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Study, Study, Study
The other day I wrote about the importance of writing often in order to develop your voice, and to be able to write more naturally. However, there’s more to writing well that just writing a lot. There’s a saying that practice makes perfect, but practicing the wrong thing can make you perfectly wrong. Part of developing your writing skills is studying writing.
I’m always amazed when I read the job boards, how poorly some people to claim to be freelance writers actually write. It’s not just poor spelling either, it’s poor use of punctuation, and even word choice. It’s using “there” when they should be using “their”; or “to” instead of “too”. I understand that sometimes it was just a typo that wasn’t caught, but in many cases it’s just poor writing.
On the other hand, it is somewhat encouraging. If this is the type of writing that they use when they’re trying to get a writing job, how much better do I look, if I can write reasonably well?
One book that I’ve really found useful is WritingTools
Like any craft, you have to study and practice in order to improve. More you work at your writing, the better your writing will become. The better your writing is, the more your writing will stand out when you’re bidding on freelance jobs.
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January 14th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I’ve encountered this on bidding website as well, but the scary part was one lady won a bid on a project. Her samples and her offer were riddled with errors. I was a project I was bidding on also along with 45 other people. She won the project she also had the lowest. That told me a lot about the client. I encountered that on my second day as a freelance writer.
Re: Studying
In total, I’ve purchased 13 books about freelance writing and grammar and I’ve found them all to be extremely useful.
I agree it is important. I’ve been doing a lot of studying over the past several weeks, and I do see improvements with my freelance writing. Oh by the way I ordered the book through your link. I read the reviews I was actually looking for a book similar to that. Thanks for the suggestion.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I’m still working on checking my comments thoroughly before I send them, Gah!
January 15th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Hi Jim - this is so true. I was looking for someone to write a few web pages for me on freelance and some of the queries were littered with typos.
You know, my spelling has become atrocious since I began using the Internet. Sometimes, I just can’t remember how to spell the simplest things.
I guess it’s because so many sites are full of typos and we get used to seeing them that way.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
While on the one hand I understand about “lowest bidder,” it is still maddening that people who call themselves professional writers don’t take any more pride in their craft.
Al I can do is keep working on myself, and taking pride in my own work.
Thanks for buying the book. I really think you’ll like it.
January 18th, 2008 at 5:49 am
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