Top 4 successful ways of writing effectively

 (“Keep a diary, and someday it will keep you”-Mae West. Image source: wallpaperflare.com)

“If music is peace of mind, then writing is peace of soul”. I strongly believe that in each of us lies a sleeping writer patiently waiting to be awakened. The writer within myself was awoken when I was sent away to boarding school at the tender age of 7. The first year of my boarding school was the toughest, for I was terribly homesick and did not have friends. On 1^st January 1998, my wise mother gave me my first journal diary and a new pen and said “today is the first day of the remaining 364 days. Start writing effectively every little thought and you would never feel lonely and sad”. 

This little gesture from my beautiful mother on a foggy winter morning has given me strength countless times to pen out my emotions and sigh a relief. Although I had begun writing from a tender age, I have lacked any formal structured training in writing effectively. My latent desire to become a successful writer has propelled me to research and learn techniques that I would like to share with you today. 

A memorable KISS

When we think of our first kiss, we are either filled with nostalgia or disgust. Well for a reader, a kiss is equally important. Simply put as Keep It Simple and Sweet (KISS)! As writers we might get entangled in syntax, grammar accuracies, choice of bombastic words and impostor syndrome. This could leave the reader unfulfilled and unhappy. In contrast, when the article is written in straightforward short active voice sentences, it would enhance your writing effectively and becomes a child’s play for the reader. 

Nudge from a Grammar Buddy

While writing we might often get carried away, leaving the reader tediously dragging their eyes through unyielding long sentences, with no sight of an appropriate semicolon or a full stop. To keep the reader engaged, we could use online grammar buddies like Grammarly, and Hemingway to improve grammar inaccuracies and syntax errors efficiently. 

Catchy Headlines are like Aged Wines

Being a voracious bibliophile myself, I have often found my roving eyes settle on articles and book titles with catchy headlines. I had always wondered in awe of the creativity of the writer for a captivating caption. Well for those of us who are amateur fledglings there are headline helpers like CoSchedule Headline Anaylser and Squibler to our rescue. A headline score above 70 is considered a good catch!  

Plagiarists Cause Major Rifts

In our childhood we would often tease our peers with ‘copycat, eat a rat, day-by-day, growing fat”! Similarly, imitating another person’s ideas, presentation and writing style could potentially harm writing effectively. Fortunately, in today’s age of technology we have numerous software like Copyscape, SmallSEOtools to maintain the reliability of our creativeness. 

In the words of Willian H. Gass “the true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words”. Cheers to finding artistic inspiration and writing effectively as word alchemists!