Stop Trying so Hard to Sound Smart When You Write

Our high school and college English teachers really screwed a lot of us up. And those who’ve gone on to graduate school and written dissertations? Forget about it! They’ve often gotten so far from their actual “voice” that it can be hard to return. Obviously, this doesn’t apply to someone publishing with an academic press but those of us who are writing mainstream books need to avoid academic writing and overly lengthy sentences as much as we can.

Why? Because academic writing takes the reader out of the story you’re telling. It doesn’t make you sound smarter. It only makes you sound like you’re trying to sound smarter. And it’s a great way of keeping you in your head and out of your heart. Why write if you can’t access your heart?

Overly lengthy sentences can get convoluted and hard to follow. This isn’t to say that your book should be a collection of short, choppy sentences, just that the more you stop trying to write like someone you’re not, the more the reader is going to like you.

IF YOU LIKED THIS, YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE MY BOOK ELEVATOR PITCH TEMPLATE, WHICH YOU CAN GET HERE.