To me, what is important is not how well the author has written an article or a blog- As an audience I should be able to connect with the author, understand the thoughts behind the article.The Art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe – Gaustave Flaubert
Writing is an art. Writing is not mumbo-jumbo of mere words, throwing jargaon, maintaining a writing style, be within that 700 words limit, keeping the language strictly ‘Business’.The article should speak to the soul, the audience should be able to resonate with what they read, they should be able to think “Omg, that’s exactly me” or “This is what happened to me”, “this is so true…” Give your audience a taste that will linger for sometime after they finish reading, give them something to think about, impact them to change their persectives, give them a fresh outlook.
It’s all about putting your thoughts together, how you articulate it in words, bring emotions into what you write (No, you don’t have to be melodramatic in your writing), be honest, keep it simple. And most importantly, be you. Don’t try to copy someone else’s style of writing. Write only when you are so compelled by your thoughts that you HAVE to sit down and write about it, not because you have to write one article a month.
The most creative ideas come when the mind is free, not when it is under the pressure to to be liked, or under the pressure to perform.
Don’t follow the so-called ‘Trends’. Be a trend-setter. You are a Brand in youself.
Don’t write about Salesforce Lightning because 50 people are writing about it. Instead choose to write about things that matter to you, things that have impacted you. For example I am a sucker for Sunrise. I am mesmerised by this Glorious Sun-rise/ Sun set and involuntarily my hands start cliking pictures. For me a Sun-rise signifies Rising after Defeat, getting up after a fall, being at your game, a metaphor for after every darkest night there is a beautiful morning to look forward to, it’s a ray of hope, it’s a sign, it’s a belief-system; The setting sun symbolizes the completion of a journey, the human ife is often compared metaphorically with the setting sun. So instead of choosing to write about some new cool features from Salesforce, I choose to write about things that matter to me the most.
Our society still has herd-mentality. They wait for that One first person to do the thinking for them; they will wait until someone takes that first step to either Like or Dislike something. It’s like they do not have the courage to do the thinking for themselves.
Once a person, someone from a bigger designation clicks a Like button, 50 others follow. Not because they liked the content, but because ‘somebody important’ liked it, and if he liked it, it better be good.
Recently I saw a post on LinkedIn- It was about purchasing a Shoe. He even went ahead and put a picture of his bright-red-orangish shoe on LinkedIn. He’s a runner and I defintely respect the fact and I even agreed to more than what was written about how the purchase was made after reading reviews, features of the shoe and the Marathon ahead. I did not think the writing was good. It was Great!! But the post simply did’nt belong on LinkedIn. But people hit the ‘like’ button not because of the content of the writing but simply because of who is posting it. Sadly, the Designation weighs down heavily.
I read books from established authors – The content sometimes is like chewing on sand – it is crunchy and chewy, but no taste. It has texture but no soul. They simply fail to entice me. But there are some other amateur writers who don’t even call themselves as writers, but their writings strike a chord, they bring out the characters in them, make them lively and I can almost immediately within reading the first few sentences, connect with the author.
The Mantra ? – There is none. Be You. Simply you. With your jarring grammar, too loud visuals, unnecessary puntuations in between, using alphabet in capital letters where it is not required as per the rule-book – Yes, I have done it all. But yet when I write, if my audience is to able to relate, I think my purpose is served.
