I have always enjoyed expressing my thoughts through writing. Writing is a powerful tool for communication, capable of bridging gaps between people and cultures. Over the last 18 months, I have started publishing some of my work (archive) and have been writing more seriously in the last six months (viral blog). Reading various blogs and articles from other authors, I often contemplate the topics I myself enjoy reading and the various writing styles that resonate with me. It's important for me to understand this, as it helps shape my writing content and style.
In this blog post, I'll share my personal journey in refining my writing skills, the lessons I've learned along the way, and how they have influenced my writing style.
Appreciating the Power of Simplicity
When I first started publishing my work, I quickly realized that the most effective writing is often the simplest, with ideas that leap into the reader's mind effortlessly.
To create content that is easy to read and understand, I focus on using ordinary words and straightforward sentences. This approach allows my readers to engage more deeply with the content and saves their energy for understanding the ideas I want to share. As Steve Jobs once said, "Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple."
By prioritizing simplicity in my writing, I make my ideas more accessible to a larger audience, including those who are not native English speakers. This is especially important to me being a non native English speaker myself. This demonstrates that I care about ALL my readers, and that I am not testing them on their abilities of deciphering complex language. It keeps me honest in ensuring that I put more energy in connecting with my readers and effectively sharing my ideas, that’s what matters. While there may be times when I want to use fancy words or styles (An example blog that I wrote in Forrest Gump’s style) for a special effect, I do it intentionally and sparingly.
And Simplicity is Hard, and Time Consuming
To create clear and concise writing, I start by quickly writing a draft, allowing my thoughts to flow naturally. After that, I spend a lot of time editing and improving the writing, removing any extra parts, and smoothing the language. This process makes the my output easier to read and hopefully more engaging for my readers. For instance, this blog post took 2 hours of writing and approximately 12 hours of editing.
It’s About Creating Content that Matters
In essence, useful writing presents something important that the reader didn't already know, and it does so as clearly as possible. While not every idea will be new to everyone, I try to find topics that are novel to a significant number of my readers.
To craft content that matters, I focus on delivering bold, insightful, and truthful writing that resonate with my readers. For example, when writing about a new technology (Meta’s LLaMa), I aim to not only explain its functionality but also delve into its potential impact on society, uncovering insights that people may have known unconsciously but never articulated before.
To ensure my content is accurate and impactful, I adopt a "loose, then tight" approach. I begin by writing a quick first draft, experimenting with various ideas. Then, I devote time to carefully rewriting and refining the piece, adding data, insights, researching, and proofreading multiple times to eliminate any inaccuracies or inconsistencies. This blog post started as “writing culture in companies” but evolved into my personal writing journey.
And Realizing That Not Everything I Write Matters
Lastly, I have accepted that many of my articles will remain in draft form and never get published. It is okay since those pieces of writing do not meet my standards. I share only the content I am confident in, which will establish me as a knowledgeable and reliable writer.
And a Few Others to Wrap Up
Embracing Feedback and Criticism: Learning to accept feedback from my vocal readers, volunteer proofreaders (thanks!), and peers has allowed me to grow as a writer. By incorporating their feedback, I have been able to refine my writing style and improve my content.
Staying Consistent and Disciplined: Writing consistently, even when inspiration is low, has helped me develop a habit and improve my skills over time. Setting aside dedicated time for writing (a few hours every week) and sticking to a schedule enables me to stay disciplined and focused.
Storytelling: Incorporating various storytelling elements (personal experiences, anecdotes, or crafting narratives around topics) has helped me experiment and improve both my blog writing and my writing at work.