As I progress in my education and subsequent jobs and activities, I’ve found that I only get busier. While I have become more adept to managing my time, I’ve realized that one area where I’m lacking is paying close attention to detail.
In our fast-paced world today, it seems that we are more often apt to lean toward quantity over quality. To-do lists get longer and longer by the minute and with texting and social media it is nearly impossible to escape from work, school or any other commitment we have. We are now reachable 24 hours a day, and while this may have its advantages, it tempts us to work around the clock.
After failing to catch some basic editing errors in some of my recent work, I got a major wake-up call: I need to slow down.
It is not uncommon for me to have to pump out a story for the Web or a press release in a relatively small amount of time, but sometimes the pressure of deadlines makes us forget to take the time to really get back to the basics, that is the target audience, key messages and readability.
Having said all this, I’ve come up with some tips for writing well—ones that I will work on following consistently and hopefully they will help you out as well!
- Slow down. Don’t write in a rush—it will only end poorly.
- Step away from the computer. Leave your work, literally walk away from the computer and take a break before you do a final edit.
- Get a little help from your friends. Ask someone else to read over your work. You may know what you mean, but does it make sense to the general public?
- Use your AP Stylebook. There are stylistic things such as states and addresses that I cannot seem to remember offhand, so it is important to keep your stylebook by your side at all times.
I'd love to hear some of your best practices for writing!
