Confident Writing

The 5 P's Of Powerful Business Writing: Audio Writing Tips

This month's podcast (5 mins) explores powerful writing within the context of business writing, looking at 5 P's that will help you to write with power, authority and confidence.

The 5 P's of Powerful Business Writing

Purpose: Know what your writing and business purpose is and focus on that as you write.  Your writing will take on a different quality as a result

Passion: We don't often associate passion with jargon filled business writing, but if you focus on what matters to you about the business you're in, the ideas you want to express, the way you want your clients or colleagues to feel, the difference you want to make - that will help to bring your writing to life, to give it more power

Plain English: Chose the plain, simple words and you'll make it easier for others to follow.  Plain English doesn't clutter up or disguise: it provides you with the tools to communicate with clarity, to let the power of your message shine through

Presence: Concentrate on what you're writing and why, on your writing purpose, on the difference you want to make and your readers will feel you present in your words. (Compare that with the machine like quality of so much business writing.)

Personality: Bring something of yourself to your words and writing - tying back in to your writing purpose, the passion you feel for your subject, your (personal) choice of plain words, and your choice to be fully present in your writing.  People will notice the difference and your writing will be more powerful as a result.

As I was recording this I thought of another two: product (taking good care to finish and polish your writing) and pride (in your message, in a well-edited piece of work) but I'm sure there are more.  What other P's can you think of that contribute to powerful business writing?

Postscript: I need to add another P here, a postscript pointer to Karen Swim's series on The Essential P's of Business.  Karen, I did write and record this post and podcast at the weekend before your series started, and I was loath to record another... Hope you don't mind!  Maybe it just goes to show how much we think on the same lines?

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You can listen to the podcast by clicking the play button on the radio box, following this link or going to my gcast page.  You don't need to download to play it - if you click here the piece should start to play by itself (how quickly it starts will depend on the speed of your connection).

Linked posts:

The Ingredients of A Credible Writing Style

5 Ways To Stop Your Words Being Wasted At Work (+podcast)

5 Ways To Put Some Heart Into Your Business Writing (+podcast)

Sidenote: This is the first podcast I've recorded for a little while, though I have been posting other audio material through VoiceThread.  Once a week seems like too frequent a schedule for me to maintain, so I'm shifting to one podcast a month, based on the theme of the month, and with a business writing focus.  (This will tie in with another project I'm working on too.)  This should allow me to keep creating the material to a regular schedule without feeling over-whelmed by the weekly slot.

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Business Writing With Confidence: 6 week e-course with coaching and writing tips to help you write with authenticity, brevity, clarity and confidence at work.  Find out more here

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

5 Ways To Trust In The Power Of Your Words

This week's audio writing tip is on trusting the power of your words - in a business writing context in particular. 

You can play the audio tips here.  Just click the play button (arrow) on the screen.  It takes 5 minutes to play right through.

It was inspired by an editing job I've just completed.  It was a piece of writing that contained a lot of intrinsic power but we needed to lose certain words to get that power to shine through: excess words, complex words and borrowed words (other people's words for what you're writing about, rather than your own). 

When I reflected on the writing lessons I could see 5 things we need to learn to trust. Trust:

• That less is more
• That simplicity works (KISS!)
• In the power of Plain English
• Your own words
• That you'll make some mistakes...

Because trusting in the power of your words doesn't mean trusting you won't make mistakes, or trusting the spellchecker to pick them all up for you (it won't).  For the power to shine through you still need to take responsibility for finishing, editing and polishing your work.

How about you?  How have you learned to trust in the power of your words?

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I'm still experimenting with the best format for my audio writing tips. 

This one is through VoiceThread which is an application I love - very intuitive, easy to use and offers the potential for collaboration and conversation.  You do need to have an account with them to leave a comment (typed or audio) but it only takes a moment + e-mail address and a password.  You might just find yourself hooked if you do!

I've realised you can upload powerpoint slides to form the basis of the thread - and as I tend to use that format as the prompt for my podcasts I decided to experiment with matching them together so you get the visual and audio combined.  For me it's more effective as a medium... although I do appreciate these can't be downloaded in the way a podcast can.

Anyway, I'm going to keep on experimenting and see what works for me, for you, and for use in some e-courses I'm working on just now too... More on that to follow.

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

Feel The Fear And Podcast Anyway

This week's audio slot is given over to a podcasting and blogging first for me - my first interview!

It's with Sarah Rourke, also known as The Rat Race Escape Artist and - for the purpose of this interview - the Audio Pod Artist, helping you to get your voice into the head of your readers, your listeners, your clients.

We're talking about getting started with podcasting, some of the barriers I faced (technical, jargon) and how to get past them, plus the benefits of producing content in different formats (different people like different media and also learn in different ways).

I also share the two biggest stumbling blocks in starting to podcast (1) not liking the sound of your own voice and (2) plain simple fear... 

And the solution to both of them ("just do it!")

As I say in the interview it was made easier for me because I shared my first audio clip with a friendly and appreciative audience (that's all of you by the way).

Is podcasting on your to do list?  What do you think it would offer to your readers, students, clients?  What would help you to get started?  What's standing in your way?

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To listen to the interview just click on this link.  It takes you to an MP3 file but you don't need an MP3 player to listen to it.  You can play it from your computer - it'll open it up with whatever radio or audio player you have set up on your system.

If you're happy with MP3s you can of course download and play it whenever you're ready!  The interview is 15 minutes 48 seconds long.

You'll find the interview hosted at The Audio Pod Artist Show.

If you're looking for some help to get started with podcasting don't forget to check out Sarah's site at Audio Pod Artist.

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

Photo credit for the mic to mybloodyself on Flickr

5 Reasons To Take Care Of Your Words

This week's podcast is a contribution to the writing competition being run by Brad Shorr at Word Sell Inc.  The challenge is to write a post that's inspired by this cartoon:

Now I can see lots of different directions this could have taken me (and you if you decide to take part) but I'm blog-backlogged as usual so decided to combine it with this week's podcast, and looked for 5 things I could talk about in under 5 minutes.  The result was:

5 Reasons To Take Care Of Your Words

A quick reminder (4 mins 43 secs) of the reasons why our words make a difference, and why we need to take good care of them.  It's because our words:

• lead to actions in the real world - people act on them, respond, make decisions, feel differently
• can be read in many ways - but the responsibility lies with us, as the communicators, to explain what we mean (based on the principle that the meaning of the communication is the response you get)
• leave a mark - you can erase things, wipe a slate clean, but the words leave their impact (and on the internet they don't go away)
• have energy - which means we need to make choices about how we use our word power, to think about the kind of difference we want to make
• connect - it's easy to think words don't matter when there are so many words out there, but if we choose carefully we can add value with words written to connect, to thank, to praise, encourage, share,  teach, demonstrate friendship and support

What other reasons can you think of that mean we should take good care with our words?

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You can listen to the podcast by following this link or going to my gcast page.  You don't need to download to play it - if you click here the piece should start to play by itself (how quickly it starts will depend on the speed of your connection).

For more audio writing tips, check out the archive of Confident Writing podcasts.

Linked pieces:

The meaning of the communication is the response you get
Word power at work (plus podcast)
Choose your words with care

If you want to take part in the contest the floor is yours - as well as the chance to win an iPod nano!  But make sure you get your entries in by this Friday 7th March.

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

5 Ways To Write Through The Fog

Do you ever feel as though you're writing through fog - that the mists have come down and you just can't see where you're going?

I'm sure we've all felt like that sometimes, and this week's podcast (3mins 54) looks at thing we can do what that happens - when the mist comes down and we need to pick our way out of the fog.

It was inspired by a day of freezing fog in Edinburgh yesterday - and the realisation that although fog means reduced visibility, it also makes us more aware of other things, things that count in our writing too.  What I became aware of was:

Points of light: car headlights pointing the way, beams that cut through the gloom

Patterns: we see less of the detail, but more of the pattern, shape and outline

Movement: we tune into shifts and changes that signal movement - of people, cars, buses

Sounds: although fog is muffling we tune into sounds because we can see less - the sounds carry meaning

Breath: the thing I was most aware of was my own breath, and the breath of other people - a sign of warmth, of life, of our shared human experience

And the writing lessons and questions I took from this were:

Light: What's shining out at you from your words?  What's pointing the way for you, or your reader?  How could you add more light?

Patterns: When you step back from the detail what patterns can you see, what shapes and outlines emerge?

Movement: When you look at your writing what movement can you sense?  How could you get your words to move more?

Sounds: How does your writing sound to you?  Which words and phrases resonate?  Could you add more patterns and rhythm to create a stronger sound?

Breath: When you look at your writing - can you notice your own breath?  How do you know that's what it is?  How could you breathe more life into your writing?

Can you think of any others - things we become more aware of when the fog comes down?  Writing lessons and questions that we could apply to pick our way through the fog?

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You can listen to the podcast by following this link or going to my gcast page.

For more audio writing tips, check out the archive of Confident Writing podcasts.

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

5 Ways To Put Some Heart Into Your Business Writing

Can you see a place for more heart in your business writing?

It's okay, I haven't gone crazy. Although this week's podcast (3 mins 42 secs) is inspired by Valentine's Day and the inevitability of writing something with a heart-shaped theme, I'm not talking slushy fluffy writing here, throwing in a dose of sentimentality or even wearing your heart on your sleeve. 

I'm talking about things you can do in order to:

• Establish a powerful sense of connection
• Create rapport with your readers (employees, colleagues, peers, managers, customers, clients)
• Make your experience of writing at work more enjoyable

I've come up with 5 H.E.A.R.T. shaped ways you can warm up your writing by being:

Human Write as a human being, not a manager, business owner or employee - it'll help you to soften your writing, make you sound more approachable and engaging

Everyday Try and find the plainest, most everyday words for the thing that you're writing about.  It'll help you to connect to the widest number of people - and make you a real master of your subject (most people don't ever bother to do this)

Attentive Focus on the point of the particular piece of writing you're doing.  In an information overloaded world it's easy to be slapdash - but worth spending the time getting clear on who you're writing for and why.  Think about what your readers want to know, what difference your words can make

Real Look for ways to ground your business-speak -in your own experience, in the specifics of what needs to be said and done, in ordinary language that will connect, easily, with your reader

True We can write from a powerful place when we write what we know, believe, feel to be true.  It's easy then for our words to be heart-felt.  If you're noticing a gap between what you're writing and what you hold as true - you'll feel it, you'll be uncomfortable writing at work, and your words won't ring true.  Look to see how you can align what you're writing with your personal and business values, the purpose and intention that drives and supports your work

Do you think there's a place for heart in business writing?  Do you have any tips and suggestions for ways to make it so?

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You can listen to the podcast by following this link or going to my gcast page.

Related posts:

Word Power At Work: Fighting The Zombies (+podcast)

Create A Connection At Work: Writing With 'Ohana

+ an archive of business writing tips to explore

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Business Writing With Confidence: 6 week e-course with coaching and writing tips to help you write with authenticity, brevity, clarity and confidence at work.  Find out more here

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

A Pancake Maker's Guide To Writing Well

I'm always on the look out for different ways to think about writing, new sources of inspiration for the writing process.

I've had some fun with cooking analogies in the past and as yesterday was Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday, (I believe it's also called Fat Tuesday some places?) I thought I'd have a look for any writing lessons we could learn from the makers of pancakes.

Now one thing I found was that there are lots of different sorts of pancakes... and lots of different advice on the best way to make them.  I'm not going enter into correspondence on the pros and cons of pancake making techniques... but I will share the writing lessons I got from my search.

This week's podcast (3 minutes 10 seconds) covers

5 writing lessons we can learn from making pancakes

# 1 Don't make it from a packet: use your own ingredients, plain simple store cupboard ingredients work best - plain English, everyday words, your experience and outlook

#2 Don't over mix it: apparently this can make your batter go lumpy :-( We can over mix our writing too, trying too hard to get it right - sometimes we need to let things go to get it written, to tap into our natural patterns of words and phrases

# 3 Rest your batter: a good 15 minutes is recommended... words sometimes need a little bit longer, time for ideas to settle so you can see the pattern and structure that holds them together; time to loosen up any writing blocks; time to sleep on it and check your writing means what you meant to say

# 4 Lots of practice: I found this mentioned in lots of places - don't expect to get it right first time.  And writing, like pancake making, improves with practice

# 5 The sacrificial pancake: this was my favourite tip!  Apparently the first pancake in a batch never works, but you use it to get the pan to just the right temperature.  Maybe some of our writing is like that too - a necessary warm up act, and we shouldn't expect to get it perfect first time round

So there we are... Strange as it might seem, I can find writing lessons anywhere!

If you've any ideas you'd like me to cover in a future podcast, or any strange analogies you'd like me to try and stretch, just let me know.  The format is 5 writing tips in less than 5 minutes.  Beyond that I'm open to suggestions...

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You can listen to the podcast by clicking the play button on the radio box, following this link or going to my gcast page. For more audio writing tips, check out the archive of Confident Writing podcasts.

For more food and cooking inspired writing tips...

A Haggis Maker's Guide To Writing Well (+podcast)

The Plum Chutney Guide To Writing A Blog Post

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Are you looking for some writing inspiration of your own?  I'm offering readers of Confident Writing  a 10% discount on my writing critiques and writing mentoring programmes during February.  Contact me if you're interested.

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

5 Things You Can Do With The Words You Didn't Use

It's nearly the end of January which means this month's theme of 'writing with impact' is drawing to a close.  Once again I'm left with links, ideas, half-written drafts and scribbles of posts that I won't get round to using.  (I know this might be hard to credit, but there is even more unwritten than the stuff I publish here!)

Anyway this got me thinking about what happens to the words, the ideas, the headlines, the paragraphs, the half-written (or half-baked) bits of prose that are always left over - at the end of a post, an article, a newsletter, a speech, a book.  Especially if we're going to deliver on the commitment to writing with less flab and more impact...

So this week's podcast (4 mins 10 secs) looks at 5 things you can do with the words you don't get round to using.

1. Let them go: a reminder to think of the container for our words...and watch we don't cause an overflow.  We need to sift, sort and cut, to prioritise and let things go.  Easier when you know you can...

2. Store them:  in a digital world it's easy to clip and save, to store links, references, sources of inspiration ready to use another time.  If you're worried you'll forget them try the next point which is...

3. Trust: your unconscious mind, writing brain, muse, creative source (whatever you call it).  Trust that it will remind you when the time has come to re-find that word, idea or source material.

4. Say thanks: it's linked to trust.  I try to be grateful for having too much (better than not enough).  Saying thanks is partly thanks for the suggestion, and partly thanks (in advance) for helping me find it again when it's needed

5. Smile:  I read, listen to and smile at my words, my thoughts, my wildest ideas before I let them go.  Some I'll be keeping, some will be gone, but there's a smile of recognition as I cut, as I hear what I was trying to say

Of course the editing process doesn't just leave digital cuttings, there's scraps of paper galore that I need to get rid of too.  We've moved on from the waste paper basket (Singer's 'writer's best friend') to the recycling box - and in some way that I don't yet understand I trust that the words, the ideas, the thoughts, like the paper, will be reused.  Will turn into something else when the time is right and the words are ready.

What do you do with the words you don't use?  Do you have a favourite store - physical, digital, or the store-house of your mind?

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You can listen to the podcast by following this link or going to my gcast page. For more audio writing tips, check out the archive of Confident Writing podcasts.

For more on writing and containers try When To Stop Pouring

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

A haggis maker's guide to writing well

We're fast approach Burns Night (with something extra special in store for you here) which means that thoughts of haggis are in the air. 

Now I know that haggis isn't everyone's cup of tea (and as a vegetarian that's me too, though the veggie version is pretty tasty). 

And I know that we still can't export the real thing to the US (sorry Robert!). 

But the haggis is an iconic Scottish dish, a product that's lasted through the centuries, and has, of course, inspired a poem by the national bard.

This week's podcast is a Burns Night special, looking at the 5 writing lessons that we can learn from the makers of haggis.

A haggis makers's guide to writing well (3 minutes 2 seconds) explores what we can learn from a product that's:

All wrapped up: haggis is famous for what it's wrapped up in.  That's what makes it the product it is.  Getting clear on the container, the frame for our writing can help us too - to get clear on our point, to put the right amount in (but not to over-stuff it)

Bursting out: when the knife goes into the haggis the insides burst out.  This is a great way to make an instant impact!  What happens when your readers open up your work - do your words burst out and grab their attention?

Made of plain ingredients: okay, we might prefer not to know precisely what goes into the haggis, but it's plain honest ingredients (and that's what inspired the poem).  The same applies to writing - use plain, simple words, the stuff of everyday life - and don't forget to add the heart!

Spiced up: it wouldn't be haggis without the pepper and spice.  Writing can become boring if it's too bland - we can spice it up with the right choice of words, cutting out the waffle, using patterns and rhythm for effect

Made to a secret recipe: each haggis maker has their own unique blend.  The same is true with our writing - no two styles are the same.  We're all writing from a different place - experience, values, perspectives, purpose - which means we all have our own secret recipe for writing well

If you're a connoisseur of haggis - what else would you add to this list?

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If you'd like to know more about the haggis, follow these links for:

Haggis - all you ever wanted to know
The chance to listen to Burns' Address to a Haggis

Credits for 'locally caught haggis' photo to Taylor Dundee

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You can listen to the podcast by following this link or going to my gcast page. For more audio writing tips, check out the archive of Confident Writing podcasts.

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count

5 ways to beat the fear of hitting "send"

I've been blogging away about how to make more of an impact with our writing - when it struck me that there are times when we don't want to make an impact. When we're fearful of the impact that we'll make.  When writing to make an impact is the last thing we want to do.

This isn't writer's block as such because it's a fear that strikes when the words are already written, are all ready to send.  It's the fear of publishing.  In the digital world it's the fear of hitting "send".

This week's podcast (4 mins 49 secs) looks at what happens when those fears and anxieties strike - and ways that we can shift our focus to get unstuck again.

5 ways to beat the fear of hitting "send"

Shift your focus away from your words, away from your fears, away from all the worst things you can imagine happening.  Focus instead on:

• Your positive intention: the positive reasons why you're writing, the difference you're trying to make

• The value you're adding: take a look at the resources you're sharing, the arguments you're making, the benefits you're offering. (And if they're not clear - go back and edit till they are.  It's better for your reader - and more motivating for you.)

• The reasons why: stop for a moment and think about why you're writing. To deliver on a commitment, to move some business along, to express an idea?  Think about what would happen if you ducked out and decided not to send.

• Just one reader: you'll drive yourself crazy imagining the reactions of all possible readers.  Focus on just one - what they need to hear, how they'll benefit from what you've got to say

• What happens next: focus on the benefits of hitting "send" - the conversations you can open up, the business you can move forward (not to mention the sense of relief you'll feel once you've got this bit of writing out of the way!)

This fear of hitting "send" has happened to me on more times that I care to mention - sending off e-mails at work, publishing a blog post for the first time, issuing new pr materials, signing off the final drafts of my book...

These shifts in focus were the things that helped me through - that and running away from my desk after I hit the "send" button! It often seems easier to come back to after you've been away from your desk for a while :-)

Does this ever happen to you?  And if so, how do you get past it?

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You can listen to the podcast by following this link or going to my gcast page. For more audio writing tips, check out the archive of Confident Writing podcasts.

Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count