Advice For Writers From Writers

Do you have a strong desire to write about Jesus, what He has done for you, and what you have learned from His Word? I do, too. But good intentions alone won’t make me an inspiring writer. I’ve studied writing since I started blogging in 2017, but that doesn’t mean I’ve reached success – yet.

I need lots of encouragement and guidance so I’ve collected some quotes and advice that encouraged me to keep working on my writing skills. I hope these insights and tips encourage and help you, too.

^“In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well …  If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.” Romans 12: 4-8 NLT

He is at work on your behalf, not to make you a best-seller, but to make you the best tool for His work… It’s about obedience. About writing, because that’s the task He’s given us. It’s about seeking to serve Him and others through the gifts He’s given us. 

~Karen Ball

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

When we set forth the truth plainly and simply through the example of human circumstances and how God works in the lives of everyone, we are leading our readers to a deeper, closer understanding of who Jesus is.

Author unknown

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin…” Zechariah 4:10 NLT

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something—anything—down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft—you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft—you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy.”

Anne Lamott

Some New (to me) Writing Tips

1. Get inspired through research.

Before you begin writing, do some reconnaissance reading. Take notes as you read up on your subject material. Ideas will form as you research. Once you’ve jumped into the writing process, don’t stop to do more research. Instead, add a placeholder like [RESEARCH] and keep rolling. You can come back to finalize facts and add references when your first draft is finished.

2. Empathize with the reader.

Empathy can improve all kinds of writing. Take the time to put yourself in your reader’s place. Are you preaching to them, or are you engaging them by showing that you relate to their feelings and experiences?

3. Be fascinated in order to be fascinating.

The more interested you are about the subject you’re writing about, the more intrigued your readers will be with what you’ve written.

4. Don’t use unnecessary words and phrases. (This is a biggie!)

Every word needs to have a purpose in your writing, and there are plenty that don’t contribute anything but clutter. Get rid of them!

Avoid These Words and Phrases:

At all times

Watch out for flabby phrases at all times.

Each and every

Look for filler words in your writing each and every day daily.

As yet

We don’t know as yet whether we’ll succeed.

In order

Eliminate excess verbiage in order to clean up your writing.

Basically, essentially

These words basically don’t add value. They’re essentially useless.

Totally, completely, absolutely, literally, actually

Without filler words, your writing will be totally fabulous.

Very, really, quite, rather, extremely

These very common words are really not useful. They’re rather dull.

Simply

Simply Don’t use this word often.

Pretty

It’s a pretty good idea to use this one sparingly, too.

Just

If your sentence works without it, you just don’t need this word.

That

This is a word that you should only use when you need it for clarity.

Up, down

We don’t care whether you stand up or sit down to write, just write cleanly!

In the process of

We’re in the process of learning to remove wordiness.

As a matter of fact

As a matter of fact, Your skills have improved.

All of

All of Your readers will enjoy reading cleaner copy.

As being

You’ll be known as being a proficient writer!

Being that

Being that Because you’re the best writer in your class, you’re sure to get good grades.

During the course of

During the course of the writing lesson, we learned some new tricks!

For all intents and purposes, For the most part

For all intents and purposes, Our writing has improved.

Point in time

You don’t need to use filler words at this point in time now.

Taken from Grammarly by Karen Hertzberg

Related Posts

How To Write An Encouraging Blog

God’s Purpose For Your Blog

10 Ways to Encourage Others Through Your Blog

Fan Into Flames the Gift God Gave You

How A Prayer Journal Can Enhance Your Blog

Why Do I Blog? To Be Followed or To Follow Him?

I pray that the Lord will help us all to encourage one another through writing about Jesus and His love.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord …. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24 NIV

In His Love, Cindy

Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?

Pray for Israel

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