Discover more from Copywriting Night School
This is the final official lesson of Copywriting Night School. As promised, I am going to give you what I consider the two most important keys to long-term writing mastery.
Whether you use these keys is entirely up to you. Writing mastery is gravy as far as this training program is concerned. But I want to give you something to look to for the future, and some words of encouragement moving forward.
So here are my top two practical steps for achieving writing mastery. As I look back, I find that these are the ones which have been most critical in the development of my own skills. One is obvious, and one is not.
1. Listen
This is the key that is not so obvious. I don’t see writers or writing books ever discussing this. I’m not sure why.
I believe that cultivating a strong appreciation for the sound of words is an intellectual and aesthetic duty to yourself as a writer. This is especially true when it comes to your internal monologue — even if I am mocked by more erudite people for “sounding out words in my head as I read.” Without developing your ear, you will never hone a sense for the music of your writing: for the rhythm, the cadence, the poetry of how the words go together.
There are several things you can do to help you with this — and you will find that having an office door to hide behind helps immensely:
Demand silence. Turn off your music, for a start — and get rid of any other distracting noises. A composer would never try to work with music in the background, or people talking, or industrial noise, and neither should a writer, for the same reason.
Sound out words. Yes, consciously, as you read them. I often let my mouth form at least some of the words I’m writing or editing — sometimes soundlessly — to help me hear them in my head.
Use your ears. Your internal ear is important, but it will never replace your external ones. There is no writer so good he can’t improve his work by hearing it read aloud. If you can, have someone read your piece to you. Your own voice will do in a pinch, but a friend’s is better because it’s new, it carries a different authority to your own brain, and it can’t cheat by knowing the piece already. When someone reads your work aloud, he will stumble in places you wouldn’t. He will find sentences confusing you find clear. He will have trouble following arguments you think sound. Fix these things. And while you’re listening, also notice any times where your friend has to pause for breath in the middle of a thought. Rewrite these sentences to be shorter, or break them up.
2. Write every day, and learn to love it
This is the obvious step — yet I’m not sure it is obvious. A writer is a craftsman. Craftsmen have to practice to get good, and to stay good, at what they do. If they aren’t making tables or blowing glass or designing cars every day, then they’re doing it damn near every day; they practice so much that their craft becomes a part of them. They’re doing it even when they’re sitting in a restaurant, inspecting the woodwork of the table, rolling the glass in their hands, eyeing the Lexus parked outside.
For you, that means whenever you read, whatever you read; any time you see or hear words put together, you should be thinking about writing. A writer — you’ll allow me to be corny for the sake of example — never falls out of love with words.
If that sounds like too much commitment for you, stop now, find something you can love forever, and do that instead. Your potential readers will be happier, and so will you.
But if you’re ready for the commitment, accept that writing every day will often be tedious and difficult, and is the only way to become exceptional. I highly recommend you indulge in personal writing projects on your own time, as this will make writing less tedious and less difficult for obvious reasons. There is nary a writer who’s lived who has not wanted to write something in particular. Keep your eye on the prize.
Also remember that practice isn’t enough. To return to what I have repeatedly said, writing, like any other skill, can be taught. So allow other great writers to teach you. Not only by becoming conscious of the process of reading and writing, of the decisions that other writers make, but particularly by reading books written for writers. Here are four that have helped me:
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White
Style: Lessons in Clarity & Grace by Joseph M. Williams
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose
And if you’re looking for something more specifically about copywriting or marketing, I have found these three very helpful:
The Architecture of Persuasion: How to Write Well-Constructed Sales Letters by Michael Masterson
Commonsense Direct & Digital Marketing by Drayton Bird
80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More by Perry Marshall
Finally, of course, you are welcome to stick around here and read my own writing. I may have finished teaching you through this program, but I will still have plenty to say to supplement and expand it.