Driving Lessons: 10 Rules of the Writing Road, by Joanna Young

I’m thrilled to be doing a “guest post exchange” with my friend Joanna Young. She’s a wonderful writer, especially when she’s writing about writing, as you will now see for yourself!
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Writing isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. Clear writing might well be good for business but the very thought of getting to grips with grammar or mastering style points is enough to send most people off in the opposite direction.

And yet those aren’t the most important things that you need to learn in order to write with clarity. In fact, they might make you even more tangled in your words as you try and remember rules and copy the way other people do things. And the more tangled you are, the more anxious you get, and the more cluttered your writing will become.

Looking at things from a different perspective can help you to (a) relax and (b) get clear on your point – and once you’ve done that you’ll be well on your way to writing with greater clarity. So no grammar tips today – just some driving lessons that’ll help you become king of the writing road.

Driving lessons

Confirm your destination – where is it that you’re trying to get to? Knowing your point will make all the difference to your writing

Plan your journey before you start – do you know how long it’s going to take, where you’re going to take a break, where the turning points will be?

Know your purpose – what’s the point of the journey? Sometimes it’s just to get to your destination as fast as you can – but there are times when we’re driving (or writing) for fun, so some detours and scenic routes might well add to the experience

Start when you’re ready – you don’t need to waste words at the beginning explaining what you’re about and why you’re writing. Unless you’re a Formula 1 driver a warm up lap isn’t required

Mirror, signal, manoeuvre – use headings and titles to show your reader where you’re going. It’ll save them from getting lost – or crashing into you!

Be fuel efficient – don’t use up more words (or paper) than you need to. Get where you want to go in the most efficient way that you can

Avoid unnecessary detours – you’ll take a lot longer getting to your point if you meander off down side roads and avenues – and your reader might well have lost interest by the time you’ve got back to the highway. Stick to your main point

Know the rules of the road – okay this is a sneaky reference to grammar – because there are some rules you need to know to make sure you don’t confuse your readers – or cause a pile up!

Watch your speed – imagine your reader is following behind you in another car. If you go too fast you’ll lose them – they won’t be able to keep up with you. Go too slow and they’ll be grinding their teeth in frustration

Find the nearest exit – when you’re done, stop. It can be hard to know how to wrap up sometimes, and we can waste a lot of words trying to find the right way to close. But waffling on at the end doesn’t help anyone. Find the nearest exit – and get off the road.

I’m sure there are other driving lessons we could borrow to help us write with clarity – sat nav maybe? (I’ve never used it, so I couldn’t think how.)

Can you think of other ways you could apply your skills as a driver to your writing at work?
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Joanna Young coaches people to write with confidence – including writing with confidence at work. She’s always on the look out for ways to link the writing process to other activities that people are more familiar with – to help people to relax, to start to write with confidence, to realise the power of their own words. Read more of Joanna’s material and find out how to work with her over at the Confident Writing blog
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Note - This post is dedicated to Liz Strauss, who’s celebrating a Blog Birthday today! Liz is all about conversations, and the relationship that Joanna and I have developed over the last several months is a great example of how casual blog comment exchanges can lead to deeper conversations, collaboration, and … who knows? Happy Birthday, Liz!