The One Trick That Will Improve Your Writing — Instantly!

You’ve probably seen the ads that promise to melt fat or make you rich or any other difficult endeavor… instantly. And we all know that’s nonsense, but in an age of instant gratification, who doesn’t want something terrific to happen with minimal effort right now?

Writing is hard work. It takes talent, dedication, perseverance, a lot of thought, a thick skin, and a willingness to do it when it’s the last thing in the world you want to do. No way around that.

But wouldn’t it be grand if there were just one thing that could improve writing… instantly?

Rejoice. There is!

Your writing mentors, your critique groups, the books you read are probably all telling you the same thing: you need to tighten your writing. Tightening doesn’t necessarily mean creating smaller sentences (I come from a culture where no one uses one word when fourteen will do, and we’ve produced some brilliant literature); it means paying attention to how your writing can express the same thing in a more compact, direct manner. And in the process, you’ll find it’s clearer.

So are you ready for the trick?

Here it is:

1. Open your opus in Microsoft Word (I know, I know, but it’s the industry standard).