In marketing, not every leap of faith has an easy landing. Sometimes you make the wrong call, people take offense to your well-intentioned quip or you simply share incorrect information. Pretend it never happened, and let it blow over?
Cute. No.
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Journalists know the most important part of their actual writing process is crafting a gripping lead. The beginning of a creative non-fiction piece should be enticing, provocative, a teaser, a foreshadowing and supported by what's to come in your piece.
Once the lead is discovered, the rest of the story writes itself.
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As a creative, you know inspiration can be found anywhere. When your heart is open and ears are tuned, a turn of phrase or observation might kickstart a scene you've been stuck. You'll try anything to capture that spark, right? Me too. That's why I've been listening to podcasts every day. Here are nine of my favorites.
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Part of the work I do to pay the bills (gasp, creative writing pays peanuts?!) is content marketing. This is when I craft website content, blog posts, marketing emails and advertising copy for another company. It's fascinating to tell a brand's story in their own voice, much like we creative writers develop our characters' unique voices.
What I won't do, though, is stick someone else's name onto my product.
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Has a friend or family member ever performed a spot-on imitation of you that left you wondering if you really knew yourself at all? We each have speech patterns and favorite topics that make us unique.
We don't want to change who we are but instead celebrate these eccentricities. And, if you're a writer, you want to be able to identify them; they mean you're finding your voice (ah, the ever-elusive writer's voice!). After decades as a writer, I've learned one of my patterns is alliteration.
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Today, I'm guest-posting at Ivorymix, talking through the eight lessons I've learned for setting goals. It starts with some tough love (I'm no stranger to that) and ends with a celebration. Not bad for a Wednesday, right?
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How in tune are you with what your body wants you to know? You might be ignoring its signals to take a chill pill while you're determined to soldier through, yet you owe yourself the courtesy of listening to your body's needs.
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Why aren’t you running your writing life? You’re spending hours a day trolling that writing group you joined on Facebook, cheering on others’ wins, and supporting those who struggle with motivation. The latter, dollface, is you.
You’re lazy, and it isn’t a good look. I have a few things to say about that.
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Scientists have debunked the widely touted theory that 10,000 hours of practice make you an expert in a skill. Experienced writers everywhere sighed in relief because we continue finding ourselves boxed in by the passive voice and sapped by anemic vocabulary.
Let's talk about those weak words that pepper our writing when we aren't confident and make us doubt our creative aptitude.
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We're writing shorter and shorter emails these days, making brevity the name of the game. Yet are you committing email mistakes that could cost you business relationships? Let's look at how to improve one-to-one emails.
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