Whether your writing is intended for a wide audience, such as through books, articles, or blogs, or your writing is usually more limited to emails, memos, and project reports, it’s important that your words connect and compel.
That email may not be intended to inspire, and that project report may not move someone to tears, but you are writing for a reason. It’s important that your writing’s intended purpose is communicated and that communication results in action. No matter what you’re writing, you can write to connect and compel.
Author and speaker Lysa TerKeurst puts it this way:
“You see, there’s a big difference between writing and connecting. Writing is the craft of stringing words together under the guidelines of certain standards. Connecting is crafting words with movement. Words that stir and pop and buzz and linger and, best of all, mess with the reader.”
TerKeurst encourages you to consider three questions when writing to connect and compel your readers:
- Does this have emotion? “It’s hard to create ‘motion’ without some sort of ‘emotion.’”
- Do I need to store any of these words in my junk drawer? “Stick with one great point. Use the fewest words possible to make that point. And put all those other points in your junk drawer to use another day.”
- Have I landed my plane in the right city? “Too many writers veer off course and land their article in a completely different place by the end. Make sure to re-read your beginning sentences and complete your journey exactly as you promised.”
How about you, do you write to connect and compel? If you truly want to achieve results through your written words, follow the above tips for greater success!
To read the full article by Lysa TerKeurst, please click here >>
