You only need a few diligent steps to improve your writing skills in a short period and taking your writing skills to a notch higher sounds so exciting and yet scary, but it should not.
Maybe you do not even categorize yourself as a writer but you wish to make some adjustments to your social media content, research papers, newsletters, marketing content, and any other form of writing.
In this post, I will list the steps and break them down for even a newbie in the writing world to follow without getting lost. Diligently follow these rules and watch your writing get better in days. Let’s begin.
Steps to improve your writing
Understand your writing niche and problem
Ask yourself, “Where do I belong?” Giving yourself a sincere answer will help you to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Are you good at copywriting, or are you forcing it?
Are you a storyteller, or you do not have enough imagination to enjoy the niche? Identify where you are totally lost, where you need to adjust, where you need to improve, or what you must stop doing.
I had this conversation with myself, and it helped me identify and enhance my strengths. I also identified my weak points and worked to strengthen them.
You can do the same. Knowing where your problem lies will help you to speed up your solution.
Find a writing coach
You do not have to go so official with this. A coach can come in any form. It could be a dear friend, a family member, a mentor, a colleague at work, or even someone you follow online.
All you need to do is ensure that you can access them. When you are granted access, let them know your goal and politely ask if they can take a look at your content.
Their insight and corrections will help you see what you have been doing wrong all along. They may even decide to tutor you or point you in the right direction if they do not have the time.
While you still have their attention, ask your pressing questions about writing great content. Utilize the opportunity because they may get distracted, and you may lose the chance to get clarity and learn from them.
Before you take this step, train yourself to accept constructive criticism well. You may not learn from a coach if you can not handle harsh truths, especially when you think you did your best but still get criticized.
Remember, criticism helps you identify your loopholes and allow room for amendment. Even your coach can be criticized by a higher person because no one knows it all.
Read to implement
There are many resources online that can help you improve your writing. First, you must identify your type of writing. Then, you look out for books written in such form or teaching about your kind of writing. Read and digest them, and implement what you’ve read.
Also, many blogs are teaching about content writing in various niches, just like this one. If you find one that speaks to you, binge on the blog posts, take in the knowledge, and start practicing the writing tips.
For example, if you wish to perfect your newsletter writing so you can grow your audience, blogs like hubspot did a great job teaching about newsletters. Another great resource is Carmine Mastropierro blog. What about switching up your copywriting skills? Rock Content’s topic on copywriting can be your go-to guy.Â
The Internet can provide you with these resources freely. All you need to do is locate them, binge read, and practice daily.
While at it, ensure you digest only recently produced or updated information. Every day, new information is added to something you already know. That’s why you should search out only recently published or updated articles so you won’t consume outdated information.
Join a training class, a group, or a workshop
You can never go wrong with this step, especially if you can’t find a coach for yourself. Your coach can teach you all you will learn in a class, but if you are not privileged to find one, join a class.
Join a group or workshop, with or without a coach. Take it a step further by staying active.
Talk about your limitations during group interactions and honestly seek guidance. One thing about groups is that someone must have a solution for your writing needs.
Facebook and LinkedIn are platforms where you will find great writing groups according to your niche. Inputting the right keywords will list out vibrant groups you can join.
Before you join that class, check out the trainer’s reputation and track record. Ensure you are where you will get value for the money you spent on registeration.
Milk the training and get all you need out of it. This is where you can easily move on to my next point.
Get a writing buddy
Imagine having someone with the same zeal as you. Rub off on each other. Let them help you cross-check while you do the same for them.
 A writing buddy is one who writes with you and critic you accordingly, looks out for tips to improve your writing, and draws your attention to them, and you reciprocate the energy.
Learn to research and write with an outline
Regardless of what you are writing about, start with research and end with an outline.
Research will show you what others have written on the topic, how they structured their content, their call to action, and the content flow. You can copy their method but not their content.
After your research, write an outline. Here is how you do that;
Think about: What is the reason for your content? Why is it important to your audience? How do I write for them to understand?
These questions will simplify your work and help you to reach your audience on a deeper level.
Pay attention to details
One quick way to improve your writing skills is to pay attention to your content. Well-structured and error-free content is always high on the bar.
Simplicity is gold in writing content. Therefore, write legibly, simplify it according to your audience’s state of mind, and clean it up.
Editing your content is as essential as writing it. Devote time and ensure you have healthy content.
One more important way to improve your writing skills
Write frequently
I should have said daily, but I must be realistic and practical. Meanwhile, I will not indulge in neglect or laziness.
So, when I say, write frequently, it should be at least not more than one day. Remember, you are trying to improve your writing skills in seven days; therefore, you must be ready to do the work.
Your first draft may be very discouraging, but let it not bother you. Everyone’s first draft mostly ends up in the trash bin.
You might get the perfect content in your fifth or even sixth draft, and it is totally fine. But you must write frequently or daily to practice all these steps you just got.
Conclusion
To conclude, you should reread this blog post before going practical. Take it easy, and never allow your need to improve your writing to overwhelm you. Diligently practice, and your writing skills will become very refined in a week.