by Michelle Ponte | Jun 9, 2021 | Blog
In the 1994 book Bird by Bird, author Anne Lamott dispenses advice legendary among writers on how to write a draft worthy of hitting send. Her key gem (and the only piece of advice I recall after nearly 30 years): “Just write a “sh***ty first draft.”
That short sentence is the mantra that informs every article, case study, white paper, and…er, today’s blog post that I create. Writing on command can be challenging, especially for marketing, PR, and media relations professionals who produce copy on deadline about complex healthcare topics. There are times when that first sentence just won’t come to mind, making us fall prey to believing we have writer’s block.
However, after writing for a living for 20+ years, I no longer believe in so-called writer’s block. Why? Because that tired phrase suggests I don’t have control of the writing process. Hundreds of well-received articles, reports, and other papers would suggest otherwise.
What I finally figured out is once I write those first 100 throwaway words (okay, 200 or 300), I need to trust that the creative process will kick in sooner—rather than later—and lead me to a final, polished, client-worthy draft.
Even so, the writing process is never as easy or linear as we would like it to be. If I still can’t produce quality work after writing that terrible first draft, as Lamott suggests, I know it’s time to stop and redirect as quickly as possible. I find there are two primary reasons why writers get stuck, which are relatively easy to fix with the right approach.
Zero creative inspiration. You just came off a 12-hour writing jag, and now it’s time to do it all over again with a 2,000-word byline. While you may have a strong command of the topic and direction, you are getting stuck with the lead, introduction, or headline. This is a common stumbling block for writers because this is where your words need that spark to draw in readers. When this happens, I stop, switch gears, and do activities that will inspire creative thinking.
This typically involves browsing publications from other industries. A few of my go-to pubs are Fast Company and Wired, both of which have punchy headlines, good pacing, and well-structured articles. I also read current healthcare news for inspiration and comb through a desktop folder of well-written articles and reports I have saved for this specific purpose. I may even listen to an audiobook for a few minutes or do push-ups and squats next to my desk. The activity doesn’t matter, it just needs to help you shift from an analytical to a creative mindset.
No direction, and it’s due end of day. You have three interviews to sort through, conflicting directions from the client, and the outline in your head is spinning out of control. Been there, and yes, there is a solution. Take another look at the assignment memo or creative brief for clarity. If it still doesn’t make sense, rewrite it in your own words until it does. If guidance wasn’t provided, quickly write a creative brief for yourself that includes a one-sentence objective and three key takeaways (one sentence each).
Still stuck? Take it next level and write a one-page outline resembling the basic four-paragraph essay you learned in high school. The four-paragraph essay includes the headline and four paragraphs with topic sentences (the intro, two middle sections, and a conclusion.) After you have committed to this outline, add more paragraphs under each of the four sections and give them topic sentences as well. Drop chunks of information into each paragraph, finish that bad first draft, rename it, and move into the writing zone.
I also write down ideas in my notes app on my phone as they occur (knowing I will never remember them later), usually after a shower or before bed when I am more relaxed. Some of my best writing starts this way. Finally, I keep an editorial cheat sheet crammed with writing goodies, including a list of words and phrases I can grab and use to polish that final draft.
Need more tips to fix your writer’s block? Check out this blog from my colleague Morgan Lewis.
by Morgan Lewis | Apr 14, 2021 | Blog
Writing is drudgery for many people, which is part of the reason our clients let us do some of that writing for them. Often, the hardest part is just getting started, even if you write for a living.
As I’ve described before in this blog, at the start of a writing project we may become overwhelmed by all the information we want to include in our written content, or unsure of how we want to start, and it leads to procrastination and more stress. We end up either missing a deadline or we rush to put something out that could have been better.
The best recent advice I’ve seen about overcoming writing procrastination comes from an anecdote in the irreverent best-selling self-improvement book, “The Subtle Art of Not to Giving a F*ck: The Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Better Life.” In the book, author Mark Manson recounts a story of a novelist who had written more than 70 books. The novelist’s advice for how he is so prolific, according to Manson: “200 crappy words per day, that’s it.”
Of course, Manson points out, the novelist rarely stops at 200 crappy words because the action of generating those first few paragraphs motivates him to keep going. Even non-professional writers get in a rhythm and it can be as difficult to stop as it was to get started. The 200 crappy words almost serves as a warmup to the real workout of writing 1,000 or 2,000 words.
How to Get Started
Sometimes, however, even getting those first 200 words down is challenging; that is where research can be a big help. Simply going online to research the topic, even if it is something you are already very knowledgeable about, can be highly motivating because you will likely learn new information that will help support your content. Other times, research can reveal that a competitor or other thought leader has already written pretty much the same article or other high-value content. Don’t despair. You can read similar articles or content and then look for gaps in their information or it can inspire a different, fresher angle for your article, white paper or eBook.
The opposite dilemma can also occur. Sometimes there will be so much research and information, and so many topics you want to cover, that you cannot imagine how you will assemble it all into a coherent whole. Here is where outlining can help to get you started and keep moving.
The outline doesn’t need to be the precise order of the final draft; it is just to get ideas down. Simply list the topic heading you want to cover in a section, such as COVID-19, and under that heading list all the relevant ideas you want to include (e.g., effect on elective/preventive care, growth of telehealth, reimbursement changes from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, etc.). Once you begin the bare-bones list, you will find that you want to add more and more detail and can begin to envision how the finished content will be structured.
From Outline to Draft
As opposed to writing an article from beginning to end, an outline lets you preview if the finished piece flows logically, if there are potential gaps of information, or if sections should be shortened. Recognizing these deficiencies in the outline stage saves writing, cutting and rearranging time in the long run. Once the outline is completed, writing the full draft simply means expanding each item in the list to full sentences and paragraphs. Depending on how detailed the outline is, writing the full draft may take much less time than expected.
With the full draft completed, the real hard part of writing begins: editing. Reading and re-reading what you wrote, cutting and rewriting for clarity is not as much fun as putting all the words together, but is perhaps the most important part of the process. Since editing means you are close to the finish line, that may motivate you to keep going.
Everyone Needs an Editor
Have you ever heard of Maxwell Perkins? Me neither. I found him through a Google search. Have you heard of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway or Thomas Wolfe? Me too. It turns out Maxwell Perkins edited all of these authors, and even convinced Wolfe to cut 90,000 words from the final draft of one of his novels.
I mention Perkins to point out that even the best writers need editors. Editing is not just for proofreading for typos, grammar and misspellings, either. Rather, an editor’s value is providing high-level, constructive feedback about the content, structure and readability of the content. Most importantly, the editor needs to look at the content through the eyes of your intended reader. Is it relevant to them? Will it make sense? Does one idea flow logically to another?
Just Write
So the next time you need to write, gather your information and just start writing. Whether it is full sentences or just a list of topics and ideas you want to include in the content, the act of getting 200 lousy words on the screen will save you stress and time in the long run – and likely result in a higher-quality finished project.
by Morgan Lewis | Jan 20, 2021 | Blog
COVID-19 left no industry unscathed in 2020 (well, except maybe Wall Street). One of the hardest-hit industries was healthcare, which is Amendola’s specialty. Throughout the year, we posted blogs with helpful advice about adjusting to the massive changes occurring in the economy and how to steer your organization when so much was uncertain.
Well, judging from the most-read blog posts from the year, it seemed our readers were more interested in writing tips than survival tips. This unexpected outcome, we hope, is a positive indicator that most of you coped well with working from home, virtual meetings and travel restrictions in 2020, and were simply trying to sharpen your written communication skills with the additional time on your hands.
So, without further ado, the following are the top 5 most read Amendola blog posts of 2020 in descending order.
5. The New Normal in Public Relations and Marketing
Our only post written in 2020 to crack the top 5 describes how various brands have responded to the pandemic and how there is likely no returning to a 2019 version of normal. As the post points out, while the world may have changed, the vision and mission of your organization should remain the same. Maintaining the status quo, however, is not an option and neither is giving up. Communicating strategically, i.e., not ignoring the seismic disruption caused by COVID-19, is essential and can help your company weather (and even grow) during this catastrophic time.
4. Simple Language and Communication Success
As a professional writer for more than 20 years, I can attest to how difficult it is to write with simplicity, especially about complex topics like healthcare and IT. As this post from 2017 reminds us: simplicity is often better. Keeping sentences short, avoiding jargon and using an active voice are important tips to remember for everything we write and across all forms of writing. It is no wonder that this post was among our most-read posts again.
3. The Importance of Feedback in PR From Media, to Writing to Client Relationships
Feedback, when appropriately delivered, makes us better at whatever we do, as this post written in 2018 reminds us. Feedback takes on an added dimension in PR because we need it from clients and colleagues, but also editors and other members of the media where we have deep professional relationships. Seeking feedback can certainly provoke anxiety in all of us, but, as the post assures us, it can motivate, improve performance and keep us focused on the right targets.
2. Health Care or Healthcare? Here’s the Answer You Won’t Find in an AP Stylebook
As a journalism major in college, the Associated Press Stylebook becomes your bible. Since Amendola has so many former journalists on our team (including yours truly) many of the manual’s terminology, abbreviation, punctuation and other rules are hardwired into our brains and fingers. (I still often write the word “percent” even though the AP ruled in 2019 that the “%” symbol is now preferred.) Publications and organizations often have their own style rules for content that differ from the AP, which is what this blog post from 2019 is about. At Amendola, for example, we write healthcare as one word, although the AP uses two. Curious readers (and writers) clearly wanted to learn more about the secrets of this vaunted manual, which is why it was in the top 5 most read for the second year in a row.
- Going in AP Style
Sheltered-in-place during the pandemic, many of us turned to self-improvement activities – exercise, healthy cooking, reading more books, learning a new professional skill — and were seeking online content and classes to help guide those activities. That is my highly non-scientific explanation for why four out of the five most-read blog posts from 2020 were about personal development, mostly improving your writing chops. Yet this blog post from 2018 was also the most read post of that year, as well as 2019, which makes me wonder if readers are on a self-improvement kick or they just don’t want to shell out $27 for an online subscription to the stylebook. Either way, this post is filled with helpful nuggets for writing a press release, blog post or any type of content.
Whether it is writing tips, strategic branding guidance, media relations best practices or any of the other many PR and marketing topics we cover, we hope that you’ll continue to visit our blog throughout 2021. Who knows… maybe we’ll even write about AP style again.
by Ken Krause | Mar 4, 2020 | Blog
It may not quite be Lincoln and Douglas, or even great taste/less filling. But the debate about which is more important to a brand’s online presence great content or search engine optimization (SEO) continues to rage on.
On one side you have the writers. Especially the “old school” writers (like me) who launched their careers long before Al Gore invented the Internet.
When I started writing we used typewriters electric ones. I’m not that old. The total focus was on the quality of the content. Clever, attention-grabbing headlines that led into powerful, motivating body copy that carried the message in an interesting way was “all” that was required.
Then came the Internet, and with it the omnipotent search engines. No longer was it enough for headlines and copy to be creative and interesting. The data wonks said it also had to include certain keywords that would tell the search engines a particular page or document was relevant to the search the user was conducting.
In other words, if the user is searching on the term “crazy bunnies” it was important for those keywords to appear in the headline, and in the little words that came after. Especially the first paragraph.
While that makes sense from a data point of view, it definitely created a dilemma for writers. Having a brilliant headline was no longer enough, because you weren’t just trying to capture the attention of humans. You also had to capture the attention of the machines.
That situation set up a sort of chicken-and-egg dilemma. You could write the best website, or article, or other content in the world, but if no one could find it in a marketing world that increasingly relied on search what was the point?
On the other hand, if your document was easy to find due to liberal use of keywords but not very interesting or engaging, again what was the point? You’d lose the audience you’d worked so hard to capture.
It also led to practices such as keyword stuffing (including keywords out of context for the sole purpose of raising searching rankings) and a host of other tricks such as putting keywords on a page in the same color as the background so they couldn’t be seen by humans but would be read by web crawlers. Didn’t take long for the search engines to figure that one out.
Keeping the balance
Fortunately, Google (and other search engines no one really cares about) have continually updated their algorithms to go beyond simple keywords. They are getting better and better at determining the context of the content to ensure it’s actually relevant.
Still, keywords are important to success. So how do you reconcile the desire to write content that reaches people on a deep, human level with the need to tell the machines yes, this is the information they’ve been looking for?
Here is a process I’ve found to be effective.
- Start by knowing which keywords are ranking for the topic you want to promote. If you don’t already have a list, you can use Google AdWords, a free service, to plug in some terms that are relevant to your product/service. Then see which ones have relatively high search volumes with low competition. That will tell you what terms your audience is likely to be searching on, and how difficult it will be to rank high for them. The goal, of course, is page one above the fold. Be sure to check Google’s suggested substitutions too. There may be a more effective word or phrase lurking in there somewhere. Of course, if you have an agency (such as, oh, I dunno, Amendola Communications) you can hand that work off to them.
- Once you have your list, set it aside. Then develop the content in a way that is the most interesting and speaks to your audience(s). Don’t worry about keywords right now. Just make sure you’re telling a good story that demonstrates your knowledge and/or experience and convinces your target audience that you would be the best choice. In other words, write as though the Internet doesn’t exist.
- After you have great content, go back and look for places to plug in your keywords. Start with the headline and the first paragraph. Is there a way to work in your most important keyword? Then sprinkle in others throughout the rest of the content. In some cases it may require a bit of rewriting, but often you’ll be surprised at how easily a keyword can be substituted for another word or phrase. Writing in this fashion, rather than trying to write to the keywords initially, will help the keywords fit more organically, and will keep you from writing dull and, well, robotic content.
- Finally, when you think it’s ready to go have someone who hasn’t been involved in the process read it to ensure those keywords are fitting in as well as you think they are. Taking this extra step doesn’t just help with human readers, by the way. With the sophisticated machine learning many search engines are applying these days it will also help minimize any appearance that you’re trying to “game” the system. Instead, your keywords will fit in the context of your content, and you will be rewarded by Google, the Great and Powerful.
Walk the line
Great content and SEO don’t have to be treated as opposing forces. In fact, they can (and should) work very well together.
By focusing first on what you want to say, and then bringing in the flags that will help that great content get seen, you can bring customers and prospects to your website and make sure they’re delighted once they get there.
by Ken Krause | Dec 5, 2018 | Blog
The writing “Bible” for public relations is the AP stylebook. Anytime a PR professional (or anyone writing for media publication for that matter) is unsure of what to do, such as whether to capitalize an executive’s title in a press release, a quick glance at the print or online version will provide the correct answer. (For the record, the answer is “no” as this blog post points out.)
This reliance on the AP stylebook can lead one to think that its rules are all set in stone. But one would be wrong, as the post, “10 Recent AP Stylebook Changes and Reminders You Should Know About,” from Cision points out.
Whether you are debating whether the correct spelling for a particular type of wine is syrah or shiraz, wondering whether someone who uses the emergency department a lot should be labeled a frequent flyer or frequent flier (the former is correct), or how to use a number in a headline (use numerals for all, even though in the body you write out one through nine and then go to numerals from 10 on), the AP stylebook has the answers. And it’s continually being adjusted, so don’t assume!
To make sure you’re on top of your AP stylebook game, be sure to check out the full post here.
