Writing is not only a powerful tool for better thinking but a skill that’s soon going to become a must for every knowledge economy worker, including an investor. Consider Warren Buffett. He is one of the best writers ever in the business world. It is not a coincidence that he is also one of the best investors of all time. If you cannot write clearly, most likely you do not think very clearly. And if you do not think clearly, you are in trouble. If you are not consciously working on improving your writing skills, you are making yourself vulnerable to the threat of being rendered obsolete by machines.
I am always on a lookout for new opportunities to learn to become a better writer. Even a small piece of improvement every day will eventually add up to a significant transformation in the way I communicate.
Writing Routines is a tremendously useful website for people who want to hone their craft of writing. I have been reading the interviews (of accomplished authors) that they publish and have distilled out several ideas to share with you.
In Praise of Writing
Before I begin with the writing ideas, here’s a word from Anne Lamott who wrote an excellent must-read book called Bird by Bird:
Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again.
It’s like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can’t stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.
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