Turning Your Writing Into A Masterpiece: The 10 Little Steps that produce Giant Leaps.

I think everybody loves writing. Whether you like to write creative constructions such as poems, stories, and any kind of writing, or you just love to read other people’s writings, their creative contents, or whatsoever it is, the bottom line is that everybody loves writing.

PS: I might be wrong but I think there’s about 90% truth in what I just said.

Although, this post is not meant to criticize any of your preferred style of writing (that’s definitely a story for another blog), but I’m here to share with you certain secrets and steps that I discovered from years of writing that I believe strongly that when applied, will drastically improve your writing skills and turn that your next write-up into a masterpiece. The truth is most, if not all, of the secrets I will be sharing in this post were discovered or better put “learned” the hard way, but their discovery has opened to me a wealth of creative resources that have since then become my best writing companion.

So, I have penned down ten (10) of these wonderful secrets but I’ll only be sharing five out of the ten in this post, the remaining five will be in the sequel post.

Sit back, relax and enjoy this journey with me.

Cheers!

1. WRITE WITH A GOAL IN MIND

This is probably the best writing secret I discovered. It is quite possible to be easily distracted and discouraged when you are writing, especially when writing on seemingly abstract topics. You need to ask yourself this very simple but defining question even before you set out to write: “What is the essence of this write-up?”

The answer to that question is what will give you the needed direction for the process. When you can confidently and conveniently answer that question, the central message of the write-up becomes obvious to you. The tone, the delivery style, the choice of words and other important ingredients that will soothe that particular work also find immediate expression.

Knowing the goal of the writing is like getting the map for a journey. You are sure that no matter what happens on the way, you cannot miss your way. The same thing applies to writing. Even when you experience the common writers’ block, you are swayed or disturbed more than necessary because the reason for the work has been explicitly defined and that’s more than enough mental boost to push through at those times.

2. AVOID COMMONLY MISSPELLED WORDS

Nothing easily turns people off when they go through your work more than numerous spelling errors. We live in a world that is technologically advanced and diverse and even though that gives us more options to choose from as regards the device you use in your write ups but this can spell doom for you if you don’t take note of this very important point.

Typing on mobile devices such as phones and tablets might seem a lot easier as compared to the traditional means but these devices have certain functions that you really need to pay attention to as a writer, especially as one that wants to write a masterpiece. One of such functions is the autocorrect function. This singular function has done more harm than good to so many people across the world and you don’t want to fall into that category. As a writer, you really need to be aware of and familiar with these commonly misspelled words so that you can take note of them when writing. Some of these words are auto-corrected by the autocorrect function on your device and that may affect your construction in the long run.

For example, words that have double letters: occasion (not “ocassion”), professional (not “proffessional” or “proffesional”), preferred (not “prefferred") bookkeeping (not “bookeeping"), committee (not “commitee”), and some other words like fluctuate (not “flunctuate”), etc.

The truth is you need to be a friend of your dictionary to be able to familiarize yourself with these words and many more. Believe me that is definitely a little sacrifice to be made for the greater glory.

3. NEVER USE WORDS YOU DON’T KNOW

This is definitely another mistake some writers make in their various works. The reasons for this are quite varied ranging from outright ignorance to trying to sound or appear more sophisticated than they truly are. Whichever reason it might be why you do that, it is never justifiable. Just because you came across a new word and it sounded good (or dope) does not mean that you can out rightly use it in your writing without first trying to get to know the meaning of the word and check that it naturally blends with other words in your writing without sounding unnecessarily foreign or alien.

You don’t want people to do this task for you and end up finding out that your choice of words in a particular setting is out rightly wrong. It is your responsibility as the writer to ensure that the meaning of each word that appears in your writing is duly known most especially words that are not usually part of general conversational English or words that don’t have English origin.

As a rule of thumb: “The simpler your approach (in terms of choice of words), the better the return”.

4. DON’T TRY SOUNDING SMARTER THAN YOU ARE

This secret is sequel to the number three secret I shared above. The last impression you want to create in the heart of your audience is sounding fake. Nothing makes you look faker than trying to sound smarter than you really are.

Have you read some write ups and you are tempted to sue the author of such writings for plagiarism when you try to connect the introduction with the body and conclusion of their write ups. Something will not just add up. You might think that either the body was plagiarized or the introduction or even conclusion. Why is that? It looks as if two or even three authors (with different levels of creativities, cognitive abilities or smartness) have written the said write-up.

I usually advice writers that writing is both an endowment and a skill. Even if you think you have the natural ability to write, there’s still room for learning certain things that will eventually turn you into a professional writer. The truth is these things come through years of experience. There’s an adage that says “you learn to write by writing”, I don’t think anything is truer than that. The more you write, the better you get and the better you get, the smarter you appear to your audience.

Smartness is not something that you can fake. If you have not a certain level of smartness which comes with experience, trying to pull off such feats will end up making you look fake and dumb to your audience and I’m sure that’s the last thing you want to experience in your journey to writing success.

Becoming a smart writer entails openness to discover your writing mistakes and errors and humility to want to learn the required lessons from such mistakes and continue to grow into the professional writer that you have always desired.

5. KEEP TRACK OF YOUR WRITING

Becoming a masterpiece writer is more of a journey than a destination. It is more of a process than an outcome. This simply means that becoming a professional writer that writes masterpieces is not an end in itself but rather a means to an end.

The key word here is growth. The truth is professional writers are not born, they are made. They are a product of a very tasking process, a process they consciously decided to learn everything they can possibly learn from. That also applies to you in your journey to the world of sweat less masterpieces.

You need to keep track of your writing for two main reasons. Firstly, it helps you to define your style easily. When you begin to check the trend of thoughts that usually culminated into your various writings you can easily discover how best your messages can be easily delivered to your audience. This will give you both direction and boosts your confidence. Direction in the sense that you now know areas of concentration, the kind of help you will seek and who you will eek it from. Your confidence level is also boosted when you begin to notice an improvement in your style and approach as well as your grammatical constructions.

Secondly, it helps you to discover your mistakes faster. One thing is sure, nobody becomes a professional writer without having their fair share of some highs and some lows. The truth is mistakes are a part of the process. But the mistakes you don’t discover, or discover on time, you can’t possibly do anything about it. And when your mistakes are left unattended to, they will surely inhibit your growth and dampen your hope of becoming a professional writer.

The truth cannot be overemphasized. Keep a catalogue of your writing. It will come in handy in the process trust me. And when you are fully grown into maturity, it will be a wonderful resource to groom the aspiring writers that you will come across.

As I draw the curtain here for now, let me leave you with this thought: “Becoming a Masterpiece writer is possible and it is as good as following all these simple steps that I have highlighted so far and the ones that will be discussed in the sequel post.”

Till we see again in the next post, I wish you all the best as you journey to becoming a professional writer.

Warmest regards,

Your companion in success,

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