Your Writing, Tell it as it is!

The kids are back at school and you have a whole six hours to enlighten the world with your writing prowess. A hot coffee and your favourite chocolates by your side, the day beckons your talent. Settling into position you begin to write. Dappled shadows from the trees outside dance across the wall and suddenly catch your eye, the random shapes take on a life of their own and you are captivated by the spectacle. Heaven! you think, opening your notes, here we go!

Your last attempt was quite good, at least your mother who bought five copies of the magazine thought so! Ok we all know that writing a small piece in a community newsletter is unlikely to win you the 'Booker' prize but at least it's a start. This month's offering is centered around dogs, or more precisely dog owners not cleaning up their pooh, a real problem and one of your pet (no pun intended) hates.

So the scene is set, you are well prepared, fired up and ready to kick some ass. Don't hold back, tell it as it is, name and shame the culprits, you know who they are, you know because you see them every single day. Be controversial and if the story ruffles a few feathers so much the better, as long as your facts stand up you'll make far more friends than enemies. Think of it as doing your bit for the community.

Wherever possible try to come up with logical and workable solutions, don't just offer a list of personal gripes. The world is full of self opinionated professional whingers, moaning their way through life, don't join the list! Make the reader aware of the issues by using your writing skills to capture their imagination, for example:


As a dog owner myself I am totally disgusted and also saddened by the lack of respect shown by certain individuals. Between 7.30 and 9.30 each morning a constant stream of 'dog walkers' frequent a small area of parkland adjacent to my house, most of these are responsible people. Unfortunately as in all walks of life there are a handful of selfish, irresponsible, ignorant scum bags hell bent on making our lives a misery. Can you believe that some of these idiots turn up in cars, kick out their dog/dogs and sit there reading a newspaper. Meantime mans best friend dumps all over the grass and hops back into the car leaving somebody else with the problem. I thought it was the dog that was the dumb animal ........and so on, these clowns are spoiling your life, rub their noses in it!

You've done your homework over the last few weeks and compiled a dossier containing names, dog breeds, car reg no's, dates and times etc. Give the offenders an ultimatum, clean up their act or suffer the consequences. Stress that your dossier would make interesting reading for the local council/police and make it known that you will have no hesitation of handing it over if the problem continues.

As a writer the only special power you have is the power of words, consider yourself privileged and use your power wisely.

Your writing, an ideal first venture

Firstly, all of us here at The Importance of Words (just me actually!) would like to wish everyone a happy, prosperous, stress free and creatively productive new year. If you have not joined the literary ranks by writing your story yet, now is the perfect time. Why not make it one of your resolutions to write a few words every day? Don't jump in at the deep end and risk getting yourself bogged down, take it steady, little and often is the key to staying focused and maintaining enthusiasm when first starting out.

Short stories are a great way to launch your writing career, pick a favourite subject ie a pet, your holidays, a special day at work or a strange/amusing incident etc. etc. - there's a never ending list!
Write a brief plot, personalise your characters, maybe add a theme (honesty prevails sort of stuff), write down a running order and your half way there. The beauty of short stories is that they are short and can soon be discarded if things take a turn for the worse. They allow the writer to practise with words, use suspense, humour, sadness and all the other emotions neccessary to story writing.

Another ideal first venture is to write a review or an article, the very backbone of the internet is comprised of articles and reviews. If someone breaks wind, within a week it has been reviewed and some expert has written a series of articles on it! Have a look around the net for reviews and articles you'll see exactly what I mean. If you have your own website or blog the writing of reviews and articles with a link back to your site can have a very beneficial effect on your traffic, something worth bearing in mind believe me! That aside it is also a fantastic way to develop your writing skills and gain confidence in your creative ability.

Writing an article is dead easy, pick a subject you know something about and proceed to tell everyone what you know! Don't be boring, try and make your writing jump off the screen, be controversial your the expert here! Perhaps the most important element is the title, this is what entices people to view your article, let's assume it's about cooking a steak for example,

How to cook the best steak!

7 easy steps to cooking the juiciest steak ever!

Which would you choose? No contest!