Have you ever tried to be a funnier writer? Jenny Zhang took a job with Gawker, struggled with humor, and went on a journey to discover comedic secrets from the experts.
She shares the experience in I Learned How to Write Funnier.
My favorite realization in the piece:
“funniness is more of a state of being, a state of play, a state of fun, like animals or children frolicking together. To be funny is to make someone else feel like funniness is happening.”
Read on for more insights, discoveries, and laughs.
Discovered via Really Good Emails.
3 Tips to Improve Your Writing
Tom Anderson shares some practical tips to improve your writing in this article from Managing Editor.
They include
“Showing up is the hard part. Even great writers have to push themselves to grapple with the blank screen every day.”
Click through to get started.
Related: Want to get a little more technical? Check out the science of strong business writing here. Discovered via Really Good Emails.
5 Ways To Create Better Content
If you want to craft higher quality content, these 5 ideas from Lauren Smith for Studio / ID are a good place to start:
Key takeaway
“If you know a certain trend or concept is going to be important to your audience over the next few months or few years, dedicate yourself to continual coverage that will keep your readers turning to you as developments unfold.”
Hint: Strategic curation can help bolster that continual coverage.
Discovered via Social Media Today.
How To Master Conversational Copywriting
Let’s have a conversation about conversational copywriting. In all transparency, I often get in my head when it comes to “voice,” but this article is invaluable.
Russ Henneberry explains what a conversational voice is, why audiences love it, and just how to tap into this “copywriting magic.”
Key takeaways:
“The complexities of voice (and writing more broadly) get a lot easier to manage when you realize that you already manage them every day.”
Does Newsletter Writing Bring You Joy?
David Bauer thinks we might need a little therapy session when it comes to newsletter writing. In this piece he provides a list of ways to improve your relationship with your newsletter, including
The best part?
“The year is 2021. You have a newsletter, obviously. Now how do you make it successful? Wrong question.”
I find it refreshing that his focus is on the joy of creating and not another newsletter monetization guide (see Money Matters for that sort of advice).
Discovered via Inbox Reads.
Have You Tried These 14 Copywriting Tips?
As a newsletter creator, you know the importance of creating good copy.
If you’re looking for a magic wand, I can’t help. But, if you’re looking for solid tips on connecting with your audience, increasing open rates, and converting readers, here are 14 good ones.
Discovered via Really Good Emails.
A Framework for Curing Writer’s Block
Ever feel like you’re always behind, or is that just me? Amy Porterfield has a framework designed to “tackle the content time crunch,” and it looks like this:
Ask:
Then:
Look at your content (yep, whatever you’re working on right now), and see if you can apply this framework. Would it speed up production?
Discovered via Really Good Emails.
Related: “Some,” “Thing,” “Very”. If you’re using these words (+ 4 others), it’s time to cut them to improve your writing.
Quick Proofreading Tips That Have Massive Payoffs
Ever “proofread” only to discover a gazillion mistakes the next time you read it? Just me? These 5 quick tips might help.
One example:
Try reading aloud to identify loss of voice. Does the first part sound like it was written by a different person than the last?
Click through for more tips.
Author Advice In An Infographic
Sometimes you just need an infographic that rounds up epic advice from fantastic authors.
And sometimes you just need to start a new paragraph. 😉 (That’s a little inside joke for you, Joyce Carol Oates, if you're reading this.)
Do You Know About These 10 Google Doc Hacks For Writers?
Carson Kohler breaks down some Google Doc tricks that you should probably know about. Sure, you my know how to tap into revision history, but do you know how to ask it to compare two documents to show you what's different between them? I didn’t.
