Ghostwriting for business and nonprofits

Writing is thinking on paper. (Let's make that virtual paper.) And what better way to think through issues than write about them? Writing simulates thinking. The act of writing down ideas; seeing how they link up, creates new connections between ideas— and between brain cells. All of us write notes to ourselves. We use private shorthand. These are notes only we can understand.  Yet, when we communicate with other people we must be clear.

Irritating and stuffy grammar?

In some places English skills are dismissed with curled lip. Grammar and spelling are seen as irritating and stuffy; and the only sensible course of action is to ignore them. It's this attitude that's caused barbaric sentence construction and punctuation to run rampant in the business population. Not paying attention to clarity in writing can be disastrous. Doing something to the CEO, and doing something for him are different propositions.  One word makes all the difference.

There is hope. There are people who communicate well in writing and speaking. These people generally do well. Clear writing is a learnable skill. Many a recovering business-jargon abuser has gone on to master clearly written English. But in today’s hyper-frenetic world many are losing what once was a basic skill. The trick here is to know when to get help. If your subject is important enough, get a professional.

Damage

Graduate school can actually damage the ability to write clearly. I would be the last person to criticize learning. But something happens to students in higher education. Suddenly, they adopt an affected style. Some would call it pompous. The passive voice dulls readers into a state of narcolepsy. This style is as lively as the tax code. Rather than write in an easy to understand style, students (and not only students) use convoluted and run-on sentences. But it’s not the their fault.

Higher education encourages long-windedness. A requirement of the academic article is that it should be long.  Academic writing is aimed at a captured audience. Writing for a general readership has to do the hard work of grabbing the reader's attention and holding it. It must surprise. It must inform. In must connect with the reader, and do so economically. Economy is doing more with less. This is not new. Shakespeare had Polonius say: ... brevity is the soul of wit. 

Being misunderstood is just too expensive

Clarity comes from thinking. And that thinking can start out as a series of half-formed ideas written down. It is only through organizing this messy material, then discarding the redundant, can these ideas be polished into something worth reading, remembering, and acting upon.

Billions of dollars are lost to American business because of poor communication. No organization can afford lack of clarity. Sloppy writing is expensive because it’s so easy to ignore. Being misunderstood is just too expensive.

Clarity counts. It’s that simple.