Dear Hivers,
In our private marketing group, we have a copywriter from Romania. He is one of the best in the industry who writes record-breaking sales pages.
And he taught me something profound: Everybody can write.
It doesn’t matter our culture, experience, or even our past. All of us can write — and we get better with time. Now writing doesn’t mean fixing your eyes on grammar. No. No. No.
In fact, most hotshot copywriters like the Romanian dude don’t believe in grammar. Writing is more than just grammar. That is why we won’t be discussing about nouns and verbs. Or even punctuations. We will leave them out of the door. And then, we will lock this door to discuss something incredibly important.
In this article, I would like to share 5 writing mistakes that goes beyond grammar — writing mistakes that are crucial and can be easily fixed. I have picked them up from my 3 months of observation on Hive.
Again, some of the mistakes are common and I was making all of them. (Human here). So if you can relate to any of these mistakes, then try to fix it in your next Hive post.
Most people try to write, edit, and format together. It simply consumes more time. Maybe even frustrates you. Think about it. If you do everything together, what happens to your mind?
Your mind starts wandering:
“Maybe I should change this. Wait. I can’t think of that word. Let me go back and delete this word. Oh, why not add an image here? Hmm… let me make this thing bold.”
Let’s admit this: we do this all the time!
But over the years, I have learned to separate the process. Writing is different. Editing is different. And formatting is different. This way, our brain can focus on ONE process at a time.
Let me explain this:
Step 1: First, I write. I write without worrying about the typo, the sentences, or even the words. Once done, I take a 5 minute break.
Step 2: I come back to edit. When I am editing, I make sure the idea is clear. I add stories or fix them. Then I look for typos. Then I fix sentences. Once done, I take another 5 minute break.
Step 3: I come back again to format the content. I pick up the post and paste it on @Peakd. Then I start adding images. Then tags. All the other tiny formatting details are considered. Once done, I hit Publish.
So here’s what you can do: As you are writing your article, don’t edit. Don’t format. Just write. For however long you are comfortable with. Next, take a few minutes break. Come back to edit the article. Take another break. And finally format. Publish.
Five years ago, I started practicing headlines. I took every best headline in the world and started writing them on paper.
Why?
Because a good headline is the single most important part of your article. Everything starts with a good headline. In fact, as per several advertising stats, 80% of the creative focus should be on the headline.
Your headline shouldn’t be fancy or clickbait. Just a simple and clear headline will do the trick. I can only give examples of the headlines I have been using on Hive. Check it out:
Each one will tell you what the entire article has to offer, isn’t it?
Tip: I am sharing the world’s best headlines here. Check out 350 of them (PDF). Here are another 100 (with summary) headlines. You can glance through these headlines and produce your own version.
The goal is to make your headline clear and simple.
Avoid run-on sentences. These are never-ending sentences that goes on and on. The solution is simple:
Make long sentences shorter. Like this.
You see, the above paragraph has two sentences. Was it easy to read? You know it.
The bottomline: As you read this, I want you to think about sentences. I want you to pick your long sentences and break them down into two pieces. Then three. And sometimes even four.
Important: You can’t continue using short sentences all the time. It will make reading predictable. So what’s the solution?
The solution is to use a mix of both long and short sentences that keeps the reader guessing. They don’t know what is next — so you continue to fire bullets of long and short sentences. This loads them with curiosity.
(I hope you can see the mix of short and long sentence I am using in this article.)
If you are actually using long paragraphs, then break it down into short ones. Just like we saw in #3. Give space between your paragraphs.
I call it Paragraph Breathing. You should allow your paragraphs to breathe — and be generous with the spacing. Take a look at the image below as an example:
It is the same article. On the left, I didn’t give enough space for the paragraph to breathe. I made it into The Great Wall of Text. No one likes it, right?
Tip: Preferably, make sure your each paragraph is less than 5 lines. That’s how I like it. Sometimes a paragraph is just a single sentence. And it works beautifully. The trick here is to vary.
Start using subheads. This is extremely important for long-form articles. If you have been following me, you know my articles are long and I use multiple subheads.
That’s because I know we have two types of readers. One who actually reads everything. And the other who scans — glances — and skims through the content. They are called skimmers.
Example: You can check out the 7 Hive blockchain article. I have used 7 subheads for people who want to skim.
Our job as content creator is to appeal to everyone. One who wants to read will be going through clear headlines, short sentences, and short paragraphs. Other who wants to skim will be scanning through the subheads.
There you have it — 5 crucial writing mistakes that can be easily avoided. There are more. But for now, we will stick with these five basic mistakes…
To recap:
Don’t write, edit, and format together. Treat each one as a separate process. Dedicate time to each progress.
Convert your unclear headline into a clear headline.
Found long sentences? Then make them shorter.
Use the paragraph breathing technique — and break down your paragraphs into few lines. Maximum five lines.
You have two types of readers: one who reads and the other who skims. To appeal to skimmers, use subheads.
And with this, I hope and wish you found this article useful. If you knew all of them, treat this article as a refresher. If you found a couple of them useful — then apply them in your next article.
Do let me know your thoughts in the comment section. I would love to hear from you. As always, continue writing — implementing — and learning with a smile on your face. Like I am having one right now as I complete this article.
Cheers,
Sid
If you liked this article? Feel free to comment and upvote and reblog.
I really like your content's art.
Cheers.
Thank you, Eirik! Took me months to get them right. Still learning.
Your posts are always excellent, thank you very much, you help me to improve here in Hive.
Makes me smile. Thank you so much for sharing this! I am glad. Let's grow together!
Good stuff ... I was a professional journalist, and these tips are evergreen!
Oh yes. You would know. :)
So glad to know!
What do you do now?
I appreciate you sharing this content. I am guilty of doing all three, writing, editing, formatting, and then going one step further. I stop and locate the perfect photo to go with my content. I spend more time looking for the perfect photo. Then I have to source it. Another strategy of mine is to get the bright idea of creating my own image in Canva. Voila. I've now spent more time on the other aspects than I do on actual writing.
Now I'm up against a deadline. But I've gotten everything ready. Oops, missed sourcing one pic. Now I have to go back and locate it again. Drats...missed the deadline.
Oh well. I'll just save it for the next writing opportunity with that subject matter.
Thank God I stopped doing that and am now more productive.
Hehe. Love the story you replayed. 🤣
We all have been there!
That's the trick! My personal goal was to shrink my writing time. Guess we learn on our own.
So glad to connect.
Same here. Appreciate your decision to follow my journey on Hive. Live to write to engage some more. Have a great weekend, and stay safe.
I am a freelance writer so I can really relate to everything you've just laid out. I learned some also along the way, especially Point No. 1. That's why ever since, I just tell myself to write raw. Whatever comes to mind, write it. It's good to see that you've described that struggle very well :)
Hi. So glad to connect. Love freelancers. See you have joined recently...
And yes, point #1 changes the entire game. The entire idea of writing, in fact, is a blessing.
Let's continue having a good time here.
I am guilty of repeating these writing mistakes all the time Despite knowing the writing rules, I seldom follow them. It is a good refresher. As always, great clarity on your writing. It is clear and easy to read. Keep up the good work.😇
Thank you! Trying to make them as useful as possible. Years of experience in this post!
Always appreciate your support.
These are gonna help me out. Especially the first and third. I've been using subheads for a long time for podcast shownotes and didnt even know that is what the purpose of it was. Lol.
The shorter sentences totally make sense to me. Seems like the way my brain works naturally as I think and talk.
Thank you for the tips and the pdf's. I have them downloaded for off line reference!
Haha!
Perfect. These are advertising headlines that generates millions of dollars. I added for drawing inspiration. Do let me know if I can do anything.
Thanks for your support!
Some Twitter love will be nice - #posh
Thanks for insights. These are very useful tips and i will try incorporate them in my writing. Thanks again.
I am glad. Thanks for your support, civil engineer brother! Glad to connect.
Great tips, still learning how to write well
I am glad. We all do. Please continue. One of the worthiness skill to pickup.
Thanks for share this kind of information. It is absolutely useful.
Least I could do. Always appreciate your ongoing support.
I am among the guilty ones. I mean the ones that write then edit then format on the same breath. It has cost me a few mistakes every time I write. Thank you for encouraging budding writers 👌
Haha! We all do that. Welcome! I am glad to connect with you! :)
Thanks for the tip, it has been informative.
You are welcome. In fact, thanks for reading and commenting.
The pleasure is all mine, as I learnt a lot from it.
ow! amazing bro. that will be helpful. thanks to you.
Least I could do. I am glad this was helpful.
Excellent writing. I found this article very helpful.
There, I learned how to break a long sentence
I really don't know what you say! I think I know. You are a GENIUS!
Love it. :)
Hehe, 😄 Seriously, it is a great article. Thanks for this and happy weekend!
The best one is found long sentences- make them shorter. Love this idea, always try to do that.
YES! Variation is the key.
Me gusta mucho tu información, aunque debo confesar que mi manera es diferente o quizás mas difícil, suelo escribir, editar y formatear de una vez, incluyendo las imágenes. Lo mas genial que he podido extraer de tu publicación es el tiempo que debemos darnos entre cada parte del proceso para una publicación, en mi caso divido en 3 secciones mi post y utilizo la aplicacion https://pomofocus.io/ para el conteo de mi tiempo, es genial.
Saludos.
Thank you so much. I also use Pomodoro (not 25 but 33 minutes) and I love it. Glad to know!
This is really good stuff. Five lines for a paragraph? Now I feel like editing my last post.
My lecturer once told me I break sentences too much so it's kind of hard for me to find a balance between overly short sentences and long sentences.
Oh, that is the trick: not to listen to the lecturer. Writing for web is so much different!
Wow and i have been making some mistakes here o..but now it wont happen again.
All thanks to you!
Perfect. We all learn. :)
Wow! I must say that this is one of the articles that I liked the most to read all day. From now on I will apply these great tips in my publications.
Thanks for sharing!
Regards!
Wow. I am so glad to hear that. Thank you!
Another round of great and useful tips.
Well done, @sidwrites.
Thank you! Always appreciate your ongoing support.
Totally useful your advice and even more for me, that I'm starting here at HIVE. I am amazed by this post, I vote for you and I follow you.
Note: I am using a translator, because I can't write or speak English. Greetings to you and thanks for leaving good content here.
Hi, this means so much to me. Fact that you used translator to leave your comment — thank you! All the best.
Greetings @sidwrites I've been reading some articles from your blog and I find them very guiding, especially for the new and not so new ones. By the way, your guidance can be applied to our academic life and even to our daily life.
Hi @marciabon, so glad to connect.
You are brilliant to even think this way! Thank you.
Thanks for sharing this..
Least I could do. Thank you! Hope this was useful.
A very well written piece of content!
May I join your group? :))
Excellent post as always, and great learning experience for everyone! I think I'm following this guide pretty okay-ish so far, though it's amazing to learn about all the ways you're things wrong, or inefficiently until you start reading up stuff like this. Cheers for sharing, mate :-D
Haha! Right. I have been meaning to tell you this: You are perhaps one of the few who writes very well. Have you ever started a blog (self-hosted?)
Aww, thanks for the compliments. I try to do my best, and I'm certainly learning new things as I go. I have thought about that before, as I had considered opting for a Dblog self-hosted site just for me. Though I've always wondered about the logistics of doing so, and whether it's worth it. There's this constant question of would it be worth the rewards and followings later on, compared to just hosting it on Hive and Medium. I suppose there's the advantage of being able to embed advertising spots and so on.
I'm also on the lookout for jobs with publications for work to write for them, but creating a personal blogsite would be awesome, indeed! If I may ask, which service would you recommend if I wanted to start my own self-hosted blog, and what steps would be most crucial for growing it? And whether it would be better than posting on existing sites like Hive?
Cheers for your inspiration as always :-D
Dblog self-hosted without cut it as you will still be under the Hive's ecosystem. There are certain things — like news writing — that isn't popular here. This is why a self-hosted WordPress would be easier.
The first step is NOT growing. But to be consistently producing. That itself takes you to the second step.
Really depends on the goals and intentions you set for yourself. Hive has a fantastic community. Easier. And welcomes everyone. Out there, in the blogging world, things are different. There's competition, speed, and uncertainty (if clicks - you get more)
Perhaps working together is something we could explore something soon.
Thanks for the helpful and informational advice, mate. I've just Googled around to see what Wordpress is about, and I suppose $4 a month for hosting my very own blog isn't a huge price to pay at all. But you're right about there being more competition out there, and it circles back to my question of whether $4/month is going to be worth it if I'm going to make next to nothing in the first year, perhaps?
Nevertheless, this is still something that I'd want to explore more in my free-time, as I learn a bit here and there over the dynamics around this. I'll keep spreading my talents on sites like Hive for now, as I begin to understand more. In all though, I'd love for an opportunity to work with you.
Cheers, a love <3
I was a maniac of writing and editing at the same time, and sometimes it took up to three days to write a Post. Well that changed over time. I like what you said:
That's right, this is very true. I think that as writers each of us has his own brand and style ... the difficult thing, beyond the spelling or the creative processes, is that another person is interested in the content that we create with so much effort. Some adapt, others simply get lost in the process.
Your recommendations are a guide for us, that as growing writers we always go through life learning something. In the end, the style comes from trying so hard. Kind regards to you.