Write with TASTE Blog
Muscle Writing Text Rewrite
31 March 2011
Thanks to all of you who sent me your rewrites of the ‘weak’ text in last week’s writing exercise.
I’ve rewritten the letter (below) to show you one way to strengthen it and engage the readers better.
Go here to see the original version.
My rewrite
Dear Homeowners
At our monthly meeting on 24 March, Homeowners’ Committee members discussed the new government regulations for electrical supply to residential buildings. …
Exercise Your Writing Muscle (& get f/ree feedback)
24 March 2011
Image by themissiah
In the past two weeks we’ve been talking about ‘muscular’ writing that uses strong sentence structures and strong, precise verbs.
Today I’d like you to try an exercise in ‘muscling up’ a text. (Send me your rewrite and I’ll give you f/ree feedback on it. See ‘Special Offer’ below for details.)
Prepare
Before you rewrite the text, you may want to re-read the last two posts (here and here) to revise the methods we’ve discussed.
…
Muscle Writing: Part 2
17 March 2011
Image by NathanaelB
Word count: 435
Estimated reading time: 4-5 minutes
Were you able to find the ‘muscle verbs’ in last week’s post? (If you haven’t read it yet, please do so before you continue reading this article.)
Let’s examine those strong verbs and how I constructed strong sentences.
Strong verbs versus weak
What I wrote: …
Muscle Writing
10 March 2011
Image by RightIndex
Word count: 340
Estimated reading time: 3-4 minutes
Today we consider how to write
‘muscular’
text.Use ‘muscle words’
Action-packed writing engages readers the same way that action movies engage viewers. As you watch an action movie, your heart pumps faster and adrenaline washes through your body. It’s impossible to sleep through the fast-moving action on the screen.
…
Read to Get Ready to Write
3 March 2011
Image by FnJBnN
Word count: 580
Estimated reading time: 5-6 minutes
Reading is the best way to develop writing ‘muscle’. It provides writing models from which we learn the craft – from authors whose words and phrases teach us style and vocabulary and grammar.
Parents prepare their children for what’s called ‘reading readiness’ by reading to them regularly. …
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