One Way to Make What You Write Better

Anytime you decide to write anything, whether it’s an article or a manuscript, you should congratulate yourself. Some people find writing easy, while others feel less sure about the process or their skills. Either type of writer is courageous. You know that when you write, especially if you intend to share it in any way, you open yourself to comments from readers.

One of the best things you can do for your writing is to have someone read and critique it. You may feel hopeful the person will like the story, perhaps even anxious that she or he may not; but your primary goal is to get feedback that will help you create a quality result.

You want someone who will take this effort seriously, and need to expect that what you get back may have a lot of notations and questions. At first, you may not be thrilled about this. As you read through the notes, you should see tighter ways to write sentences, inconsistencies brought to your attention, and some things you didn’t give thought to as you were writing. No writer thinks of everything during the first draft, and every writer edits and rewrites.

When we write non-fiction, we sometimes forget that readers don’t know what we know and we leave things out or don’t put things in the best order. In fiction, we may get so caught up with the story we miss inconsistencies or leave questions unanswered. We hopefully concern ourselves with punctuation, grammar, and the technical aspects of writing, but miss something or several things that could make our writing go beyond good and become excellent or, at the very least, accurate. One definite benefit is that you learn and hone your skills as a result of getting such feedback.

The thing you want to do is rely on someone who not only has the skills to do this but is objective enough to do it so that you get what you need. Writers sometimes ask the wrong people to do this for them and it often results in frustration. Many projects get shelved because of this. Do everything you can to nurture your creativity and move your project forward until you get your desired outcome.

Get what you’ve written critiqued or learn more about services for writers offered by Joyce Shafer, author; weekly columnist; and freelance proofreader, editor, and rewriter at http://www.freewebs.com/write-onwriting.

Write-on Writing: Spell-Check Won’t Catch These “Wrong” Words

Mark Twain said, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”

Spell-check is really handy, but doesn’t let us know we’ve used an incorrect word. Sometimes we think we know what a word means, but we don’t and use the wrong one. A typo can cause us to leave in a wrong word; and sometimes we misuse words because others do.

Here are some of the more common mix-ups that happen, and spell-check misses, along with examples of how to use them.

Accept, Except: I will accept all of your gifts except the elephant.
Affect, Effect: How you affect people is evident by the effect you have on them.
Among, Between: If the vote were among three people, we wouldn’t have this tie between the two of us.
Anxious, Eager: I wish you were eager to skydive instead of anxious.
Bad, Badly: Anne played the piano badly which was too bad since she intended to play well.
Desert, Dessert: As the heat of the desert caused Jason to hallucinate, he imagined a cool sorbet dessert yards ahead of him.
Earth, earth: Darker earth grows the best vegetables on Earth.
Farther, Further: George didn’t realize that his health had failed further until he walked farther than he had in a while.
Foreword, Forward: Many authors use a Foreword to move readers’ enthusiasm forward.
Irregardless, Regardless: Regardless of what you’ve heard or read irregardless is not a word.
It’s, Its: It’s okay for your dog to wag its tail; just get it away from my delicate crystal.
Lead, led: Tom wanted to lead those who wished to be led.
Passed, Past: When John passed by Amy, reflecting on their past caused her to swoon.
Than, Then: I’d rather leave then than risk missing the flight.
Your, You’re: If your mother catches you doing that, you’re going to be in big trouble.

Let spell-check make the initial run-through of anything you write. Your program probably has a grammar check that can help you as well. The best way to go over what you’ve written is to print it out and read from the copy. If you can put it aside for a day, that’s even better; you always see more when you take a break from looking at what you’ve put into print. Most writers get at least one proofreader to go through a document or manuscript before they move it towards publication or distribution since another person can do what spell-check can’t. As you probably know, it’s just too easy to miss glitches after you’ve looked at what you’ve written…and looked at it, and looked at it.


Get what you’ve written critiqued or learn more about services for writers offered by Joyce Shafer, author; weekly columnist; and freelance proofreader, editor, and rewriter at http://www.freewebs.com/write-onwriting.

Tips for Aspiring Writers: Tighten Your Writing

What does tighten your writing mean?

What Blaise Pascal wrote gives you an idea: “The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter.”

Though Pascal was a mathematician and physicist turned religious philosopher, his point benefits every writer: Take time to edit and rewrite. Aspiring writers, especially, often rush to publish.

Article writing is an excellent form of practice. Give yourself a limit of 350-400 words.

*Choose a topic you feel strongly about and write what you want to share with readers.
*Print a copy but don’t read it until the next day.
*Before you read what you wrote, check the word count (see Tools on your tool bar).
*With pencil in hand, read your article aloud.
*How can you express a thought in fewer words? A quick tip is to remove extraneous words, especially over-usage of “the” and “that.” Example: “He also recommended (that) writers replace (the word) “very” with (the word) “damn” (in order) to break the habit of using it” (22 words; unnecessary words placed in parentheses for emphasis) vs. what I wrote in the next full paragraph (15 words).
*If you have run-on sentences, make them two sentences.
*Strive for “active” rather than “passive” voice, i.e., “When I write” vs. “When my ideas are being expressed in writing.”
*Does a sentence or paragraph belong in a better place in the content?
*Make the changes to your document.
*Check your word count.
*Keep tweaking until you convey exactly what you mean to within your word limit.

Mark Twain said, “The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say.” He also recommended writers replace “very” with “damn” to break the habit of using it. This is very good advice.

Another useful way to practice is with emails. I never send an email, even to a friend, without editing it several times. Follow these tips and you’ll begin to notice a crisp difference in your writing style. You do want to have style, right?

Aspiring Writers: Want your writing critiqued? Joyce Shafer is a published author; freelance proofreader, editor, and rewriter; as well as a weekly columnist published at various online venues. Learn more about her services that assist those new to writing and getting published at http://www.freewebs.com/joyceshafer.