Easy Guide to Becoming a Better Writer

Practice writing every day

A good target is to produce 500 words of original writing a day. The more you practice, the easier writing becomes and the more your style will evolve. If you're stuck for something to write about, you could write about your own life as if it you were penning an auto-biography, assuming you're an adult, you already have a lifetime's worth of material to draw upon. You could also review an album or film you've recently heard or seen, write instructions or advice, describe the room you're in, you could even just write down every thought that comes into your head in a stream of consciousness style. If you do this every day you will soon build up a body of writing that you can develop and use to monitor your progression.

Be able to critique your writing

No matter how personal or impersonal your writing may be, you need to be able to asses it from an objective viewpoint. This means you must detach yourself from the content of the material and look at it from a purely critical viewpoint. You have to be honest with yourself. You should be constantly striving to improve, don't just think you're as good now as you're ever going to get: practice makes perfect.

After you've completed a first draft, have a good, detailed read through. Which aspects of the piece work? Why are they effective? Is there any text that could be omitted without affecting the main article? Is the piece engaging? What kind of audience would it appeal to? These are just some of the questions you should be asking yourself when assessing your writing. Remember the key phrase: writing is re-writing.

Work on your weaknesses

It's easier to neglect the weaker points of your writing and only write to your strengths. You may be a good all-rounder but if there's one aspect of writing that you don't feel completely confident in, you should work on it until it becomes an asset rather than a hindrance. For instance, I have always had trouble with spelling and grammar so I'm constantly working on these areas through practice and repetition. If you have a weakness in your writing, however small or large, work on it consistently until it becomes a strength; this will do wonders for your confidence and ability.

Read every day

Reading brings a wealth of benefits to your writing such as helping you understand grammar and improving your vocabulary. Make sure you don't limit yourself to one medium; read books, websites, magazines, leaflets, newsletters - anything you can get your hands on. Keep a dictionary to hand and make sure you look up any unfamiliar words you come across, don't skip them as they're bound to crop up again sooner or later!

You need to regularly change the materials you read to keep challenging yourself and expanding your mind. For instance, reading about music you wouldn't normally listen to or reading articles relating to a different political ideology from your own will not only give you empathy with other people's viewpoints, it will also vastly improve your general knowledge.

Join a writing class

Look on the internet or in the paper for local writing classes to attend. An effective way to improve your writing is to put yourself in the company of other writers. You will learn so much from just listening to and reading the work of other writers and you'll get the added bonus of new friends and contacts too. Putting your work out into an open forum can be daunting, but this is a necessary process for any writer as you need to learn to accept feedback and criticism from others. Joining a class can be a great way to learn a new aspect of writing. For instance, I joined a scriptwriting course consisting of six weeks of two hour sessions and the experience was invaluable. In just that short amount of time I learned how to write a professional script and wrote a 15 minute short film, thus expanding my writing knowledge and portfolio simultaneously.

Download and listen to writing related podcasts

Podcasts are a great way to absorb information whilst you're engaged in a mundane activity or as a replacement for listening to the radio. I highly recommend Grammar Girl and Awesome Vocabulary, which are two succinct and very helpful podcasts. You can download them either directly from the source websites or via I-Tunes.

That's it! I hope you find something of value within this article and please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries or feedback.