Getting Ideas

Where do you get ideas for position statements, and proposals, white papers? To keep your ideas fresh, you need to be out there. Here are some suggestions:

• Browse LinkedIn, whose members are always dropping ideas of interest in virtually every field.
• Watch Big Think, Do Lectures, Fora.TV, LearnOutLoud, and TED for excellent videos on trending issues.
• Go to your town's or university's library for relevant books or lectures. 
• Read The Atlantic, Economist, The New Republic, The New Yorker, Scientific American, and Smithsonian. 

Using What You Learn

Peter Bossio knows how to take something and run with it. Bossio, who works for the New York City Department of Probation, seems to always make the most of his learning experiences. After each of the two writing courses he has taken with me, he planted a new job aid beside his office desk. 

These "cheat sheets," as he calls them, remind him of the key elements to include in his reports and the critical qualities to check when reviewing them. Using them has made him a more focused, productive writer. He proved this point in a Writing High-Impact Executive Summaries class, when he efficiently packed a lot of divergent, complex content into manageable categories. This practice made it easy for him to reorganize, add, and remove ideas for a high-level, work-related document. Speaking of using your stuff! 

Trainers like me dream of having such proactive learners in their classes, and I'm sure the Department of Probation wishes it had more employees like Bossio who are dedicated to self-improvement. Pete, thanks for listening, experimenting, and developing!

Libraries: The Writer's House

Sometimes when I speak to writing students about the pleasure I get from going to the library, their eyes glaze over in a total loss of interest. Other times, they purse their lips, hoping I won't ask them if they also go to the library, as they likely don't. The American Library Association estimates that only two-thirds of Americans hold library cards. This number is ten percent less than eligible Americans registered to vote. While news stories abound about low voter turnout in the United States, similar spotlights about diminishing library usage seem to be ignored.

 One of the greatest benefits of living in the modern world is our access to virtually any book, journal, or magazine at no cost. Yet too many people do not take advantage of this unique privilege. Even more surprisingly, many people who want to improve their writing skills avoid libraries.

But the library is a writer's house. It is an endless reservoir of ideas, the best place to break writer's block, an indispensable source of inspiration, and the perfect site for bringing meaning and value to human lives. Want to be a better writer? Get a library card! 

The Value of Reading

Whether you are a first grader or a seasoned businessperson, reading is the first step in developing your writing skills for at least nine reasons.

1. Reading expands vocabulary. Different fields, genres, and writers have their own vocabulary. Developing writers who read eclectically can learn from these differences to advance their command of language.

2. Reading uncovers various writing styles. Writers can learn a lot from studying content organization, sentence structure, sentence and paragraph length, and punctuation usage. Looking purposefully at different styles of respected writers gives developing writers greater strategic choices.

3. Reading stimulates the mind. Reading demands more from the mind than watching television, playing video games, or ambling through the mall. It is an abstract task requiring deep concentration to retain what the author conveys. This skill transfers to writing in  vital ways.

4. Reading improves general knowledge. Global information is limitless, so reading exposes writers to endless possibilities. Transforming just a fragment of that data into a dramatic narrative or an incisive polemic is what makes a writer. 

5. Reading heightens critical thinking skills. The more writers read, the more they'll find conflicting evidence, forcing them to draw their own conclusions. They can do so only by serious reflection, exhaustive research, in-depth analysis, and thoughtful summations—the very skills they must use as writers.

6. Reading sharpens creativity. Since readers have to picture what they're reading, they must use their imagination. Exercising their mind in such a way gives them more efficient and effective access to that imaginative part of their mind when they need to write.

7. Reading inspires writing. Getting excited about a piece of writing can motivate readers to write something of their own, just as watching a favorite athlete might inspire amateurs to get on a court or field to engage in some sporting heroics of their own.

8. Reading cultivates awareness of the world. Readers are bound to come across new opinions about the world, some that reinforce their beliefs, others that create new beliefs, and still others that may reverse their beliefs. This open-mindedness will add to the depth of a developing writer's toolbox. 

9. Reading adds immeasurable value to quality of life. Reading is the thing we do to forget we're waiting for our doctor's appointment or standing in a line at the post office or being placed on an interminable hold by a service technician. Reading is a great escape from other troubles, a singular way of leaving the immediate aggravations of the world for an alternative one that may turn us to get a new idea, take a note of it, and write our next sentence. 

So if you want to be a better writer, read, read, read.

Writing What You Know

I completely get the writer's adage, "Write what you know." No doubt, an American veteran of the Gulf War would have a far clearer picture about the landscapes and climates in Afghanistan or Iraq than a writer who has seen only pictures of the region. A male septuagenarian would be better off interviewing young, single, working mothers if he wanted to write about a day in their life.  An accomplished Japanese classical pianist would do well to research and listen to jazz great Thelonious Monk's music before comparing her music to his.

So what do we really know when we start out writing at a young age without the benefit of hindsight? Or, for that matter, does a retiree still know the music scene she experienced 45 years earlier as a college student? The answer is simple: Just write, and see what happens. Carson McCullers published her novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter at age 23, Alexander Pope published An Essay on Criticism at 22, and Nancy Yi Fan published Swordbird when she was 13. Precociousness? Yes, but they could not possibly know much about life at such young ages. What makes these writers tick is skill, for sure, but desire even more. 

If you'd like to read what 31 successful writers have to say about writing what you know (or not), click here.

Twenty-third Anniversary for Philip Vassallo, Ed.D.

On August 2, 1996, I quit my secure job of 19 years at a nonprofit agency after giving a one-month notice to start my own communication consulting business. I had a mortgage to pay, college bills ahead with a daughter in high school and another in middle school, my own continuing educational bills as a doctoral candidate, two car payments, and no guaranteed income. Discounting my decision to marry and to become a father, creating my own business was the best life choice I have ever made. 

I knew that half of small businesses fail within five years, and I was humble enough to realize that the business world was not waiting for me. But the decision was not a rash one. I resolved to quit my job (I put it in writing) seven years before I actually made the bold move. My willingness to work hard was a huge factor, for sure, yet I took many small steps while I still had a job. I enrolled in a doctoral program to enhance my credentials. I researched the sorts of industries and businesses that required my skills. I offered my services, sometimes for free, to consulting businesses similar to the one I wanted to run. I spoke to people who were where I wanted to be. Most important, I had the support of my wife, a schoolteacher who knew how much this dream meant to me.

Twenty-three years later, the business is doing fine, and I am doing precisely what I want to do. The work hours are long, but I enjoy the occasion to learn that those hours bring. Clients can be demanding, which makes the reward of fulfilling their requirements even greater. The industry is constantly changing, affording me the continual opportunity for professional development. The income is not guaranteed, but I did well enough to get my daughters through colleges I would not have been able to afford had I stayed at my job. I strongly recommend taking a chance on yourself if the desire is there.