fundamental work, see the new Chapter on social media. You’ll find some helpful idea about writing more effectively online.
Thinking about Reading
Does this guidebook, then, teach you how to write like a reporter? No. It shows you how people in our society expect to receive information—when they pick up a newspaper or when they pick up your memo. By understanding what readers expect, a successful writer puts those expectations to work for him or her, instead of working against them. “Wordy” and “boring” are probably the two most common terms used to describe work writing in America today. Often used, rarely explained, these criticisms confuse rather than clarify.
“Wordy” usually means the writer does not meet the reader’s expectation that a main point will become clear in the first paragraph with background to follow. Too often we make the mistake of chronology by first telling what happened last year, then last week, before finally stating in a memo what people expect: what is happening now. “Boring” is another way of saying the message is not about “me.” People the world over value one thing over all else, themselves. I will leave for others the discussion of why immediate self-interest has become the human norm. All I know is that people are first interested in what affects them in their daily lives.
Reader point of view, then, becomes the way to determine what to put into that lead statement. So that becomes the next major exercise of the Write Better and Get Ahead at Work guidebook. And off it goes, showing you how to write anything quickly and well with a sense of satisfaction in a job well done.
Much of the Write Better and Get Ahead at Work approach challenges common ways of thinking about writing. As you read this book, you will be asked to think differently. One of the major changes will be to move you from “creating writing” to “creating reading.” From the beginning, the successful work writer thinks about the reader. In fact, an effective editing technique is to concentrate totally on the reader, organizing information around the reader’s life and including only those sentences the reader will want, regardless of how important they may be to the writer.
This guidebook, unlike any other writing manual I have seen, assumes the most important step for writing improvement comes from you, not the author. Throughout each section are exercises so that you can apply new ideas to your workplace immediately. Direct application of writing ideas to what you want to accomplish today is the central purpose of Write Better and Get Ahead at Work.
Swing Naturally
While a basic process applies to all writing situations, the guidebook shows you how to create your own personal process and settle on a style of expression that works for you. This book always aims for the target. It provides a method for writing at work that is direct and simple with a minimum of preparation.
Successful writing is like hitting a baseball or dancing. A batter does not swing at the ball by thinking first about flexing his wrists or stepping forward with his front foot. Hitting a baseball is not the combination of many little actions. It is one smooth movement. Breaking down the parts prevents the batter from swinging naturally. The same applies to writing. So the Write Better and Get Ahead at Work method aims to make the entire action of writing work as one continuous effort. The techniques offered here serve as “spring training.” First, we sharpen the fundamentals then, during the game, we instinctively perform the necessary action smoothly. So too with writing. This book provides the means to practice so that, back at work, when it comes time to write a memo, letter or report, you do it naturally and easily, without worrying about the component parts. When you finish, you feel good about an accomplishment rather than worried about what the reader will think.
For those who do not follow baseball, the same comparison applies to dancing. You take lessons to practice all week, but when Saturday night arrives, you dance smoothly without thinking about where your feet go. Pick either metaphor you prefer. But concentrate on the whole, not the sum of the little parts. If you sit down, well prepared, and express your message by following your own writing process, you will see that the nagging little problems of punctuation or fiddling with this word or that will no longer bother you. Instead, you will swing smoothly and quickly through your writing, confident that you have included the right elements to communicate and get a job done.
Consequently, this book offers exercises on completed work only. Most people motivated enough to improve their writing do not need little grammar exercises or small writing tasks. They want to practice the whole thing. Other than the times when you evaluate some part of your current writing, the exercises are about complete memos and letters or full sections of reports.
After establishing a clear, comprehensive way to write memos, the book builds on this foundation to show you the basics of letters and reports. It explains common types of letters and reports. Many of the most frequent questions in writing courses are about resumes so the book presents a section on writing yours too.
Because everyone can improve his or her writing, following the fundamentals is a presentation on writing excellence. Genius cannot be taught, certainly not by this book. But excellence has a signature. For those who master the basics of writing at work, a later section offers ways to identify, then to achieve excellence. Excellence is even guaranteed at the end of this section (depending on one little condition explained in the text).
Ruling the Rules
Finally we reach what many consider the heart of writing, grammar and punctuation. Unfortunately, this stretch of rules and variations too often becomes the net that entangles writers to the point of paralysis. Usage is important; we need to spell correctly and punctuate sensibly. Yet these rules are the tiny tools of communication, not worth our prime consideration. You most likely mastered most of them by the age of eight or nine. By that time we are speaking the rudiments of our native tongue with no regard to semicolons, split infinitives or passive verbs. It is only when we concentrate on the rules of language—like a beginning dancer trying to control every little movement consciously—that we cause ourselves usage problems.
Nonetheless, the major problems of usage in the workplace today are discussed in the usage section so we can put nagging little problems behind us in order to concentrate on the joy of communicating, the exciting people-to-people aspect of language no matter what we are writing.
Many people who write at work are curious about the public relations trade, especially writing news releases. Needlessly complicated in most places, the news release can be an effective tool for communicating to the general public. The basics shown here include a sample news release and a sample broadcast public service announcement.
You may have noted that I refer to writing at “work” without limiting our scope to the “office.” Much writing at work gets done away from a desk by people who do not consider themselves office workers. The Write Better and Get Ahead at Work guidebook applies to them as much as it does to the desk bound. This book, however, limits itself to work writing. It helps people write memos, letters and reports. Work writing differs from such writing as short stories, poetry and diary writing in certain ways. Primarily, as the beginning of this chapter explains, we write at work to get something done. Yet the principles you practice here, especially the “Questions to Ask Yourself,” will have nothing but beneficial effect on whatever writing you do away from work.
Fast Tips are fun.
Throughout the text, you will see fast tips for getting started, writing, and revising your writing. Not exactly real rules, they are little ideas you can use when they are appropriate. Take them in a fun spirit.
