About the AuthorI started my professional journey as an Executive in the sales department of a UK based organization, selling timeshare. Since then I changed over and handled many different roles and responsibilities in the Marketing, Sales & Customer Service departments across industries. I finally shifted over to Advertising and spent a good 11 years in the same. It was during the later years of my career that I started to feel suffocated, doing the same sh**, day in and day out. I started to feel as if I was meant to do something more in life, and it was this feeling that forced me to call it quits and resign from my then position of Vice President of a multinational Advertising firm. I finally had my calling in writing. I took out my laptop and simply started to punch the keys on a blank word processor page. Since then, my laptop has been my closest friend, the one I spend most of my time with. In fact sometimes I wonder if my wife can sue me for cheating on her with my laptop. No seriously, can she? Find him @ Facebook | Website | Twitter | Dear Readers, Today I have Deep R. Downer giving some superb tips on how to polish your writing. Wrting is like a gift from God and I personally feel that if we have this inclination - we are blessed. Every time we share some part of our writing, learn from other's writing or simply enjoy a piece which unfolds the different facets of life for us - we send HIM a prayer of thanks. Deep R Downer is an indie writer. Copied shamelessly from his blog, the maxim he lives by -To all the people who tell me that I can’t, I’ve got just one thing to say, “Watch me”. Author Deep Downer His book Love is Dead, Long Live the Lust has caught the attention of many readers due to his bold cover and unique title. So it was a very pleasant surprise for me when he gave me this informative post on polishing your writing. Over to you Deep. Guest Post by Deep R. Downer - Polish Your Writing “The point of writing is not just to be understood, but to make it impossible to be misunderstood.” – Cicero, Roma Orator. Having clicked on the link, the odds are that you are a writer. It’s not necessary that you need to be a novelist or a journalist, to be called a writer. Simply put, a writer is someone who writes. You may be writing letters, reports, memos, daily diary, or even the annual Christmas cards, you are a writer nevertheless. Now, the question arises that whether, it’s even possible to learn how to improve our writing skills. Despite the popular belief that writing is a god-given talent, I’d say yes, everyone can learn to improve their writing skills. All it takes are two very simple principles, namely, the 3Cs, and the 3Ps. The 3Cs: Your writing needs to be Crisp, Concise and Coherent. The 3Ps: Planning, Preparation and Perseverance. Let’s go ahead and try to understand each of them, individually. The 3Cs: I remember getting a letter from my bankers, updating me about the change in one of their policies, about maintaining the minimum balance in the account. The reason why they chose me, to be among the first ones of their customers, to send that update is evident from the fact that my account balance, almost always, falls below the minimum permissible limit of shame. Anyway, coming back to the letter, a part of it, read something like this: 'We will not charge the $10 and $15 fee, if the minimum quarterly balance in your account, is at least $250, during the period we put the charge. If you only choose to pay a charge, resulting from the charge you earlier paid, in the previous charging period, we will promptly refund the charge, if you bring the error in charging to our notice.' WHAT? Sorry, Mr. Banker, but you lost me at...well, ab-initial. Needless to say, that I ultimately, had to talk to one of their customer service representatives, and make her explain the context of this gobbledegook letter to me, in plain English. What they wanted to inform me was, that henceforth, if my account balance falls below $250, the bank will be levying a fee of $10, in the first instance, and $15, in case of any subsequent instance, and that I should inform them immediately, in case of any erroneous fee, and they will refund the same to me. 49 words, as against 65, in their letter. This explains the need for the 3Cs, which are, Crisp, Concise and Coherent. Try to be absolutely clear and crisp, in your writing. A good way to do this, is to write, like you speak- just make it shorter and tighter. Remember, the 10 commandments are written in just 130 words, while the whole American Declaration of Independence, consist of just 485 words. Be a miser, in using your words. Remember to KISS- Keep It Short & Simple. I shall cover the principle of 3Ps, in my next post, very soon. *Be enlightened, keep reading* |
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