Wanna Write Like A Pro?

Hi! Today, I thought sharing a few tips on how to bring out the best in you as a writer might help. Last time I shared a few ideas on how to get more traffic and many people liked it. As an aspiring writer, I have come to realize that the question of writing what people want to read has always gone unanswered. Have you ever wished you wrote your articles, columns, books etc better? I know you have. Let us crack this shell. I will jump straight to the points.

• After reading so many articles on news sites, I felt like around the corner somewhere, somebody had to say something about the shortcomings of the writers of the same. One thing you need to do before jumping onto your keyboard to write anything is your subject. Answering the ‘what am I going to write about?’ question will help you exhaust the depths of the topic. Make short notes, think through each key point and make sure that important arguments come first.
• After mastering your concept, you are now ready to type something – but anyone can type right? The point is this: to avoid embarrassing yourself in the face of the world, plan out which paragraphs will come first. In high school, my English teacher told me that every story should have a beginning, a middle and an ending. So, what goes to the beginning of the story? Some people jump the rope quite often, spilling all the secrets in the first paragraph. That is not good.
• In my English 102, my professor told me that I needed to introduce the readers into what is awaiting them. Doing so need care because the risk of breaking the rule is high. Using a theses statement helps to motivate the readers just enough by preparing their minds for more details later down the road. If you are writing about a recent rise in texting and driving related accidents in your local town, you don’t jump straight to last week’s incident(you might be tempted to do this thinking it will make readers hooked).
• Assuming you have successfully hooked your readers with a great theses statement, to make it even more interesting, argue your points one by one without forgetting evidence or proof. Many people like works that have backup and of course they have to be realistic and non-exaggerated. All you are doing here is building the main body of your writing, so, make sure that everything you write flow smoothly and use connecting phrases between points and paragraphs.
• Depending on how long your work is, make sure you avoid repetitions and any form of poor grammar. Now, say that you have finished writing out your big points and you are taking a short break, where do you go next? Since you wrote out your arguments before the break, you need to offer some viable solutions to the problems for instance caused by texting and driving. Obviously, not all types of writing have this sort of format. Regardless, remember to give proposals that are reasonable. Each problem will have one or more possible solutions in its own paragraph.
• Almost done! You have written your arguments out, you have offered your thoughtful suggestions and now you are almost ready to close your document window. So what? Here is my take: according to my professor and as I have come to learn all these years, you need a conclusion. Make it simple and clear. Do not start writing the whole story all over again. Do not use the same words, just rephrase what your theses statement says – just remember to be clever enough not to look stupid. Ooops! You are done. Good job.

One good thing about using a template (software developers might agree with me here) is that regardless of the story you are working on, the structure will almost certainly remain the same. What you are doing is implementing it. Are you working on a book? Follow the same steps and of course add more great stuff. Are you working on column? What about a letter to your congressman or woman? All you are trying to do is to bring out the best, passing the correct information to whoever is reading your article and in the end, reducing the number of badly written stories out there. Simply, give substance to your work!

Finally, sometimes being too careful might hurt you. Often being careless will definitely hurt you. The best you can do is write an article people will thirst for more. How do you know if your work is the best? When someone reads the first chapter and they can’t wait to reach the second one and then the third one and till the end. That is enough for now. Hope you get something good from all these paragraphs I have written. If you have questions, let me know through the comments section or the contact page.

Thank you for reading. Please remember to subscribe through the home page of my blog. See you soon.

Texting & Driving or A Suicide Mission?

First off, I want to believe that there are some things that we as humans can easily forget and then there are those that come back into view every time something happens. The last time two fire trucks and more than ten police vehicles were called for me was in late 2009 on highway 9 at around six in the evening! I remember it very vividly. Something really horrible had happened!

I had just left college that sunset and headed to work. Since that part of town had a small traffic load, the department of transportation decided to build a 2 – lane highway, each facing the opposite direction! Less than a mile on my gas paddle was a gas station to my left and some drivers made turns to refill their tanks. That is exactly what the third commuter ahead of me did and so he slowed all of us down.

What happened next was terrible. I hate remembering it sometimes. As we slowed down to wait for the opposing traffic to ease for that driver to make his left turn, one driver behind me didn’t slow down. Within a twinkle of an eye, I found myself facing almost the opposite of where I was headed. My car had been forced airborne by a hit from behind. I have to say I was fortunate enough not to hit any opposing traffic which would have caused a chain reaction. Well.

Where was the hitter? Good question. She was forced by the reaction to slide all the way southwards and towards the railway line. I didn’t even think of the possible outcome if a train was passing by. I was horrified. So, the guy right in front of me quickly pulled over and dialed 911 (the number you call when you have emergencies here in the US). After that, I stepped out of my seriously damaged car to go and check on the other driver who couldn’t talk or open her eyes. I was scared that she might have died or something. Luckily, she was not dead – after the paramedics performed CPR on her. (They didn’t raise her from the dead, don’t get me wrong here).

Why am I telling all these? Simple, before you plunge into someone’s rear, make sure you are not texting and driving. Let it be the breaks that malfunction or just something technical. We can solve this problem by starting with ourselves. The next time I saw that lady was in a traffic court. I didn’t even get a chance to ask her one simple question: “Did you know that you could have unintentionally killed me?” I feel like texting and driving is the most dangerous thing today but it can be stopped! Let us not let the government do it for us, let us be our own police! Let us be the change we wish to have!

Finally, thank you so much for reading my blog. Please remember to subscribe! Stay safe, whether you walk on the side of the road or you sit behind the wheel of a car or a bike. Just because you are a careful driver does not mean everyone else is. Life is too short to waste time regretting that one moment when you hit an innocent driver, killing all the passengers in the car or even killing yourself (in this case you won’t be there to attend your funeral).

NB: For my readers out there, here is something I do not want you to miss: On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I will be giving away MY LIFE SENTENCES – A TRUE STORY on amazon for FREE. Let us make this dream of being #1 on Amazon come true. Thank You So Much! Stay safe!