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Would you like to be a better writer, a better communicator?
I guess that’s sort of like asking “Would you like to breathe oxygen?”
In this day and age when we’re drowning in noise, when our attention muscles have atrophied thanks to YouTube videos, Facebook news feeds, texts, blogs, and tweets, it’s never been more important to communicate powerfully.
My Five Six Favorite Books On Writing
I’ve been writing professionally for 20 years, and I often get asked what books I’d recommend on writing. I have five, and today I want to add a sixth.
- Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
- Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down The Bones
- On Writing by Stephen King
- The Wizard of Ads by Roy H. Williams
The fifth is more a book about persevering and pushing through doubt and fear when it comes to writing, or really any creative endeavor, and that’s Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art.
Today I want to add another book to that list:
Everybody Writes. It’s by Ann Handley. Her subtitle is Your Go-To Guide for Creating Ridiculously Good Content, and it’s true.
What I Like Most About The Book
The author’s voice is as delightful as the content is relevant and powerful. You sympathize with Ann. Ann certainly sympathizes with you whether you’re a young writer or an “adult-onset” content creator, as she jokes in the book.
It’s filled with practical, useful tips that can help you create more content more quickly and with greater ease than you ever have in your life.
It’s Broken Up Into Six Parts
The first part is how to write better, or hate writing less. You can see already right out of the gun, Ann has empathy for writers or people who are struggling, or what she calls “recovering or traumatized writers.”
Part two is grammar and usage, the stuff that certainly signals credibility to your audience.
Next comes story rules (part three) and publishing (part four) – ways to include elements inside your content that makes sure it’s infused with “heart and soul and integrity,” plus the general rules of journalism and guidelines for publishing.
Part five is really important for marketers, and if you’re in business today, part of your job is to be in the marketing business regardless of your job title. And she gives 13 super-tactical things that marketers have to write and how to handle them.
And then finally, in part six she gives a great reference list of resources and stuff to help you produce your best work.
So she gives you six different sections filled with practical, useful information to help you become a better writer.
I cannot recommend it enough. Ann Handley wrote it; it’s Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content.
(Oh, and PS – I’m not affiliated with Ann in any way. She didn’t pay us or provide us with a review copy of the book or anything. We just thought it was—as my four-year-old-for-another-week daughter says—a big ole’ bucket of crazy awesome!)
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