Writing Tip: Use Active Voice

At some point in the history of modern business, someone decided passive voice sounded professional. It doesn't; passive voice actually comes across as someone trying to sound professional. A good writer can spot these wannabe's for miles.

Always use active voice and strong verbs.

Bad: "Your report was recommended to me by my boss, Alex Stern."

Let's turn the sentence around and have the subject of the sentence take the action.

Good: "My boss, Alex Stern, recommended your report."

See if you can't swap out run-of-the-mill verbs for more vibrant verbs.

Bad: "I was asked questions by the Board about my proposal."

First, let's make it an active, not passive sentence.

Better: "The Board asked me questions about my proposal."

Now, let's use the real verb in the sentence.

Best: "The Board questioned me about the proposal." (I changed the second last word, "my", to "the" because the repetition of me and my weighed the sentence down.)

Write in active, not passive, voice, and use strong verbs and watch your writing sing.

Writing Tip: Be yourself

Long gone are the days when we had to write business letters and other communications in ridiculously formal language.

"Pursuant to your last correspondence, related to the aforementioned Wingate project..."

Unless you're using legal language for legal reasons, such communication sounds contrived, and frankly, unintelligent. It sounds as if you're trying to compensate for an inability to communicate on a normal level.

Be respectful, but be yourself. Instead of the above, put the information in "normal" language.

"I'm writing to you in response to your last email about the Wingate project..."

By writing this way, you more quickly gain the trust of the recipient, who feels you're not trying to pull a fast one through fancy language. You communicate more clearly, and you don't have to spend so much time writing the letter to make it sound "official". Just be yourself. Be formal if you need to be, but use your own voice.

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Writing Tip: Collect Information

To begin writing anything, start first with compiling the information you'll need. This is such an obvious step, but one many people overlook. It's much easier to begin your rough draft if you have the facts, the figures, the research at your fingertips.

I recommend to all writing clients to read the information first before beginning to write. Even if you've already read the information; begin again by re-reading.

For example, as a journalist, before I wrote an article, I'd collect vital information: written interviews with interviewees, factual research and previous articles written on the subject. I began writing an article by re-reading all this information. It made the rough draft write itself.

If you don't have any information, if you're writing a personal article about your own expertise, you can still google information on the subject written by other people to help generate ideas.

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