How do you Guys Polish your Writing Skills?

Hi Fellow BlackHaters,

I will be frank with you all, I never aspired to be a content writer because my innate dream was to go in Army. Unfortunately, I couldn't qualify for Army, but it is said that when one door closes, then another opens. This is exactly what happened to me. One fine day Article writing came into my life, and since then I have been madly in love with it. Now let's come to point. I started this thread because over a period of time, I have realized that I have a lot to learn in order to call myself an expert content writer. Despite the fact that I have been writing articles for past many years, still my articles get rejected by few clients because they think that my quality and writing style isn't good enough for high authority websites. Guys, as I have always seen that Blackhaters are always willing to help, so I politely request you all to please let me know, what should I do in order to polish my writing skills. I want to see myself as an expert content writer, and I would be glad if you guys give me some ideas, websites and other resources, which would help me to polish my writing skills. I think this thread will be helpful to other content writers too, so let the ideas and suggestions keep pouring in. I'm all ears to them. Cheers

Mods: This is not a promotional thread or any publicity stunt, I would be too stupid to do that. ...
Looking forward to hear from you Guys. Thanks in advance.

I rarely write now with the exception of promotional materials for my businesses but I found that when I wrote that the more I wrote the better I got.

It's sort of the age old question "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice, practice, practice".

Reading a lot of well written material is sort of what put me on a good path to write well (not outstanding by any means but for me not bad) and even now when I read a well written piece I put a little bit of what was written in my back pocket to emulate the author's aroma.

Maybe you should read some polish Books?

BassTrackerBoats said:

I rarely write now with the exception of promotional materials for my businesses but I found that when I wrote that the more I wrote the better I got.

It's sort of the age old question "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice, practice, practice".

Reading a lot of well written material is sort of what put me on a good path to write well (not outstanding by any means but for me not bad) and even now when I read a well written piece I put a little bit of what was written in my back pocket to emulate the author's aroma.

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Feels great to receive a reply from a senior member like you. I agree with you that practice is the ultimate source to mastery. I just wish to ask that what sort of content you mean to say. Can you please recommend few websites to me, which have been posting high quality content? I write on a regular basis, so I don't think practice aspect comes into question. Hope to hear from you. Cheers.

lebshot said:

Maybe you should read some polish Books?

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LOL Funny. But unfortunately I vie to be an expert English content writer but I'll definitely keep your suggestion in mind.

peerless2acme said:

I just wish to ask that what sort of content you mean to say. Can you please recommend few websites to me, which have been posting high quality content?

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The stuff I read may not appeal to a lot of people... online I read mainly news and sports articles. espn.com has a writer by the name of Rick Riley that I am almost always impressed with and you'll find writers on cnnsi.com that write well also.

I frequent a couple of finance forums and there are a couple of guys on those sites that are exceptional as well but for the most part the writers I appreciate are from magazines I subscribe to as well as books I read and although they might be online I read the actual mag or book.

The mags are all sports related stuff and the books can be anything from fiction to non fiction to instrutional to informational to inspirational.

Read more of the English sites like BBC, CNN or other top sites. learn their writing methods.
Talk more English or if you can with native English people.

This will definitely help you strengthen your english writing skills.
But as BTB says "Practice Practice Practice...."

check the experts how they write and go to ezinearticles or articlesbase and read the articles there because those are approved articles you will get an idea.

AbbyBryant said:

check the experts how they write and go to ezinearticles or articlesbase and read the articles there because those are approved articles you will get an idea.

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These are not sources from where you want to pick up tips on writing. Manually approved articles sites have OK content although 85% of the stuff on there is just boring writing that is intended to generate a click or a backlink.

Like others have said here, follow the big hitters in the world of journalism if you want to carve out a unique writing style for yourself. At places like CNN, BBC (The Guardian UK is another one, a member suggested it to me when he gave me tips on writing) and many other such sites, you will always find a writer who impresses you. Try to see how he structures his thought into an article and emulate the same. Ultimately, it will come down to your own talent and the way in which you express yourself. You can't really completely mold yourself to write like someone else. Keep your originality and just tweak it with what you learn from other writers.

The best things to do:

1. Read a book everyday

2. Write.

Writing on the top sites like BBC - CNN et al is a platform of free expression wherein in all the top sites have huge traffic 24/7 hence the writer will have no pressure to compile articles littered with main keywords and long tail keywords. With that constraint off the table the writers can be creative - explosive and influential!

But a writer compiling content for a low volume traffic site is almost obligated to write an article built around main keywords and long tail keywords, This irritable compilation technique will never win any of The Pulitzer Prizes for fiction - drama etc or any other writing award.

From experience writing ability improves rapidly when writing on impulse as for many folks total freedom of speech and the written word is a must in our way of life.

Maintain a personal blog. Read books, not e-books, sit down somewhere quiet and read a book for a few hours a day/every few days.

Most content/article writing is about filling a page......i.e 500-700 word article keyword rich etc...so it doesnt exactly lend itself to good writing....If you really want to craft your writing skills then editing is your most important discipline...look at your original question see how you could rewrite the same question but with less words...Keep doing that...trim all the fat off until you have the fillet... For bigger projects you should give your writing an overnight test at least. You can write something fantastic and be delighted with it at that moment but if you give it a week and come back to it it may dissapoint you. If on re-reading something a week later, you still like it ...then its good writing.