How Not To Write Like an Expert

If you want people to take you seriously, you need to sound like an expert, right? 

The internet is littered with advice on how to write like an authority in your field, but you might want to add a pinch of salt to it all.

It’s not that you shouldn’t sound like you know what you’re talking about. The problem lies in the way many of us think an expert ought to sound. 

To live up to the weight of the word, we make choices we would never make in normal conversation. We douse our readers with information, say everything in the passive tense, or write in a superior, distant tone. ‘Verbification’, oversized paragraphs, and using words that are way too short or way too long are the other main hallmarks of expert writing gone wrong.

None of this helps us convey knowledge or authority; it just builds up walls between us and the people we’re trying to reach. Here’s how to share your expertise – without letting it get in the way of your message.

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How To Self-Assess Your Writing and Why It Is Important

I’ve been writing for three decades, having published more than a dozen novels—one of them traditionally (and that was more than enough for me). I’ve also spent more than 10 years studying and teaching literature at a university level, including getting a PhD in English. Still, it took me all this time and more to figure out something both intriguing and essential to know: Nobody can gauge my own writing but myself.

People can have ideas or opinions, and they can even be good ideas or informed opinions. Very often, when a knowledgeable person with writing experience offers you a piece of advice about your writing, it’s actually a rather accurate assessment.

But that doesn’t necessarily make it true; not until the final authority on the matter—the author of the work—decides so. That’s why they call it… author-ity (yeah, stand-up comedy is not for me; got it).

In the end, writing is a fundamentally solitary endeavor. True, there can be other people involved—advisers, supervisors, editors—but the core of the work is made by one person, the author.

That’s you!

As a result, you are the only one entitled to say whether you’re getting better, in which areas of your writing you’re improving, and by how much. So, it’s worth learning how to do it in a way that serves you and does your writing justice. That’s precisely what I’ll be sharing with you in this post, hopefully inspiring you to look at your career with new eyes.

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5 Simple Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Writing Productivity

Have you noticed a recent drop in your productivity as a writer and can’t figure out why?

Or maybe you need to create more content so you can earn more but you’re finding it difficult?

Then, this post is for you.

Whether you’re a professional writer who writes for a living or an entrepreneur who does all the writing for your business, the quality and quantity of your writing will have—to a large extent—an effect on the amount of money you make and the level of business success you enjoy.

So, it’s in your best interest to keep your writing productivity as high as possible while creating top-quality content, so you can achieve your business goals faster and keep smiling to the bank.

However, you may be unknowingly making some mistakes that lower your writing productivity a little at a time. Sometimes, these unconscious writing mistakes can also make it tough for you to boost your writing productivity even when you desire to do so.

Ready to find out more about these limiting mistakes?

Continue reading and you will discover five writing mistakes that can not only hurt your writing productivity but also your income and your business.

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How To Overcome Self Doubt and Build Self-efficacy in Your Writing

We’ve all been there. That paralysing thought that we’re not good enough. It can be fearful and crippling all at the same time. I don’t know about you, but I love reading self-help books or biographies where the author admits to their own failings and mistakes. It makes me feel “normal.” 

Occasionally, there are those books where the author never seems to stumble, never falls short of their goals, and this seems so far removed from reality that it’s hard to really believe in their story. There may be some perfect human beings out there—but I doubt it.

So, what is writers’ self-doubt? 

It can be a combination of our fears, getting stuck in the comparison trap, or a lack of self-confidence. It’s our inner critic that whispers in our ears, “you’re not good enough,” “your writing isn’t worthy of being published.”

These feelings are normal. And the hard truth is that self-doubt will never completely go away—sorry. 

As writers, when we refer to self-doubt, we also need to consider the counterbalance to doubt: the concept of self-efficacy. Bruning et al., describe self-efficacy as the confidence we possess to perform consistently. It’s a willingness to engage and persist in the process of writing even when we are confronted with difficulties or distractions.

The act of writing takes effort and reflects our own unique writing experiences. These experiences can range from self-judgement about our success on tasks to feelings of anxiety and frustration.

As humans, we will never be perfect, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep on learning, growing wiser, and taking action, even when we don’t feel like it or don’t believe we can.

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