The Writing Edge for Business Writers: 7/31/15

Jul 31, 2015 | Better Writing

You’re a businessperson. You may not think of yourself as a writer, but you know that writing well can boost your results and your career. Naturally, you want to do better. Every week I point you to articles and blog posts that I think will teach you something or spark an idea or two. Some weeks there are more pointers than others.

This week I’m pointing you to pieces on common writing errors and writing faster as well as two reading lists.

Articles & Posts

From Mignon Fogarty: A Quick Guide to Avoiding Common Writing Errors

“You’re looking at an e-mail you just wrote, and you’re not sure whether you have the right word: Do you want affect or effect? Further or farther? Gray or grey? Getting it wrong can make you look bad — people do judge you by the way you write — but you also don’t have all day to look up words. It helps to have an easy reference for the basics, bookmark some resources, and learn how to choose your battles.”

From Ginny Carter: Five ways to speed up your writing

“If you’ve ever started the process of writing a book or even a blog post, you’ll most likely have asked yourself the question, ‘how long will this take, can’t I speed it up at all?’. Many budding authors underestimate the time needed to write a really good and polished book, and get bogged down half way through; sometimes they even give up or put the project permanently on hold. It doesn’t have to be like this!”

Reading Lists

From Geoffrey James: 10 Unusual Books Mark Zuckerberg Thinks You Should Read

“Mark Zuckerberg’s amazingly diverse list (it includes a 14th-century treatise on economics, a groundbreaking study of U.S. race relations, and a rewrite of Orwell’s 1984) is imaginative, eclectic, and thought-provoking:”

From Shana Lebowitz and Mike Nudelman: 9 books Warren Buffett thinks everyone should read

“Billionaire investor Warren Buffett says he spends about 80% of his day reading. We looked through 20 years of interviews and shareholder letters to find out which books he recommends most highly.”

Sources I Check Regularly

I find the posts and articles that I share with you on The Writing Edge in many places. But there are a few that provide insightful pieces again and again. Here they are.

Digital Book World

Frances Caballo

jeffbullas.com

Joanna Penn

Merce Cardus

Problogger

Becky Robinson’s Weaving Influence