Productivity Tips: 5 Tips for Building Your Writing Skills

Previously, we posted with 5 Writing Tips for Everyone. Here are 5 more tips for building your writing skills. Exercise your writing muscles.

Study Other Writers' Works

Copy portions of writing that you admire. No, I'm not talking about plagiarism. Practice copying (retyping) their writing as an exercise, so that you can study how they put words together. What types of words do they use? How do they vary their sentence structure?

It's a great way to explore different styles and to learn how other writers create effects.

Build Confidence

Start with smaller, simpler projects. Even if your dream is a 10-part series, practice different types of writing.

Most of us find it difficult to share our writing. Start with sharing your least personal work while building confidence.

Outline

Plan your piece with an outline beforehand. If you don't know where you're going, you won't get there. Planning creates structure, keeps you focused, helps pace your narrative, and guides the logical progression of a story or a persuasive argument.

Even for this short blog post, I sketched out a small outline of the tips I wanted to include to help me structure the post.

Research the Details

Readers notice when writers don't get the details right. Even small errors can distract them from your story or argument.

Look for areas in your writing where your knowledge is weak. Writing what you know is useful when you start, but limits you over time. Research can fill the gaps.

Keep a Commitment

Make a commitment to set aside time to write every day. This is especially helpful before it becomes a habit. If possible, make a regular schedule to write at a certain time of the day. If a regular time block isn't possible, try to pre-plan a block each day at whatever time fits into that day's schedule. Practice your writing skills.

Make writing a priority.