Writing is like a muscle.
If you want a stronger muscle, you use it. Not only do you use it, you push it a little bit. You work it hard. You let it rest. You work it again. And, over time, the muscle gets stronger and more defined.
Writing works like that, too.
The more you do it, the better you get at it.
Practice Good Form
The cornerstone to any workout routine is to practice good form and technique.
Without that, you run the risk of injury.
When it comes to writing, things are a little bit different.
Knowing and understanding the components of what you need to write is key to handling a project for a client… but it’s not really something you need to worry about as you practice.
Just the act of writing, and turning writing into a habit, is what will make your writing stronger.
But, how do you practice in a meaningful way?
It’s easy for me to say, “Write more.” Or, “Write every day.”
But, if you don’t know what to write, that can leave you feeling stuck.
So, today, I’m going to give you some writing exercises you can use to write more. And, while it’s good to understand the structure of solid writing, when you do these exercises, you don’t have to worry about quality. All you need to do is just start writing. And then keep writing.
Your work may be good, bad, bland, exciting… the point here is to practice. Use these five 3-to-10-minute exercises to get in a daily writing habit and watch how your skills — and your confidence — start to improve.
#1: Use a Squibler Prompt
If you haven’t heard of Squibler, it’s a write-or-die kind of tool. You set a timer — it can be for three minutes, five minutes, 10 minutes, or more. I suggest you start with three. When you hit start, the goal is to write for the allotted time without stopping. If you pause for too long, the screen will turn red, and your writing will start to fade away.
If you don’t start typing again, you’ll lose what you’ve written. I’ll admit, it can be a little stressful… but in a fun way.
And Squibler will give you a prompt, if you don’t know what to write about. I just requested a prompt, and it gave me this: He had an hour to get home. If he didn’t make it…”
How exactly will Squibler enhance your writing skills? It helps you learn how to stop editing as you write and to just let the ideas flow. When you learn how to do that, you can start making some brilliant connections in your work. The first draft won’t be pretty… but it’s not supposed to be! You can always polish it later.
#2: Tap Into Your Senses
Most writers, when describing a scene or an object, tend to focus on what a person can see. They might describe sounds a bit… but only a bit. And they probably skip over things like taste, smell, and touch.
When you’re writing persuasive copy, you don’t want to be overly descriptive. But, you do want to appeal to your reader’s senses — as many of them as possible.
To hone that skill, pick an object or a setting. For 10 minutes, describe how it looks, sounds, smells, and feels. If there’s a taste factor, work that in, too. Use detailed sensory words. Saying a room has bare, cracked walls tells your reader more than simply saying the walls are beige.
The first few times you do this your descriptions will probably be a little generic. The more you practice, the better you’ll get at crafting unique, detailed descriptions that will draw readers in.
#3: Take the Headline Challenge
Headlines are so crucial to the success of anything you write, they deserve a little extra attention. One way to improve your headline writing is to, you know… write headlines.
For one week, try writing 10, 20, or even 100 headlines a day. Once you hit that milestone, continue the practice for the rest of the month. After 30 days you’ll have written between 300 and 3,000 headlines… they won’t all be good, but your ability to write effective headlines will be much stronger.
#4: So What?
This “So what?” exercise will help you get better at uncovering the most important benefits of any product or service you write about.
For this exercise, pick a product and then write out a dialog between you and a prospect. It should look something like this:
You: “I have a pair of headphones you might like. They’re wireless.”
Prospect: “So what?”
You: “Because they’re wireless, it means you can get up and walk around while you’re listening to music or a podcast — you’re not tied to your computer or device.”
Prospect: “So what?”
You: “Most of the time, multitasking doesn’t work very well, but being able to listen to an audio course or podcast while you do something else productive — like making dinner or working out — can help you leverage your time.”
Prospect: “So what?”
You: “You’ll be able to listen to the things you want, while staying on top of the things you need to do. And that means more time for family, friends, and relaxation.”
Prospect: “So what?”
You: “Wireless headphones can help put the balance into your work-life balance on your terms.”
And then, you can repeat that exercise for another feature, like high sound quality, comfortable fit, or long battery life.
Doing this will not only help you refine how you talk about features and benefits — important for any persuasive writing — it will also get you used to taking on the point of view of your reader and exploring what really matters to them. And that’s going to improve any kind of writing you do.
#5: Same Song, Different Verse
Most persuasive writing relies on the elements of influence that Robert Cialdini laid out in his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. These are:
- Reciprocity: If I do something nice for you, you’ll be inclined to do something nice for me.
- Scarcity: There’s not enough of something to go around for everyone who wants it.
- Authority: Information that comes from a credible, experienced source is easier to trust.
- Social Proof: People find it easier to buy when they see that other people like them are happy with a similar purchase.
- Commitment: Once you take one step forward, it’s easier to take another, and another.
- Liking: If you like a person, you’re more inclined to listen and consider what they have to say.
- Unity: When you feel included, you’ll take steps to continue feeling like you belong.
If you look at the messages in your email inbox, you’ll see that many of them lean into one or more of these principles.
So, grab one of those messages and rewrite it using a different principle from the list. Then compare the two and see which one you think is stronger. It’s okay if you don’t think yours comes out on top. The point is to practice your persuasive skills.
Stronger Day by Day
The more you write, the stronger your skills will get. Use these exercises — try to do one or two every day — as a training regimen. It won’t take long before you experience a noticeable improvement in your writing skills.
