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John Lemke

How To Write Well: 10 Essential Self-Editing Tips | Write to Done - 0 views

  • The easiest way to write well is to edit your writing. The best person to edit a manuscript, article or blog post is the author herself.
  • Leave your writing alone for a while
  • Pay attention to what jumps out at you as awkward.
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  • You’ll catch clunky sentences, missing and repetitive words, and misspellings.
  • Make a list of your most common offenders. Then search for those words and see if you can take them out without altering your intended meaning.
  • Take a look at each sentence and see how many words you can cut out.
  • Check to make sure you put commas before direct address in dialog.
  • The most mutilated verbs are lay, sink, drag, swim, and shine.
  • Flowery verbs such as quizzed, extrapolated, exclaimed, and interjected, stick out. Instead, use said and asked, with an occasional replied or answered.
  • When sentences begin with “it was” and “there were,” readers are left wondering exactly what “it” is. These words are vague. “It was hot today” can easily be replaced with “the sun baked his shoulders,” which paints a clearer picture. Think: strong nouns and verbs.
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    A good list of tips to help you with your re-writes.
John Lemke

SEO and content writing tips: Week ending March 4, 2014 » SEO Copywriting - 0 views

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    This is a good long list of links to other articles.
John Lemke

The lazy person's guide to writing great copy - fast! » SEO Copywriting - 0 views

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    Some tips to keep your output rolling on schedule.
John Lemke

5 Tips for Turning Drab Information Into a Tantalizing Tutorial - Copyblogger - 0 views

  • To get people interested, you need to start with the Why — even when the Why seems obvious.
  • A great destination postcard is inspirational, taps into emotion, and paints a clear picture.
  • Good tutorials mix straightforward how-to’s with stories and examples to both educate and entertain.
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  • Which are the most common mistakes you’d like to warn your readers for? And help them avoid? Sprinkle these mistakes — with advice on how to avoid them — over your tutorial, to keep readers captivated.
  • Your word choice has to be sharper and harder-hitting than the words you use when you talk because in writing you can’t scream, sing, or use wild gestures. Your words have to capture attention, express emotion, and get your message across.
  • To make your writing voice stronger and more dynamic: Choose sensory words like creepy, bland, or dazzling Pick emotional words like mesmerizing, mind-numbing, and captivating Religiously tighten your text; and tighten it more
  • There’s one more thing you shouldn’t forget: A good teacher or mentor inspires her students to implement her ideas. Consider what might stop your reader from following your advice … and take away that final obstacle. When you encourage your readers to overcome their doubts and take action, they’ll hang on to your lips to hear each word.
  • Metaphors help readers visualize an abstract concept by relating it to something concrete. They help people understand a new idea by relating it to something they know already.
  • Problems are like speed bumps — they slow your reader down. They start paying attention again, because everyone is keen to avoid glitches, hassle, and mistakes.
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    While they seem like common sense, think about how often you see tutorials written that ignore these tips... especially number 1.
John Lemke

Ben Bova Writing Tips - 0 views

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    While many haven't a clue who this author is, he is one of the best science fiction authors ever.
John Lemke

Use This Simple Tool to Move Forward in Your Writing Career - 0 views

  • It’s a trash can. Not a physical one, but a mental trash can. It’s for discarding advice that doesn’t feel right for you. It doesn’t seem like the right answer. Your gut tells you this advice isn’t for you. It just doesn’t resonate. If that happens, you should ignore that tip and move on. My teacher would say, “Use what feels right and discard the rest.” I think a lot of writers forget to take out their trash can when they’re learning about writing. But it really pays to keep it handy.
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    I see many folks not using this tip.  Truth be told, I am also slow to clean house.
John Lemke

Six Strategies That Have Quickly Improved My Writing - 0 views

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    In general, Lifehacker gives some good tips. These are for writing.
John Lemke

Creating Stunning Character Arcs, Pt. 1: Can You Structure Characters? - Helping Writer... - 0 views

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    Some very understandable tips on character development. There is also an audio version.
John Lemke

Anne R. Allen's Blog: From Pathetic to Professional: 8 Ways to Beat the First Draft Blues - 0 views

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    Some good tips on getting that first draft moving to final.
John Lemke

A Strategy for Pumping Your Writing Full of Creativity - The Write Life - 0 views

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    I like the idea of an "artist date". All in all, a good list of tips.
John Lemke

You Got a Freelance Writing Assignment! Now What? - 0 views

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    This article offers writers tips on what to do once they get the gig. While they may seem obvious, I bet you have missed a few.
John Lemke

5 Ways to Build Long-Lasting Authority - Copyblogger - 0 views

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    Authority is a big deal these days. It is even part of Google's algorithm. This article offers 5 tips on how to build your authority.
John Lemke

How to write an optimized blog post - exploreB2B - 0 views

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    Some good SEO tips in this article.
John Lemke

Add Personality and Voice to Every Blog Post You Write - 0 views

  • write a post specifically for that ideal customer. Narrow it down as much as possible, and write as if they are sitting right across from you learning from you along the way.
  • using words that evoke images:
  • Every post you write should be a complete thought.
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  • It should be able to stand alone
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    A nice collection of tips for getting your voice into your blog post.  Arrangednicely in several bullet-ed list.
John Lemke

20 Copywriting Blind Spots All Web Writers Should Avoid » SEO Copywriting - 0 views

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    Some tips to not only make your copy more readable but also to help with SEO.
John Lemke

20 Rules for Writing So Crystal Clear Even Your Dumbest Relative Will Understand - 0 views

  • Spreading an idea means getting it from your brain into someone else’s. It means putting together the essential facts, the logical arguments and your insightful conclusions together in exactly the right way to recreate your brilliant idea in the mind of your reader.
  • Try to describe your audience with this simple formula: X who Y. For example: “Bloggers who want to get more traffic”.
  • If you can’t explain what your post is about in one simple, short sentence, it’s probably too complex or unfocused.
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  • Make sure a clear connection exists between the opening of your post and the headline.
  • If a sentence, phrase or word is particularly important or significant, use bold or italics to add stress. But don’t overdo it.
  • Always be consistent with your terminology.
  • If a point is worth making, it’s worth making twice. Or even three times.
  • Only tell them what they need to know to follow your argument. Share the minimum you need to convey the desired message.
  • Clear examples help readers understand difficult concepts.
  • Concrete language describes something detectable by the senses. Something you can see, feel, hear, smell or taste. Abstract concepts are much harder to imagine.
  • When you provide specific detail in your writing, there’s less room for ambiguity. Your reader is far more likely to end up with the same idea in their head as you have in yours.
  • Clarity does not tolerate “might,” “may” or “possibly.” If you can’t say something with certainty, perhaps you shouldn’t be writing about it at all.
  • if you’re in the business of spreading ideas, you must make friends with bullets.
  • Bullets are a valuable tool, but you should never drop your reader into a list without first setting the scene.
  • make sure each point is recognizably related to the others.
  • If you were giving your reader a list of steps, you’d present them in the order they needed doing, right? Obviously. But if the items in your list aren’t steps, they often still have a natural order – even if you didn’t have one in mind when you wrote them.
  • always supply everything the reader needs to fully understand your points within the post itself.
  • You think you’re being generous but truthfully you’re being greedy. Greedy with your reader’s time, their attention, and their patience.
  • include a clear call-to-action. Tell your reader what you want them to do.
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    20 tips on writing with clarity.
John Lemke

5 Questions That Will Make the SEO Writing Process 5 Times Smoother - SEO Copywriting - 0 views

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    A good list of questions to write better for SEO.
John Lemke

9 Things I Did To Become A Full-Time Writer - 0 views

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    A great list!  9 great tips for any aspiring author.
John Lemke

How to Defeat Writer's Block | Writing Forward - 0 views

  • Physical ailments:
  • Mental and emotional stress and distractions
  • Lazy days
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  • You’d just rather do anything in the world other than work on your writing project
  • Avoidance and procrastination: Sometimes we go out of our way to avoid a difficult writing challenge.
  • Eat well, exercise, and drink plenty of water. Schedule time for rest and relaxation. Don’t run yourself down.
  • A Few, Final Writing Tips for Combating Writer’s Block
  • if you have two projects going, you can rotate back and forth to maintain your interest in both.
  • Get advice from other writers. Often, they’ll see a solution where you see no way out.
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    While different things work for different writers, I think this is a great look at writer's block.
John Lemke

Color My World | The Word - 0 views

  • My trade magazine features can require up to dozen sources, which means many interviews and lots of quotes. Sometime early in my freelance life, I realized I needed a way to keep the sources and their material straight, especially during the cutting and pasting part of the editing process. The solution?  Type the notes from each interview in a different color.
  • The colors facilitate turning an overwhelming mishmash of perspectives, examples and quotes into a coherent article.
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    Some tips on how this author uses colors to keep her work straight.
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