Susan Benjamin - Quick & Painless Business Writing - An Essential Guide to Clear and Powerful Communication

Read. Every day. It’s imperative.Consciously or not, you imitate the styles of the documents you read. No matter how many writing classes you take or writing workbooks you open, you still need to read. You don’t have to read highbrow literature: in fact, you don’t want to read highbrow literature. It will slow down your style. Instead, read what you enjoy. Here are some ideas:

Read newspapers and magazines.Amazingly, according to Journalism.orgJournalism.org Journalism.org’s annual State of the News Media report in 2004, only slightly more than half the population reads hardcopy newspapers, yet newspapers offer up some of the best writing around. It’s usually fast and interesting – just the way you like it. Want to read The Wall Street Journal ? Go ahead. But don’t feel embarrassed if you prefer to indulge in your local tabloid. Regardless, an article over coffee in the morning will fortify your style for the day.

Read books.I know this sounds obvious, but many people don’t read them. In fact, the average American only reads one book a year – usually in summer for some “sea ’n’ sun” entertainment. Yet they’re the greatest influence imaginable on your writing. You stay immersed in the book’s language for a long time, relaxing and enjoying the experience, much like soaking in a hot tub. You’ll flow from chapter to chapter, witnessing how the author’s ideas come together. As for the (in)famous literary novels? As I said, don’t reach for Russian tragedies if your heart craves true romance.

Read workplace documents with caution.Yes, you have to read workplace documents. But beware: read these and nothing else, and you unconsciously start duplicating the style. Depending on the document, it may be as interesting and provocative as the ingredients on a can of paint.

Remember the fun factor.So we’ve established that most people don’t read for pleasure. But why? My guess is people read for the wrong reasons. Most think books are good for them. Books will make them better people, somehow. Stronger people. Healthier people. Reasons why you might, say, eat green, leafy vegetables. That’s true, of course, books are good for you. The real reasons to read and keep on reading, though: it’s fun, lasts far longer than a movie, and is more intensive than Web surfing. Oh – and books and magazines are easier to carry around than a television set.

Practice makes perfect.With writing, as with sports, you only improve by doing. And doing. And doing. And getting better as you go. So while cruising through this workbook you’ll see suggested exercises. They’re marked “Q&P Break.” Stop, go to the computer, and go ahead. Don’t worry – these exercises won’t take hours each. In fact, they work similar to the drip method of irrigation: By doing small amounts every day, your style will be fresh and fertile. Many have a high usability factor, too, meaning you can actually write and rewrite copy for work.

You’ll learn lots of things formally and informally as we go along, such as how to place words strategically, to maximize the power of your message, and the optimal approach to using sentence rhythms. You’ll even learn to read other people’s documents differently – especially when their message is unclear or poorly written.

So sit back, relax, grab a drink and a pen and paper, and let’s get started.

Let’s start with the Mother of All Reality Checks – the ultimate reason you write at work. But first, answer this question: Why write at work? Don’t think about your answer – just respond from your gut. A few words will do. Ready? What’s your answer?

If you’re like most of the tens of thousands of people I’ve trained over the years, it probably was: “To communicate,” or “To send information,” or something like that. Actually, writing to communicate is the job of newspapers and magazines. People read them to get information, pass the time, sip a Mimosa on a Sunday morning, and flip through the pages of the Sunday edition.

In the business world, you write to get a response. Writing a proposal? You want the reader to sign on the dotted line. Sending an e-mail asking for material? You want the material, but that’s not all. You want the material now, today, right away. Not, say, after two or three phone calls or follow-up e-mails. Writing a job announcement? Sure, you want people to apply. But you want the right people to apply, and send you the right information when they do. That means, of course, you don’t want the wrong people to apply and have to sift through endless incorrect applications. You know the drill.

The importance of getting the right response is no small matter. In fact, it affects just about everything in your business. Let’s look at that e-mail I mentioned a moment ago. Here’s how it goes:

Hypothetical e-mail scenario : You’re writing a report. Since this is hypothetical, I’m tempted to say the report was for a client and included recommendations that would help them immeasurably and bring you a $2.2 million contract. But your e-mail is probably the more run-of-the-mill variety, such as you and your team are writing a report to help your boss determine the next steps for a project and you need information from another department.

What happened : You sent the e-mail telling your associate in that other department about the project, what you needed, why, and when.

What happened next: Nothing. So you e-mailed again.

And then? Nothing. Still nothing. So you called to remind them.

And: They still didn’t respond, so you found someone else to send the e-mail. Or: They did respond, but you didn’t get everything you wanted. Or: They did respond, only it was late. Or…lots of other possibilities.

Naturally, the cost of this delay adds up. There’s your time spent in e-mailing and calling the person. Then, there’s the time of others on your team who can’t move forward with their contribution to the report until they have the missing information. And at long last, there’s the valuable time of that back-up person you contact since the original (still!) didn’t respond. Plus the stop-and-go time of delaying various aspects of the report and the project, which is on hold since your boss didn’t get the report…Now, multiply this by 10 or even 20 unopened or unanswered e-mails and…well…you know where I’m going.

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