Where to Start

No surprise, we write a lot of articles on Craft Your Content. Usually about writing, editing, and crafting your content.

If you haven’t gotten a chance to dig through our articles yet, we wanted to make it nice and easy for you to find what you are looking for.

Here are some of our most popular posts (and some of our personal favorites that don’t get the love they deserve) broken out into five simple categories.

1. On Writing

• Grammar: Why Writing By The Rules Is Killing You – Famous writers who broke the rules of Grammar may or may not have been aware that ignoring a particular Grammar rule would make their writing better. Sometimes, it’s just that easy.
• How NOT to Motivate Yourself To Write – There are lots of ways to find writing motivation. But what about finding ways to NOT motivate yourself to write? Does it make you want to write more? Or…
• How To Be Creative Using Daily Writing Routines – Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey teaches us how “working habits influence the work itself,” and how to put aside time each day to do what you do best.
• The Science Behind What Writing Does to Your Brain – Ever wonder what goes on in that head of yours while you’re writing? The technology is out there, and here is what it tells us about your brain.

2. On Editing

• The Editor’s Creed – Worked with a bad editor before? Did they strip your words to make them perfect? Not all editors do that. Many adhere to The Editor’s Creed. If you are going to work with someone, make sure they do as well.
• What I’ve Learned About My Writing While Working with an Editor – What one freelance writer learned after having the Craft Your Content team edit her writing for a few months.
• How to Edit a Friend’s Writing – Are you willing to edit a friend’s writing for them? Here are some tips for challenges and joys you may face.
• Why Does It Take So Damn Long for My Editor to Edit My Article? – Why does it take so damn long for her to edit your article? Surely it doesn’t take several hours, let alone a few days, to catch a few typos.

3. On Creativity and Process

• Ira Glass on Storytelling – Ira Glass, the voice and mind behind the This American Life radio show & podcast, is often asked about his creative process. In an interview he did for On Storytelling, he explains what NO ONE tells beginners.
• Surviving Your Creative Hangover – This is about a totally different type of hangover that afflicts the artists and entrepreneurs of the world. With rough results.
• Don’t Read Books, Read Authors – Though there are humans writing everything you read, that personal connection can be much more tenuous in the age of information overload. So what do we do?
• How Can Boredom Make You More Blissfully Creative? – There are going to be periods of boredom — sometimes intense boredom. Sitting alone with one’s thoughts is a challenge in modern creative life.

4. On The Business of Writing & Publishing

• Lessons Learned From The New York Times Modern Love Column Submission Tips – Top advice from editor Daniel Jones on how to write your New York Times Modern Love column in a way that gets noticed and gets you published. (Relevant if you want to pitch any major publication on any topic — the advice is about Modern Love but applies elsewhere)
• What Would It Look Like If I Started Replying to Queries and Pitches With GIFs? – It’s sometimes difficult for an editor to relay a rejection in a way that resonates with a writer. So we decided to let GIFs do the talking for us.
• The Best Proofreading Services You Can Find Online – The Good, the Bad, and the WTAF – Not all of us can afford an editorial team. Fortunately, there are several affordably-priced, online proofreading services that you can take advantage of.

5. On The History Behind Words

• A Word Journal May Be the Best-Kept Secret Weapon in Your Vocabulary Arsenal – By the time you get to the end of this post, you will have a word journal system for finding your favorite words and researching their etymologies. This is gonna get geeky!
• Learn Technique from a Greek: Where Modes of Persuasion Meet Content Creation – Rhetoric – the forgotten art of persuasion. If you’ve buried the lessons learned in  college English, it’s time to resurrect them. For content creation!
• SEO Started in the 12th Century: Bet You Didn’t Know That – The evolution of language is fascinating, but some things haven’t changed. You can find SEO strategies in some of the most ancient printed text.

Photo credit: sorokopud