a blade of grass.
Infosmak – Joe Crockett is truly a lovely person. He is a tech guy with a writer’s heart and far too modest to even promote his blog, so allow me to do it for him. Joe offers slice of life observations, prose and more. As he lives life with eyes wide open, he takes you along for the journey.
Web Savvy PR – Cathy Larkin is smart, focused and gracious. She truly knows PR and Social Media and though she’s on the leading edge she’s not at all showy. I have gotten to know Cathy through Twitter chats and I recommend her tweetstream too.
Frog Blog – Fred Schlegel is smart, and very funny. Whether sharing groundbreaking business ideas or blogging about change, his posts are warm and inviting.
Sticky Figure – Steve Woodruff is a man who clearly loves life and it shows in everything he writes. Even his occasional rants are written like a man with a permanent smile on his face.

Not quite 15 but I’ll share others in future posts. Thank you to those on the list and those in my reader for making me think, laugh, cry and smile!

Community, Inspiration and The Muse

June 21, 2010 by Karen Swim

: Image via Wikipedia

Today is the first official day of summer, an appropriate day to trade hard cover tomes of business and industry for deliciously just for fun paperbacks. This post is lovingly for all my writer friends who inspire and challenge me in every season. Grab your flip flops and come build sand castles with me for awhile.

Writers block had spread like some weird epidemic of creative flu. Suddenly pens were silenced and blogs languished untouched for days and weeks at a time. Gripped in the throes of my own angst I told myself we had matured, had outgrown the incessant need to publish and be read but deep down I wondered if I had infected the parasite into the space I had inhabited. The community that had fed my creative soul had vanished around me.

My writing life was as barren as the stark naked trees with icicles dripping from their limbs. My body felt heavy with ideas but I was unable to do more than store them away for future use. It was a long and desolate winter with an occasional breakthrough of creativity like the sun which hid for months and then shone brilliantly high in the sky reminding you that it was there behind the thick blanket of clouds, before it disappeared again.

And then as magically as the virus had struck there was a fresh bloom of posts dripping with intensity and raw emotions. The virus had stripped away the self doubt and left the bare and naked souls of the writer. Pens were no longer stilled and blogs were humming with the low thrum of activity like tourists descending upon a beach town for the season. The townies quietly blended into the background while the tourists explored with wide eyed curiosity. The community was abuzz with their chatter and questions about the local culture. The locals pretended not to care but our hopes were renewed. Could we recreate the magic of that first summer, would word spread beyond the borders of our small town? When the summer sun set would the tourists return to the fast paced motion of their lives and tuck away the visit to the small blogging village as a quaint little side trip?

Fueled by the visitors and the locals emerging from self-hibernation I allowed myself once again to be swept away on the waves of their creativity. I drank it in like one who had wandered in the desert unable to command the rocks to yield a droplet of life giving water. I drank until bloated fearful of letting a single drop escape me, inhaling and tasting the sweet nectar that suddenly was in abundance everywhere. But I did not return to my own shop, eating in secret fearful of being discovered and called out for my gluttony of the precious morsels that were plentiful in the space I had come to love. Tucked away in my corner I filled my baskets with the manna of inspiration, piling the storehouses for the inevitable winter.

When the doors of neighboring shops closed for the night I sat on their doorsteps inhaling the aroma of the day and the soft sounds of gentle laugher mixed with the gentle waves floating upward on the iridescent night sky. I had been here before and knew how quickly the lusty headiness of muse could evaporate. If held too tightly I would crush her fragile beauty so I cupped her gently accepting that she could and would fly off again when she chose. Muse is fragile but surprisingly strong in her will to come and go as it pleases. Even now as I try to distill her beauty into words I know that it may elude me causing my words to spin dizzily like the ranting of a woman gone mad. So I simply sit quietly enjoying the beauty of muse and her ability to come to each of us in her form and on her own terms. Together we, this community of writers who dare to hit the publish button, reflect a tapestry of shapes, sounds and colors more beautiful than any that would have been created by just one. I lean back against the sand thankful for this moment for I know that muse is fickle and fleeting and may soon simply dip beneath the moonlit sky once again out of my reach.

Before you leave the village be sure to check out a few neighboring shops:

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Invite the Muse to Tea (highcallingblogs.com)

Rose Sky

April 17, 2010 by Karen Swim

: Image by jah~ off n on via Flickr

The sky blushed with soft shades of rose, clouds softly rolling in darkening the sun

A heart that was heavy lifted as emotions floated on the wind, I exhaled and the sky blushed.

Soft droplets of rain falling gently from the folds of lavender robes as a clap of thunder trumpeted the arrival of a majestic display of power and humility

Branches bowed low in worship, leaves danced in delight

Emotion seeped from hidden spaces, riding waves of tears pushing past floodgates of fear

The sky blushed and I exhaled.

Posted via web from Marketing, Musings and More from Karen Swim