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Viney Kumar
Viney Kumar

Posted on

Improving writing skills

I have been in the workforce for almost 5 years and I have trouble writing concise, to-the-point emails. I feel like I do a good job explaining things clearly when I talk to someone, but when it comes to putting my thoughts into words, I fall short. This is one of the reasons why I'm reluctant to share my thoughts through blog posts/articles.

Has this happened to anyone? If so, what steps did you take to improve your writing skills?

Top comments (3)

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jsrn profile image
James

It's tough, and I think largely the only way to improve is to keep doing it.

Tobias Van Schneider wrote an article about emailing busy people that I got a lot out of. They're rules that you can apply to all email, regardless of how busy the recipient is.

I sometimes pass what I'm writing through Hemingway to see what it has to say. It's good at highlighting unnecessary words and run-on sentences.

For what it's worth, I think this post was pretty good!

Context:

I have been in the workforce for almost 5 years and

Problem:

I have trouble writing concise, to-the-point emails. I feel like I do a good job explaining things clearly when I talk to someone, but when it comes to putting my thoughts into words, I fall short. This is one of the reasons why I'm reluctant to share my thoughts through blog posts/articles.

Specific question:

Has this happened to anyone? If so, what steps did you take to improve your writing skills?

Write your emails like you wrote this post, and you won't be going far wrong.

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antonrich profile image
Anton

Here's Paul Graham's essay on the issue:

Write Like You Talk

paulgraham.com/talk.html

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antonrich profile image
Anton

Tell me what do you think is a good post/article? Just give me a couple of examples.