How to write right

I cannot guarantee you’ll fall in love with me but I can promise you the best home-brewed beetroot wine you’ll have ever tasted.

I teach people to become better at communicating and so I love it when I come across real life examples of communication that hit the spot.

This week, two pieces of writing made me stop in my tracks.

One is about love, and another is about the life of perhaps the most fascinating person you’ve never heard of.

Looking for Love

The first piece of writing is from a book about “sales.” A book about selling yourself – quite literally, as it’s from the personal ads.

If you want to tighten your writing skills, I highly recommend reading this book.

In the space of a single sentence or a crisp paragraph that I imagine has been agonisingly crafted, edited and polished, this book is a collection of personal ads in the London Review of Books.

The book is called “Sexually, I’m more of a Switzerland.“

The ads are often laugh out loud, playful with language and they get to the point.

And so they contain three really important features of writing: they entertain, they make people think and they’re clear and straightforward.

Here are some of my favourites:

I am the only valid reason to visit St Albans. Ambidextrous psychiatrist and amateur fire-eater. Female, 37.

I’m still Jenny from the block. Which is odd because yesterday I was Keith from the allotment. Keith from the allotment, 49. You can call me Jenny.

I cannot guarantee you’ll fall in love with me but I can promise you the best home-brewed beetroot wine you’ll have ever tasted. Man, 41.

To further sharpen your writing skills try this short, fun exercise.

A Life Lived Well

The third piece of writing I think is brilliant is from The Economist magazine. It’s their regular feature on the back page, the obituary.

One obituary that stands out for me is of Italian, Emma Morano, who was the oldest person in the world at 117.

Emma’s obituary makes for fascinating reading, learning about the ups and downs of someone who was born before the birth of the aeroplane and the television and includes little details like what she had for breakfast each day – two raw eggs scooped up with biscotti from a bowl.

This kind of writing is great for those who need to write reports.

Why? Because it shows how you can distil a lot of information into a small amount of space.

In Emma’s case, 117 years into 1000 words – which is quite a tall order.

So, it’s a great exercise in seeing how a writer condenses lots of information: which is what you have to do when you write reports.

And if you’re like most folk when you get down to doing the report it’s likely that you’ll run out of time long before you run out of words and so you’ll want to find ways to use your words more economically – no pun intended.

Furthermore, reading this quality of writing from the likes of The Economist can make you a better writer, as the quality of what you read filters through and affects the quality of your own writing.

So, whilst it might seem odd to read an obituary in your well-earned break, not only will it tell you the fascinating story of someone’s life, it will sharpen your own writing skills.

Lonely hearts columns, the jobs page and the obituary section of your local paper: all the stuff of life.

As you go about your day today have a closer look at the kind of writing you’re met with and how it uses words to engage with you.

I’d love to hear what you come across that connects with you.