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
- 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
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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