About a decade ago when I started working as a freelance writer, I came across a little nugget of advice online pertaining to the effectiveness of people’s writing. It was on a blog I had randomly found one day, written by a fellow freelancer and in it, she said that all writers should write how they talk. Write as if you’re having a conversation with someone.
I never forgot that advice and I use it every single time I sit down to write for Super Veebs. The whole point of this blog is for me to come here, sit down and tell you all about the stuff I currently have on my mind. Whether that’s good stuff, bad stuff or random stuff, I tell you about it as if I’m talking to you from across a tiny bistro table at a local coffee shop.
I want the words I write to float off the page and into your head seamlessly, without a stutter or stumble. If I feel like swearing, I’ll swear (and I do). If I feel like pausing, I do that too (in the form of “…”). If I feel like crying while I write, trust me, you’ll be able to sense my pain just by reading what I’ve recorded on the page.
My words are my feelings and my feelings matter.
Everyone’s feelings matter and that’s why I strive to write truthfully and realistically. Again, we’re having a conversation here, a real back-and-forth dialogue and I like that. I value this time we spend together. God knows it’s the only kind of socializing I’ve been able to do for nine months now (hello, pandemic).
How do you write? What are some of the writing rules you like to keep in mind when you’re putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys)?
