Writing snappy content

I’ve always enjoyed story-writing. As a kid I would write super long stories, based on yours truly being a pirate and living alone on an island. Think of it almost like a diary, but featuring tropical monkeys. Every day I would write a new islandy adventure and then show it to my teachers. Let me highlight that this wasn’t mandatory homework, I just liked writing pirate stories about myself where I went on rad adventures. Not quite sure what my teacher thought of my island-pirate diary, it was just something I loved doing – writing for me was an outlet.

 As I got older I stopped writing, until I joined Readify (now Telstra Purple) where all of a sudden my love for the written word returned. Why, do you ask? I was working with some incredibly smart and creative people. Out-of-the-box thinkers who could really draw you in with engaging content. This works a treat for me because corporate writing style bores me to tears. I’ll barely make it through a paragraph without deciding to skim to catch anything important (and then likely missing something vitally important).

 Working with people who can write in a way that it is consumable, engaging and clever; now that is truly inspiring and I’ll read every single word.

 Here are some of my tips to keep writing fun and catchy.

• Drafts are sooooooooo important

 Your first draft should nearly be incomprehensible. Get your base thoughts down on paper. Fling it all into bullet-points. Don’t stress/worry about order, spelling or grammar. Slam your creativity onto the page without worrying about judgement.

 Curation and polishing are the last and final step. When you’re writing a draft, it should constantly evolve through many versions of edits. It can sometimes take me up to 10 x edits before I’m truly happy with what I’ve written.

• Be you, word-smith style!

The written content I enjoy is when I can hear the writer’s voice. I don’t want to read an essay; if you hit me with a notwithstanding, you’ve lost me. I want to read, you. What do you think & feel? Then, write it to me in your own words.

 There is nothing better to me than a well placed adjective for a good laugh. On the flip side I also like to work back over my content to make sure it’s not too verbose (does anyone else feel that the word verbose.......is actually verbose?).

 Another tip. You can absolutely draw inspiration from other people, but the ol' copy and paste and then swapping a few words around won't work. It's lazy, and in some cases it's plagiarism. Write the idea, and then from scratch let your own words flow.

 To drive my point home, be you! Really let yourself shine and share some insights into who you are. For example, I shared my embarrassing pirate diary with you and I bet that’s going to be your favourite part of this blog.

• Think about your audience

When I’m writing, I think about who it’s for and then focus on what they’ll want to know. I’ll write out the questions that I predict they're going to ask, then write out their answers and fold it all into my content.

 I’ll start my writing with words that I know will immediately grab my audience's attention. If you haven't captured your audience within the first few words, you've lost them. Keep it punchy, right from the get go!

(I also really really like a good placement of emojis ????????)

• Feedback, feedback, feedback

 It’s ok if you make a mistake. For me, I’m in a true place of creativity when I’m feeling safe to experiment. An environment where failure is perfectly acceptable and encouraged, will truly enable you to test the limits of your writing.

 However, always good to get someone you trust to read over your content (just in case). In my opinion feedback is pivotal to my growth as a person, friend, dog-owner, leader & tap-dancer.

 If I get no feedback on improvements for my work, I’ve either waited too late to release it, or the person didn’t read it properly.

• And lastly....

Have a think about when you're at your most creative. For me, it's in the morning. I'm such an AM gal that my team have learnt that if they need my best creative thinking, they gotta book it in before 12.

 Every edit of this blog was done in the morning, over five days.

 ………………………………………………………….

From me to you; chase the feedback, write your best pirate-diary life, and grow as you create ??

(Caption photo: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mit-pirate-certificate/)