6 ways to improve your writing skills - 6 Cách để cải thiện kỹ năng viết
1. Incorporate newly learned information into your writing.
Did you learn a new English word today? Use it in your blog post. Are you having trouble with a new grammar rule? Use it in your blog post. Did you hear a native speaker use an awesome new phrase today? That’s right, write about it on your blog.
A blog is a place to practice, and the sooner you practice newly learned information, the better you learn it. By using new knowledge in a blog post, you are making the connection stronger between the knowledge and your mind.
Writing is also an effective method of remembering things (this is why we write shopping lists, for example). Writing a blog post is a much more interesting way to reinforce your learning than rewriting your notes!
2. Proofread and edit your writing.
Nobody is perfect. Your favorite book was probably edited and rewritten many times before it ended up in your hands. You will probably make many mistakes when you write, and that’s fine! You’re supposed to. The important thing is that you learn from them.
So before you publish a new blog post, proofread it. That means you should read through it carefully and correct any mistakes you notice. It can be helpful to use a checklist when you’re proofreading, like this excellent one. If you’re not using a checklist (and we really recommend that you do!) be sure to watch out for correct:
Spelling. Use your browser or blog’s spell checker, but remember that it might not correct misused homonyms (words that sound the same but have different meanings). It might check for grammar mistakes too.
Punctuation. Each sentence should end with a punctuation mark like a period (.), exclamation point (!), or question mark (?).
Capitalization. Each sentence and all proper nouns (like the names of people and places) should begin with a capital letter.
Sentence length. The easiest way to catch sentence fragments and run-on sentences is to look closely at any sentences that seem too long or too short.
Grammar. Do all your sentences follow correct grammar rules? All verbs and subjects should agree (i.e. the dog barks but the dogs bark), and your verb tenses should be consistent.
Remember that a blog post can easily be edited even after you publish it. If you or one of your readers notice a mistake, or you decide a sentence would sound better if you changed it, you can edit your post.
Proofreading and editing will make you more aware of your own writing. You may notice, for example, that you keep misspelling one specific word every time you write it. Now you know what areas you need to work on!
3. Use writing prompts.
No matter how much you love writing or how creative you are, one day you will stare at an empty page and you won’t be able to write. This is called writer’s block, and it happens to everyone at some point or another. When it happens to you, don’t just give up—try using writing prompts to give your mind the spark it needs to start writing.
Writing prompts are ideas and beginnings that are meant to get you thinking and writing. They can help you start when you can’t think of something to write about. But they’re also useful for your writing in general. A writing prompt can challenge you to write about a new topic, which will require you to use new words and phrases that you wouldn’t use otherwise.
Here are a few simple writing prompts to get you thinking and writing:
What would you do with a million dollars?
This prompt will help you practice the conditional (sentences that talk about imaginary situations and usually start with the word “if”). Hint: You might respond with, “If I had a million dollars, I would…”
Write a letter to whoever stole your umbrella on a rainy day.
This prompt will help you practice formal letter writing, as well as sarcasm. Sarcasm is when you say one thing but clearly mean the opposite. For example, it would be sarcastic to write, “I love getting rained on after a hard day of work,” because you obviously didn’t love getting wet!
Start a post with the words “The happiest day of my life was…”
This prompt can help you practice using the past tense, as well as casual written English. (You can pretend you’re writing an email to a friend.)
Here are a ton of sites with neat writing prompts, here’s another site with a large selection of writing prompts, or you can search online for prompts that relate to the topic you chose for your blog.
4. Try lots of different things.
Your blog is your playground; you can do whatever you want here. That means you can experiment with your writing and blogging style. There are many different kinds of posts for you to try writing. You can do a numbered list (“the top 5 best…”), a story with dialogue, a review of a product or a book you read, a poem, a short story… anything!
Changing up the style helps you in two ways: (1) It helps keep your creativity alive (nothing kills creativity faster than repetition), and (2) it challenges you to try something new.
Think of your blog like a gym and your skills as muscles. Different kinds of blog posts work on strengthening different writing skills. Writing a dialogue, for example, can help you learn punctuation rules (i.e. Should you put that period before or after the quotation mark?), as well as casual English and slang (i.e. Would someone say “I have to” or “I gotta” when speaking?).
For more formal writing practice, you can write a review of an English movie or book. This will also help you remember and understand the movie or book better.
The more different types of posts and writing styles you try, the more skills you will improve!
5. Start conversations.
You might have already left some comments on another blog. Now it’s time to turn your blog into a conversation too. As we mentioned before, you should always encourage people to respond to your posts with corrections and helpful feedback. Your blog can—and should—also be a place for conversations of your own.
Try ending your blog posts with a question for the readers. Then when you receive a comment, be sure to respond to them. Before long you’ll be practicing your English conversation skills as well as your writing skills.
Joining conversations in the comments will also give you a better understanding of the similarities and differences between written and spoken conversational English. For example, many people shorten and abbreviate more words when writing online than when speaking. That’s because writing takes more time, and we love to save as much time as possible! What other comparisons can you make?
6. Look back and rewrite.
Once you’ve been writing regularly for several months, go back to your earlier entries. Do they seem different now? The more time that passes, the better your writing will be… and the worse your older entries will seem.
After you’ve been blogging for many months, pick an old blog post every other week and rewrite it with your newly learned skills.
Rewriting old blog posts shows you how much you’ve learned over time. It also gives you a chance to correct your own mistakes. Teaching someone else is one of the best ways to learn (even if it’s just you from a few weeks ago).
1. Incorporate newly learned information into your writing.
Did you learn a new English word today? Use it in your blog post. Are you having trouble with a new grammar rule? Use it in your blog post. Did you hear a native speaker use an awesome new phrase today? That’s right, write about it on your blog.
A blog is a place to practice, and the sooner you practice newly learned information, the better you learn it. By using new knowledge in a blog post, you are making the connection stronger between the knowledge and your mind.
Writing is also an effective method of remembering things (this is why we write shopping lists, for example). Writing a blog post is a much more interesting way to reinforce your learning than rewriting your notes!
2. Proofread and edit your writing.
Nobody is perfect. Your favorite book was probably edited and rewritten many times before it ended up in your hands. You will probably make many mistakes when you write, and that’s fine! You’re supposed to. The important thing is that you learn from them.
So before you publish a new blog post, proofread it. That means you should read through it carefully and correct any mistakes you notice. It can be helpful to use a checklist when you’re proofreading, like this excellent one. If you’re not using a checklist (and we really recommend that you do!) be sure to watch out for correct:
Spelling. Use your browser or blog’s spell checker, but remember that it might not correct misused homonyms (words that sound the same but have different meanings). It might check for grammar mistakes too.
Punctuation. Each sentence should end with a punctuation mark like a period (.), exclamation point (!), or question mark (?).
Capitalization. Each sentence and all proper nouns (like the names of people and places) should begin with a capital letter.
Sentence length. The easiest way to catch sentence fragments and run-on sentences is to look closely at any sentences that seem too long or too short.
Grammar. Do all your sentences follow correct grammar rules? All verbs and subjects should agree (i.e. the dog barks but the dogs bark), and your verb tenses should be consistent.
Remember that a blog post can easily be edited even after you publish it. If you or one of your readers notice a mistake, or you decide a sentence would sound better if you changed it, you can edit your post.
Proofreading and editing will make you more aware of your own writing. You may notice, for example, that you keep misspelling one specific word every time you write it. Now you know what areas you need to work on!
3. Use writing prompts.
No matter how much you love writing or how creative you are, one day you will stare at an empty page and you won’t be able to write. This is called writer’s block, and it happens to everyone at some point or another. When it happens to you, don’t just give up—try using writing prompts to give your mind the spark it needs to start writing.
Writing prompts are ideas and beginnings that are meant to get you thinking and writing. They can help you start when you can’t think of something to write about. But they’re also useful for your writing in general. A writing prompt can challenge you to write about a new topic, which will require you to use new words and phrases that you wouldn’t use otherwise.
Here are a few simple writing prompts to get you thinking and writing:
What would you do with a million dollars?
This prompt will help you practice the conditional (sentences that talk about imaginary situations and usually start with the word “if”). Hint: You might respond with, “If I had a million dollars, I would…”
Write a letter to whoever stole your umbrella on a rainy day.
This prompt will help you practice formal letter writing, as well as sarcasm. Sarcasm is when you say one thing but clearly mean the opposite. For example, it would be sarcastic to write, “I love getting rained on after a hard day of work,” because you obviously didn’t love getting wet!
Start a post with the words “The happiest day of my life was…”
This prompt can help you practice using the past tense, as well as casual written English. (You can pretend you’re writing an email to a friend.)
Here are a ton of sites with neat writing prompts, here’s another site with a large selection of writing prompts, or you can search online for prompts that relate to the topic you chose for your blog.
4. Try lots of different things.
Your blog is your playground; you can do whatever you want here. That means you can experiment with your writing and blogging style. There are many different kinds of posts for you to try writing. You can do a numbered list (“the top 5 best…”), a story with dialogue, a review of a product or a book you read, a poem, a short story… anything!
Changing up the style helps you in two ways: (1) It helps keep your creativity alive (nothing kills creativity faster than repetition), and (2) it challenges you to try something new.
Think of your blog like a gym and your skills as muscles. Different kinds of blog posts work on strengthening different writing skills. Writing a dialogue, for example, can help you learn punctuation rules (i.e. Should you put that period before or after the quotation mark?), as well as casual English and slang (i.e. Would someone say “I have to” or “I gotta” when speaking?).
For more formal writing practice, you can write a review of an English movie or book. This will also help you remember and understand the movie or book better.
The more different types of posts and writing styles you try, the more skills you will improve!
5. Start conversations.
You might have already left some comments on another blog. Now it’s time to turn your blog into a conversation too. As we mentioned before, you should always encourage people to respond to your posts with corrections and helpful feedback. Your blog can—and should—also be a place for conversations of your own.
Try ending your blog posts with a question for the readers. Then when you receive a comment, be sure to respond to them. Before long you’ll be practicing your English conversation skills as well as your writing skills.
Joining conversations in the comments will also give you a better understanding of the similarities and differences between written and spoken conversational English. For example, many people shorten and abbreviate more words when writing online than when speaking. That’s because writing takes more time, and we love to save as much time as possible! What other comparisons can you make?
6. Look back and rewrite.
Once you’ve been writing regularly for several months, go back to your earlier entries. Do they seem different now? The more time that passes, the better your writing will be… and the worse your older entries will seem.
After you’ve been blogging for many months, pick an old blog post every other week and rewrite it with your newly learned skills.
Rewriting old blog posts shows you how much you’ve learned over time. It also gives you a chance to correct your own mistakes. Teaching someone else is one of the best ways to learn (even if it’s just you from a few weeks ago).
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