TheWritersBag.com

1. Be consistent with your purpose.

Accomplishing your purpose – the reason you are writing your e-mail – is your #1 task. Try to do it clearly and concisely.

2. Be consistent with your organization’s image.

If you’re working for a bank, don’t sound like a loan shark. At the very least, you’ll offend people. If you’re a loan shark, don’t sound like a bank officer. No one will pay attention.

3. Be concise but not “short.”

There is a fine line between writing short and being short. It’s easy to make people think you’re mad at them when writing quick, short e-mails. If necessary, add a few words to strike a congenial note.

4. Don’t write anything you wouldn’t want to have posted on a bulletin board.

Remember, e-mails are not private. Don’t get yourself in trouble. Any e-mail you send can be distributed widely with a few keystrokes.

5. It’s not about how you mean it – it’s about how a specific reader will take it.

Know your audience and write accordingly. How will the particular reader perceive the tone of your message?

6. When in doubt, read it out loud.

Your ear can catch subtleties your eye might miss.

In my early 20s I dated a beautiful young woman whose father was a Basque. We went to a restaurant one night with her married sister and her husband. A minor argument arose and my date would not budge from her position, even though it was fairly apparent that she was wrong.

After her display of stubbornness, her brother-in-law took me aside and said, “Listen, Steve, you must understand, Basque blood runs through these women’s veins, and the Basques were at war for many generations straight. The long war was terrible and the children of weak Basques were never born.”

The same applies to the projects of weak writers: they are never born.

Writers have to have the strength of discipline to finish their projects. They have to be tough. They have to be strong. Writers are one click away from a world of diversion on the Internet. If they work at home, they are a few steps away from the seduction of a television, a bed or a kitchen.

It takes discipline to start writing and keep writing.

Those who aren’t real writers may not believe this. “After all,” they think, “what could be so hard about sitting at a desk tapping on a keyboard or writing in a notebook? How could that take discipline?”

That kind of response betrays the fact that they have never seriously written. All true writers know that writing is a wonderful thing, but doing it well is more difficult than breaking rocks – that is, until you get in “the zone” or in “the glory” and it seems to be flowing through you. But getting to that point is brutal and demands the discipline of a Prussian drillmaster.

The most difficult part of writing is starting. When you start, you’re cold. Going from cold to warm and hopefully to hot is a grueling process. It takes discipline to sit there and not get up and not click away from your project and not start thinking of something else.

The solution?

There is no easy solution. The fact is, there’s no way around – only through. You have to plug yourself in and keep writing until you warm up. And every time you are interrupted, you have to start the process again. If you do, your muse will come to you because you have proven you are worthy of her presence – not because of your talent, but because you had the discipline to get started and keep going … again and again.

Which of the following two statements is more readable?

1. Mayor Bills said it was too late to put a halt to the downtown renovation project, even though the majority of the city’s citizens have expressed their desire to leave the downtown the way it is. He explained that the plans have been completed, the funds have been allocated and the contracts have been signed. For these reasons, he believes the city must push ahead with the project.
2. “There’s absolutely no way we can stop the downtown renovation project now,” said Mayor Bills. “I know most people here want to keep things the way they are, but we’re too far down the road with the project to turn back. The plans are finished. The money’s been set aside and we’ve signed all the contracts. We have no choice. We have to push ahead!”

If you think the second paragraph is easier to read and more interesting than the first, you’re in good company. But why? The same basic messages were conveyed in both.

The difference is the quote.

Quotes liven things up – especially when you’re writing a report, press release or other project that requires a formal writing style. By letting others say it for you in quotes, you can break away from the stiff style the format demands without getting your hands slapped.

Also, it’s often easier to convey information and especially feelings with quotes than with straight writing.

One word of caution: Be very careful not to misrepresent people by “doctoring” their quotes. At the same time, it is very common to clean up quoted statements for the written page. People typically ramble around, stumble and take dead ends when they talk. Keep the meaning, but don’t repeat those meanderings verbatim. The following quote would embarrass the source and bog down your written piece:

“Well, I think … ah … there’s really … absolutely no way – no way at all – to … umm … stop the downtown renovation project now, you know,” said Mayor Bills. “I mean, I know most people here want to … well … want to sort of keep things the way they are, you know …”

You get the point. Use quotes, but use them intelligently. Clean them up when appropriate, but never change the intended meaning.