A Goal Digger’s Guide To Becoming A Better Writer

No matter who you are, or what field you’re going into, you’ve probably done a lot of writing in your life. Most jobs and majors require at least some level of writing every week, so it’s a good idea to get pretty good at cranking out writing quickly and doing it well. Here are my foolproof tips for becoming a better writer. 

Read 

It may sound counter-intuitive at first but reading other people’s writing is one of the best things you can do to improve your own. Reading the work of those you admire will help you learn how to write in different voices and styles than your typical school research paper. There are so many voices and stylistic choices to be made, even within an industry. When I was majoring in Journalism in college, I took one class where all we did was read other people’s work. We read some very famous articles like “Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus” and “Common Sense” but we also read more obscure journalists’ work. And all of them had their own styles. It helped me to identify what makes a “good” writer and what types of things I’d like to adopt into my own writing. It also helped me identify things that I don’t personally like and want to avoid in my writing. 

Practice 

Write every single day, even if it’s just for a few minutes. This can be handwritten diary entries, articles for your blog or another online publication or a Facebook post. The more you write, the more you’ll see the common mistakes you make, and the easier it will be to find your voice in your writing. 

Learn what types of writing you need in your field 

There are some types of writing that everyone will need for their field, like composing an email, a resume and a cover letter. That’s a good place to start, but most fields also have specific writing you’ll need to know to really thrive in your industry. If you are majoring in education, now is the perfect time to learn how to write lesson plans. If you’re majoring in finance or political science, teach yourself to write project proposals and grants. If you’re majoring in communications, learn to write articles, broadcast scripts, press releases, etc. If you’re planning on changing jobs or working in a field that crosses over into other fields, it’s in your best interest to learn a number of different writing that may apply to you in the future. Even if you never end up needing to write a press release, you’ll probably be glad you know it. 

Ask for critical feedback

It’s scary to let someone read your writing for the first time but feedback is so important. After you’ve written something up, find friends or coworkers in your field and ask if you can share the document with them. Let them type comments and make changes directly in the document so you can understand what changes they would make. 

Use online tools to improve 

Luckily, the days of needing to know perfect grammar and spelling are over. Don’t worry too much about that stuff and focus on word choice, formatting and etiquette. Grammar and spelling are always good things to know, but don’t feel bad for relying on tools like spell check and Grammarly. They’re there for a reason.

Now that you have these tips, work some time into your schedule this week to try them out and see if you notice a difference in your writing.