How to Be a Good Writer (Part 1)

Good writing is like a good outfit: You need all of the right pieces in the right places, to be fully clothed. If something's missing, your writing will be naked and drafty. No one wants to be naked.

This post is the beginning of a little series on what you need in your closet, to write well. If you want others to understand your writing -- and to act on your ideas -- then you'll need a few things.

The first thing you'll need is words -- Not a few words, but bunches of them ... a working vocabulary that you can pull from, at will. Words in your head, ready to go. Lots. Many. Several. A ton. Gobs. Oodles and oodles. See, I'm doing it, here.

Allow me to go on an analogy binge: Your words are crayons:: the more colors in your box, the more elaborate the possibilities for your picture. Your words are Legos: the more Legos in your bucket, the taller your tower to build. Your words are wood for the bonfire: the more logs you can throw on, the bigger the flame. Your words are liters of gasoline in your car: the more gas, the farther you go. Okay, you get it. Words are your base supplies. (Sorry, I had to do one more.) Bottom line: You need a diverse vocabulary.

How do you get a diverse vocabulary? Repeat after me: The thesaurus is my friend. That little right-click drop-down box in Word drives you into synonym land -- a land flowing with hues of words that you didn't even knew existed -- or if you did, probably wouldn't think of, on your own (I'm talking from experience). There is no shame in looking up variations of words. In fact, there's a whole lot of wisdom in searching for -- and capturing -- new words.

So gather words. Tons of them. Words are your foundation.

Writing together,
Erin