What is the one thing you have to say? The third step you have to take before your write anything is to decide on the main idea of your document. No matter how long or short it is, you have to be able to sum up the point in one clear, complete sentence. When U2 […]
What’s the most important part of writing? Right. The reader. You’re writing for a purpose, which we looked at closely in the last post. Now we’ll look at the next step in the four-part GRIP process: the reader, or audience. Before you start writing your document, whatever its purpose or type, think about who you’re […]
The last post outlined GRIP, which stands for the four steps that every writer should complete before starting to write: This post focuses on the G: setting a goal. Communication as a tool If your life or career is a journey, you can think of your writing as a vehicle to get you from where you are […]
Writing a plan, a report or an analysis can be a huge hurdle for people who don’t consider themselves writers. But in our information-driven economy today, it’s increasingly important. Here’s a strategy to help you make your next writing project more manageable: get a GRIP. It starts with the two basic rules of writing: Write […]
One of the dead giveaways of a non-professional book is misusing the poor hyphen instead of a dash. Let’s clear something up right away: a hyphen is not the same thing as a short dash, which is distinct from a long dash. They are three different punctuation marks, each with their own uses and rules. […]
I have found that a lot of independent authors feel intimidated by the process of e-publishing. In the past few posts, I showed you how to use Styles to make formatting more efficient and consistent, and how Styles also help automate other processes you’ll need to publish your book. Your word processor has a number of […]
In the last two posts, I explained how you can use your word processing application’s Styles feature to help make formatting your document more efficient, consistent and professional looking. But the Styles feature can do more than just apply several formatting choices to your text with one click. Today, I’ll explain how you can use […]