Success Advice

3 Books to Help You Learn How to Write Better and More Effectively

Published

4 years ago

Nov 13, 2019

books that will teach you how to write better

Image Credit: Unsplash

“It’s been 2 years since I left writing, how would I start it again?” I cried to my friend. Telling him how I failed to generate regular income from sources other than writing, and how I am drowning in 1 million dollars of debt. I left writing because I felt it was the core reason for my depression, but I was totally wrong. It was not the writing that triggered my stress hormones, the real culprit was not knowing “how to write and grow”.

Hearing my story, my friend told me that continuing writing is the only way to get rid of my debt before I go bankrupt. I asked many of my writer friends “how to write”. They all said the same thing, “Find your voice”. I am not a believer in learning something just based on your voice. I believe that there is a formula for learning everything. For example, for my diet, I learned to eat small portions every two hours. Local homemade food. This is a timeless strategy. I wanted something like this for my writing.

In my writing-free days, I was reading like hell, learning everything that came my way, including stock market, psychology, diet, exercise, etc. From there, I got the idea and thought, “If I am able to learn everything from a book, why not learn how to write better?” My debt motivated me to learn writing quickly and start immediately, which is how I found three timeless books on how to write. Thankfully, all three books were short and to the point, which helped me get started with writing immediately. You don’t need experience to learn the formula discussed in the books.

Book 1: 2K to 10K Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love by Rachel Aaron

The title sounds like something one can implement to write faster. And the doubt to write before you learn to write faster crawls in. But trust me, this is the elixir of writing. In her book, Rachel first teaches you how to write.

How to begin? She shares a timeless formula which applies to all types of writing including fiction, non-fiction, advertisement, blogs, or whatever you dream of. Here’s the formula from Rachel Aaron: Setup – Action – Resolution

First, you show what’s going on (setup), then something happens (action), and at last you come up with a solution (resolution). Take any blog, advertisement or novel – everything revolves around this simple formula.

For experienced writers, this may sound too basic. But for me, the formula was no less than a godsend while I was drowning in debt. From the day I completed this book, I started applying for various freelance writing jobs. I convinced myself that I have to offer a free writing sample before I win the trust of clients. Within a week of my book completion and job application procedure, I landed my first client with regular pay for 5 straight months.

But I didn’t stop there. I knew my writing was missing something, which took me to my next popular book.

Book 2: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

Most writers have read this book and always keep it on their shelves. I did the same. An Amazon reviewer suggested that the second part of the book is worth a treasure for writers, while the first part is full of Stephen’s story. Desperate to get more writing projects, I skipped the first part and completed another writing course on sentence structure and the essentials of writing.

Where Rachel Aaron teaches the surface of writing, Stephen King peels a few deeper layers. He teaches you how to show instead of simply telling the story. He also suggests keeping sentences shorter and trying to go for “noun + verb” sentences to keep writing simple and easily understandable. Another tip I liked the most about editing is: Editing = “draft – 10%”. After reading this and submitting samples for free, I landed 2 more clients. One regular while the other gives me a blog once a week.

After 3 months, I was able to pay 80% of my bills. I was happy to reach that stage but I was still running out of money. And a few times, I received complaints of poor grammar. I apologized to them and bought a paid version of Grammarly. At the same time, I started non-stop practice of grammar with my third book.

Book 3: The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr.

When I received this 100-page book, I fell in love with its teeny-weeny silver-colored texture. It’s so cute and small that I spent an entire day admiring its beauty. The next day, I started learning each grammar lesson.

To be honest, it was boring. But I had to do something to keep my writing away from language errors. So, I took notes of each lesson. Slowly, I started editing my own work as per the grammar rules, and soon enough, my clients’ grammar complaints reduced.

I still use the paid version of Grammarly, simply because you can’t remember each and every grammar rule. It’s a matter of constant reading and writing which takes years to master. Until then, I keep learning the grammar from this book and edit my articles as per the discussed rules.

Walking on the Path of Growth

Even today, after getting published on high-quality sites, I still swear by these 3 books. But I never stop learning from other writers. Being a writer, I realized that writing wasn’t my only issue, it was maintaining the schedule of constant writing and improving on it day by day. So, I subscribed to Medium for daily writing tips. From there, I never stopped learning. I pitch to high-quality sites with various topics, even if I get rejected. It gives me a challenge to improve more and a published article as a reward.

P.S. My debt is decreasing and my writing is improving day by day.

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Manisha Sukhyani

Manisha Sukhyani is a professional freelance writer with 6+ years of experience. She offers writing services to businesses of all sizes. In leisure time, she loves to share writing tips, online marketing stories, and psychological facts. Reach her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Success Advice

How to Ignite the Spark Within for Future Success

All of us come to this world with our own reserve of magic unfortunately, not everyone can unleash it

Published

3 days ago

Dec 4, 2023

M.S. Rao

Image Credit: Midjourney

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How Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success

Your life is dictated by beliefs and biases that drive your thinking, behaviors, and decisions

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2 weeks ago

Nov 20, 2023

Jane Frankel

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Success Advice

How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

Published

3 weeks ago

Nov 16, 2023

Jamelle Sanders

Image Credit: Midjourney

In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness.

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be.

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time.

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.