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About Reference Books
To help you write faster and more clearly, I suggest two reference tools, a dictionary and a spell checker. A reference book is a book you can reach from your writing place without having to move. If the dictionary is across the room and shared by others, it’s not your reference book. Get you own so you can look up words quickly and get back to real writing. Besides, if you get up to use the common dictionary you are probably just using it as an excuse not to write.
You may have noticed that I am not recommending a thesaurus. These books, with the lists of synonyms, are fine in their own right. But they contribute to problems because people use them incorrectly. I usually see people use a thesaurus by plucking out a word they don’t like and substituting a longer word. As we work through this book, we will see that better writing is not about word selection. It is about underlying structure. Changing a word does not change structure. You already know most of the words you need at work. Putting thoughts in order, not selecting fancier words is the key to your improvement. The dictionary and spell checker will serve you just fine.
A Final Word
At this point I am tempted to tell you what I have left out of this guidebook and why. But I won’t. Write Better and Get Ahead at Work is written lean and decisive, including the information you need to achieve your goals as quickly as possible. (Note to editor: I know the words “lean” and “decisive” are adverbs and therefore are supposed to have an “ly” on them. I don’t like “ly.” It’s not lean. I’ve decided this form does not violate a rule because I am advancing the language here. In 200 years, nobody will be using “ly.”) You do not need case studies or histories of letter writing styles. Some information will be most valuable for certain people. For instance, the list of “Questions to Ask Yourself Before Writing the First Word” has helped many people to know when they are ready to start writing so they keep a copy of it handy. You may want to find a page that helps you with the particular aspect of writing you plan to improve.
I hope that this book helps you become a better, more productive writer so you can get work done the way you want and rise in your profession. Write Better and Get Ahead at Work, tested over the years in classrooms and work sites, addresses many of the problems people are facing in today’s workplace. This modest volume is dedicated to stripping away the outmoded thoughts that too often prevent us from communicating with each other happily and productively. The methods of this book more often remove impediments rather than to add to your knowledge. Each of us has the ability to write trapped within us. Freeing our inner potential from anxieties and rules is what expression is all about.
Once you acquire the ability to write by concentrating on meaning and action rather than words and rules, a natural human expression will be clear to your reader who will want to hear what you have to say. Only one way has proven effective to shed the problems and achieve the relaxed effortlessness of a natural writer. Practice.
Your Writing Index
On a separate sheet of paper, respond to each question. Take as much or as little space as you think you need to provide a clear answer.
1. Have you taken writing classes before? If so, which ones? What did you gain from those classes? After taking the classes, what did you decide you wanted to work on?
2. What writing do you do at work–memos, letters or reports? Explain how often you write, why and to whom. What other communications do you have at work (such as meetings, presentations and phone calls)?
3. What is your preferred method of writing–with pen and paper, at a computer keyboard, with a tape recorder or other?
4. What reference books and materials do you use?
5. What books have influenced your idea about writing?
6. How do you describe your communication ability? How do you describe your writing ability?
7. Why is writing at work important to you now and in the future?
8. What do you like best about writing?
9. What do you dislike most about writing?
10. How does writing fit your career goals, and how do you plan to acquire the skills needed to write and communicate at work?
2. How to Create Reading
Freewriting
Let’s begin with a little fun. Rarely do we find anything in this life with a perfectly descriptive name, but one such name is “freewriting.” It’s one of my favorite writing exercises.
A definition of freewriting packs neatly into one sentence: “Write down whatever you think about for ten minutes straight without stopping.” That is it. Nothing more.
Yet so much happens. Freewriting is like the card game bridge. The rules are so exquisitely simple the players have room for unlimited expression. Anything can happen in freewriting.
It is the mirror of literary practices. Try it. You will find you write more and better than you thought possible. You will also, at times, produce garbage. Unstated but necessary to freewriting is constant movement forward. The writer must continue. Must continue. Must continue. Must continue. No room for self-editing, no time for doubt.
Now is a good time to try freewriting for five or 10 minutes.
Once you try it, pause for a moment to capture your experience of the moment. Answer the question “What was it like to freewrite?” Everybody has different experiences, of course. Maybe you experienced what I often feel. At first, I find it hard to write anything. Then something happens–it’s like a dam bursting–and I have a torrent of ideas. The task now becomes controlling and channeling these ideas, feelings, images, song tidbits and insights. I like to remember this transition for a particular reason. Sometimes when I sit down to write a memo or letter, I can’t think of anything. My mind is as blank as the paper (or screen). Sound familiar? But I don’t worry when that happens. I know myself. I have been blank before and I remember that soon a torrent will start. The key for me is to write anything. Then the ideas come. That’s why freewriting is helpful for me. I do it regularly.
As you freewrite, you will recognize your own comfortable writing process and will perhaps discover your own way of thinking.
Freewriting is a good way to exercise first thing in the morning. It gets you started when you cannot think of anything to write. It’s also a good way to end the day when you only have little time before quitting, not enough time to begin another project. In any event, when the boss walks by while you are freewriting, it looks good.
Most of all, I want you to enjoy freewriting. Writing is fun. Even at work. I enjoy writing, and I want you to enjoy it, too. As we work through this book, we do exercises that are more structured and probably less enjoyable than freewriting. But all writing can be fun—even pounding out the most pressured deadline report at work can be enjoyable. If you get nothing else from this book but a re-connection to the joy of writing, you will have won a lot.
You can find an excellent treatment of freewriting in the book Writing with Power by Peter Elbow. Peter has written a new book, along with others, entitled Nothing Begins with N: New Explorations of Freewriting.
Defining Terms
