Making a statement involves taking the measure of a situation and then finding a way to make the message reach the audience in a significant way. You have to concentrate on exactly what you want your audience to get out of what you are saying. The rest of the world goes on all around you, and there you are, glued to the keyboard, the canvas, or whatever medium you are using in the moment.
Let's say it's writing. You have a mission, a vision, a point you want to make. It's right there, sitting on your shoulder, talking to you, telling you what to say. Quick before it gets away, you hammer away at the keyboard, oblivious to your body, your surroundings, the people around you.
No distraction is important enough to sway you from the course, and you keep plowing on until you get it just right. That's when you really get the message down in a torrent of words, and you know what you put together works.
How did you get there? In order for all of this to happen, you have to have a method. It doesn't just pop in as a coincidence of some sort. You prepare your message, you think about it. And you practice. Like all skills, writing imporves the more you do it.
What makes it good writing? Three things:
A clear message with a purpose
Connection with the reader
A method of delivering the message that suits both of these.
And then from this framework, you craft a piece of writing that goes right to the heart of the matter, and keeps your audience with you, listening to you.
The art of writing is also a science. When I was in school, I studied advanced rhetoric and composition with a fierce protector of clear thinking and of the English language. She taught us the arts of crafting messages that are sound, of creating positions that are worth defending, and how to defend them. She taught the highest principles of integrity for the use of language and for life. To this day, Mrs. Shelby's mentoring defines my way of looking at language...with reverence. Now, I use those same principles in my daily work, and every day I see more value in them, more ways to use them.
I write for businesses, and I teach business writing. Everything I write has been set up by the tools I learned over years, so that when I get into the "zone', I know how to make those tools work for me and for my clients. I get great enjoyment out of knowing that what I provide is making life easier for business owners. When I work with a business owner, I listen to what their business does, who it serves, and what solutions they provide, and work to put the messages I create into a coherent flow that is consistent and shows the integrity of the business. It saves time for the business, so that the business owner can take care of business.
It's all about getting to the point.
By an entrepreneur, for entrepreneurs.
Have a look at what I do by visiting www.thewriterslaunchpad.com
Always,
Betty
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