Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to become a better writer by reading
Speaker 1: what you write out loud before sharing it. I've always
Speaker 1: loved to write, and so I was really lucky that
Speaker 1: my first job after college was a year long internship
Speaker 1: at USA Today. I worked on the op ed page,
Speaker 1: mostly fact checking and helping with layout. The biggest upside
Speaker 1: was that I worked for some very encouraging editors. When
Speaker 1: I expressed interest in writing op eds, they did not
Speaker 1: immediately shoot down the idea of a twenty three year
Speaker 1: old intern doing such a thing. They helped me work
Speaker 1: on my writing, and over the course of the year
Speaker 1: I got several essays published. With everything I wrote, I
Speaker 1: used some of the best writing advice I ever got,
Speaker 1: and this came from one of my editors there. She
Speaker 1: said it, I think in passing. You know, Laura, when
Speaker 1: people are reading things silently in their heads, they're still
Speaker 1: hearing the words as if they're spoken, So you need
Speaker 1: to write as if your words are being read out loud.
Speaker 1: I realized immediately how brilliant this was, because it's true.
Speaker 1: Next time you're reading something, notice how you're processing it.
Speaker 1: You probably hear the words even if you're reading silently.
Speaker 1: That means that things are more pleasant for the brain
Speaker 1: when they're more pleasant for the ear. You can use
Speaker 1: this to your advantage. You can make your writing more
Speaker 1: appealing by reading anything of consequence out loud before you
Speaker 1: publish it. This step of reading out loud will do
Speaker 1: several good things. First, you'll write tighter, because wordy sentences
Speaker 1: are hard to say. When you find yourself tripping over
Speaker 1: a sentence, that's a sign that editing would help. Second,
Speaker 1: you'll vary your sentence length. If you've ever heard a
Speaker 1: really good preacher, you know that sermons often feature a
Speaker 1: few short sentences with parallel structure, punctuated by longer ones.
Speaker 1: The preacher chooses this rhythm because it's appealing even for
Speaker 1: difficult truths. You want people to say that about your writing, too. Finally,
Speaker 1: you'll end your sentences strong. In general, single syllable words
Speaker 1: provide the most satisfactory conclusion to a phrase. I don't
Speaker 1: know why this is, I do know it's true. You
Speaker 1: don't have to always honor this truth, but your writing
Speaker 1: will read better when you can now I will admit
Speaker 1: that I don't read my emails about next week's schedule
Speaker 1: out loud. Some writing is purely utilitarian, but with the
Speaker 1: growth of audio books and podcasts, writing for the ear
Speaker 1: has turned out to be a useful skill. Given how
Speaker 1: much bad writing is out there, Anything that makes your
Speaker 1: writing stand out can give you an advantage. So if
Speaker 1: you're writing something of consequence, take a few extra minutes
Speaker 1: to read it out loud and adjust your words to
Speaker 1: make them sound better. People might not know why they
Speaker 1: like reading what you've written, but I promise you that
Speaker 1: they will in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's b the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at iHeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.