Writing is an art that you need to polish constantly. As with any skill in the world, “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”. (Tim Notke)

I am a freelance writer with over a decade of experience and I’ve written hundreds of books, articles, websites and anything in between. I also wrote a lot of academic content for universities from the UK and the USA.

Writing is an essential skill that helps you express yourself, make a good impression, get hired, sell something and so on. Your success in life will be proportional to your ability to write.

Because writing is not only important for getting good grades. You also need it to prepare for a job interview, express your opinions in the company you are working, finding prospects for your business or to impress that girl/boy you like.

Here are my 7 tips to become better at writing in general.

1. Read a lot (nonfiction)

This might come as a shocker or not, but reading helps you improve your ability to write. Reading well-spoken authors helps you enrich your vocabulary and better grasp the ability to formulate persuasive sentences.

Good writers are also avid readers.

Fiction is fun to read, but nonfiction is what really helps you develop writing skills. Since nonfiction focuses on applicable information (such as self-help, health, fitness, finances, etc.) you learn to express real things in an effective way.

Fiction is more descriptive and imaginative, that’s why it’s not the best at improving your writing skills.

I recommend reading authors such as John C. Maxwell, Jim Rohn, Les Brown and Robin Sharma. My examples are from the personal development niche, which not only help you improve your vocabulary but also your life.

Win-win!

2. Simplicity is genius

If you want to write awesome and compelling text, you need to keep it simple. Pompous words and complex sentences aimed at making you look smarter only confuses the reader.

Simplicity is genius, that’s what Albert Einstein said. It couldn’t be truer for writing.

Whenever you edit your piece of text, always think about what it’s unnecessary and can be removed.

Edit your text with passion.

3. Do your research

I never put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) before doing my research and neither should you.

Writing amazing content is 80% research and 20% writing. The more research you do, the easier writing will flow.

Besides, you’ll have the confidence to write high-quality text.

I research intensively every subject I write about before doing it, that’s why I can write in niches I never wrote before and make it sound like I’m an expert.

I know a lot about badminton, reef tanks and camping, things I’ve never done in real life, simply because I researched the topics for my clients. And I can write like an expert.

Do you want to impress the person that is going to read your text? Do extra research.

4. Acknowledge your flaws and your strengths

People are scared to show who they are and that makes them come as fake in writing.

If you are not good at dialogue, acknowledge it and work on your strengths instead. Maybe you are a master at imagining landscapes and events.

Or maybe your report is small in sample size because you couldn’t find too many people to answer your questions. But you can ask them more elaborate questions to compensate for the lack of participants.

Having weaknesses and strengths is human, and anyone would appreciate someone that is honest about who they are and their current situation.

If you are a beginner at writing, own it. You can still write good content for your level.

Honesty is also extremely powerful at connecting with your readers, which is important in writing.

I had no idea how to become a writer and I struggled a lot before landing my first freelancing job. That’s ok, because that made me preserve and realize this is what I really love.

See? Honesty = connection.

5. Use examples for inspiration

If I use one example to write my text, that’s plagiarism. If I use multiple examples, that’s inspiration.

Seeing how others have done what you need to write is a quick way to learn the best way to do it. You don’t have to copy or use anything from those examples.

However, having a clear mental picture of what the finished product might look like helps you find your ideas easily.

Some school assignments might come with examples that you can draw inspiration from, but most of the time you’d have to find those examples yourself.

Google is your friend.

6. Practice writing as often as possible

Getting good at writing doesn’t happen without practice.

This was my first mistake as a newbie writer. I only wrote when I had a job to do.

What about the rest of the time?

Writing requires constant practice, therefore you need to make a weekly goal to write something.

What I learned to do from Jim Rohn was to keep a journal with my goals and everything I had to do that day or week. Even if I don’t have something to write for my clients, I find something to write for my other projects or for my website.

The more you practice writing, the better you become at it.

It’s the only way.

7. Be a chameleon

Every writing project is different. You need to adapt your writing style depending on what you are writing.

Different topics require a different tonality, and your ability to change these styles will make you a great writer.

That means you should embark on writing projects that might seem out of your area of expertise just to hone your writing skills.

Get out of your comfort zone as a writer!

Write something funny or that requires a lot of research. Or maybe some informative social media posts.

These are my tips to get better at writing. I hope you guys liked them.

Let me know if you have any questions.