Bryan Collins’ Post

Simple language keeps people reading. Before publishing your next post... Check your post's Flesch Readability score. Aim for a score above 70. Scores range from 0 to 100. Higher scores = easier-to-read content. To get there... Delete any big words and complicated phrases. Shorten longer sentences. Then, press publish Not sure how to check your score? Use a website like Hemingway Editor. Or an app like Grammarly. 𝙁𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙞𝙥 𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡? 𝙃𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚

Simple language keeps people reading. Before publishing your next post... Check your post's Flesch Readability Score. Scores range from 0 to 100. The higher the scores, the easier your work is to read. Delete any big words and complicated phrases. Shorten longer sentences. Aim for a score above 70. Then, press publish Not sure how to check your score? Use a website like Hemingway Editor. Or an app like Grammarly. 𝙁𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙞𝙥 𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡? 𝙃𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚

It took me 2 hours to write my first post. And it took me 20 minutes to write this one. Do you sit in front of your screen for hours, only to write a very average piece of content? Over the past few months, I have improved my writing speed. Here's how you can do it too: ⇾ Write daily to build inertia ⇾ Do not overedit the initial draft ⇾ Let your post flow like a conversation ⇾ Create an outline, then fill in the blanks ⇾ Keep a swipe file of hooks/templates ready ⇾ Use the word count & structure that performs best How long does it take you to write a post? ---------- Does writing daily feel like a task to you? Let me handle it for you. DM me to get in touch.

I’ve committed to writing daily for the last 45 days on my Medium blog. Consistency was never my biggest strength, but slowly, I am getting on track. My biggest learnings are: >> Penning down the random ideas that pop in my head is the best creative exercise. - It helps me write more interesting content. >> I post my pieces even if I feel unhappy with their quality. - If they don't hit the chord, I can at least get some feedback. >> I write to share, not to preach. - I don’t aim to present myself as an industry-expert. >> Reading more is the best way to write better. - My theory: one can always tell when a writer doesn’t read. There’s a long journey to cover, but I am just getting started. Did the art of writing teach you anything?

WHY I STARTED WRITING ONLINE FOR 30 DAYS: WEEK 2 UPDATE 4 Lessons I experienced after two weeks of daily writing. ☛ Writing every day is building up my confidence. I'm not worrying about how many impressions my content gets. But it's exciting to see your content gaining traction. ☛ Writing every day is helping me beat perfectionism. I'm trying my best to beat overthinking, overcommitting, and overediting. Sometimes, the template library does not match what I want to write about. I will pick one and adapt my content to it. ☛ Setting up a time for writing is still a struggle. So far, I have not missed a day, my primary goal. I am trying not to go hard on myself too much ☛ Organizing my thoughts for action is still a struggle. Typeshare's extensive template library overwhelms me, so I'm trying not to overrely on it. 🎯 Over the next few days, I plan to continue writing daily. On weekends, I'll review my writings and the content library to distill ideas and share them.

"Write informed, informative, targeted but at the same time, plain, concise, and human" Harvard University Library: tips on writing... Things to check among all: "WRITE FOR THE USER FIRST Before you start writing, ask yourself:  Who is going to read this content?  What do they need to know?  What are they trying to accomplish?  How might they be feeling? " Maybe not always possible and some do not like short paragraphs, but in general try to: "BE CONCISE "Shorter sentences and paragraphs make your content easier to skim and less intimidating. Paragraphs should top out around 3 to 8 sentences. Ideal sentence length is around 15 to 20 words." From (and read more at): https://lnkd.in/dXQnD7x7.

As a writer, you might find yourself: . Fixing small mistakes again and again . Wondering if every word is right . Changing things so much that you never finish This can lead to never actually sharing your work. Remember, it’s important to know when to stop editing. Aim for good, not perfect. Sometimes, trying to make something flawless is just a way to avoid completing it. Give yourself a deadline for edits. Make your writing sharp, but don’t let perfectionism stop you from pressing "publish." The real growth happens after your words are out in the world.

When was the last time you (#associationprofessionals and #trainingprofessionals) took a fresh look at your training materials? Today's writing conventions favor content that is shorter and uses more common language. This style of writing also makes it easier to absorb and retain information. You don't have to "dumb down" your content. But you should avoid: - Fluff and filler words - Language that is too formal - Inflated phrases - Redundancies It can be easy to fall into this trap. One favorite tool to use to avoid this is the Hemingway Editor. It scans and scores your writing, looking for issues like overly complex words and sentences, unnecessary adverbs, and use of the passive voice. If your training materials needs to be refreshed or you have just refreshed it recently, I suggest you running some of your content through this (or any other free) editor and see the results. You just may be surprised!

I’m a huge fan of Noah Smith’s writing and have many times been blown away by the insane volume of (high quality) content he is able to put out. Found it interesting to read how he uses AIs so far. It is pretty obvious if you think about how they work that LLMs won’t have an original opinion, so I’m not surprised that they don’t help a great writer write. About the editing part I’m a bit more curious. It seems that the latest LLMs should be useful for this already. Maybe the user interface doesn’t work yet. Copy pasting back and forth is pretty annoying. The writing assistants I’ve seen so far tend to focus on generation: expand this, rewrite that. But what if an assistant would focus on readability and impact. It could give tips like: “here’s an alternative word order for this paragraph that is more impactful.” Or: “here are three different analogies that could help make this point.” Does this type of writing assistant exist already?

I am a long-form person. I like to add visuals, metaphors, and nuanced descriptions to whatever I write. At the same time, I understand that long-form writing is a dying art. In the world of ‘quick tips & hacks’ and ‘60-sec lessons’, barely anyone has the time, interest, or attention to read 500 words while scrolling through their feeds. 3 years ago, I was casually discussing this with my Mentor when they dropped a writing mantra that stays with me to date. They said - “You can assess how visual and fluid your writing is by checking if it still makes sense with the minimum usage of ‘that’ and ‘which’.” And it made so much sense. To make your reader stick, you need something convincing enough, which usually is good writing. Amidst all the bite-sized, palatable content vying for attention and an audience yearning for instant gratification, the desire to read something of substance remains the same. And hence, you won’t need demonstrative pronouns if your writing is descriptive enough. If, at all, these words break the reader's flow, stopping it from becoming easy and fluid. Just thought of sharing something I learnt from my Mentor and has become a conscious practice while editing. 💁🏽♀️