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Complimentary Acts Lead to Flow

Cultivating Kind Expressions Add to Creativity

Today’s word-a-day choice is complimentary: adj. 1 of the nature of, conveying, or expressing a compliment, often one that is politely flattering: a complimentary remark. 2. free: a complimentary ticket. Writers often encounter challenges with the second definition. Most often truncated to comp, as in tickets to a theater performance or to a sporting event, these free tickets and activities come at an unspoken assumed price. If an event is comped, then a favorable review is expected. Moreover, big ticket free trips, or junkets, are not allowed by professional media outlets. Legitimate extravagant travel must be covered by the publication or at the expense of the writer.

Practice makes perfect when saying thanks.
Practice receiving complimentary remarks by saying “Thank you!” in a mirror until it feels natural.

The Best Way to Respond to Words of Praise

The first definition of the word really pulls at my heartstrings. My father taught me to accept a compliment with grace. Never embellish or diminish words of praise. Simply say Thank you.  Practice saying Thank you! in a mirror until it feels natural. In doing so, you enable yourself to absorb the compliment and let the power of the words resonate deeply within your soul. And who doesn’t need to hear more kind words?

The Message of the Expression

Being aware of the compliments that the Universe on each of us is the message behind complimentary: You are surrounded by gifts you often fail to recognize. Be aware of the placement and the brilliance of the appointment of these gifts, which are readily given for your use. 

Your Turn

Take our your journal and free-write about how it feels to receive words of praise. Do you take them in well or do you dismiss them? Consider working on saying Thank you! in a mirror until it feels natural.

Here’s to growing your flow,

Marisa

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Three Ways to Unify with Heartfelt Writing

Optimistic Writing Enhances Personal and Professional Ties

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.” Ralph Waldo Emerson’s words from his poem, “Write it on Your Heart,” is as timely now as it was when it was written 150 years ago. How can we use positive, heartfelt writing to lift up others through personal correspondence and professional writing?  Below are three ways to achieve better communications to cross the bridge from anxiety to confidence.

Showing concern through wording adds depth to both business and personal relationships.

Connect Heartfelt Concern to the Reader Early in the Writing

Whether keying a business letter or writing original wedding vows, make contact with the reader with memorable prose. Make sure that the greeting – or salutation – in the letter is friendly instead of static. Prefer the familiar over the rigidity of formal writing, especially if someone has encouraged a friendly relationship in business. A simple way to accomplish this act is to use the person’s first name. “Dear Emily,” is much more pleasant to the reader than, “Ms. Smith:”. In personal correspondence, be even more touching with the opening. For example, “To My Sweet Daughter, Elizabeth,” rather than “Liz,”. The well-worded salutation adds depth to a letter.

 Keep the Momentum Building

In his book, “The Four Agreements”, author Don Miguel Ruiz states that the first rule or agreement to follow is “Be Impeccable with Your Words”. He goes on to write: “Just imagine what you can create with impeccability of the word….you can transcend the dream of fear and have a different life.” And you can pass that on to others. When honesty is the primary concern in the writing, then the results of any correspondence builds upon integrity and creates confidence.

Closing with Dignity

When ending a letter – or something as simple as an email to a loved one – be mindful of the closing. Creating ambience counts here. These are the final words of a written piece that will linger. If the predictable, “I look forward to your reply,” followed by “Sincerely,” is dropped, a formal requirement is met. How much more timely to add a personal touch, “Looking forward to having coffee with you after our meeting next week,” adds warmth to a professional letter. A nod to a childhood remembrance, “With love to Mom’s favorite son,” increases tenderness, playfulness, and commitment to the bonds that family and friends share.

Putting It All Together

Keeping a consistent positive stance while writing personal and professional correspondence increases the feel-good nature of the relationship between the sender and the reader. Isn’t that what good writing is always meant to do?

Do you desire help with writing heartfelt business correspondence or personal letters or notes? Get ahold of We Write It Right today for more information. Click here to contact us for More Information.

 

 

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Founding Father on Productivity: Write – Or Not

Deciding to Write – Or Outsource Communications – Key to Productivity

Ben Franklin knew a thing or two about productivity and time management. He created time management ideals by observing that one should not “waste time, for it is the stuff that life is made of.” And, too, he argued that people should “either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” Which brings us to the concept of doing one’s own copy and content writing or outsourcing communications to someone else. What is your time worth? And, are you applying it well?

Write - Or Not
Considering productivity? Do a Ben Franklin: “Write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

The Stuff Life Is Made Of

Being productive is all about how time is spent. Is writing something you enjoy doing? Do you wish to create your own web content, your own sales ads, your own elevator pitch? Or are there other more pressing matters in your day-to-day business dealings, which you could spend energy on more productively? When I was growing up my father used to say to me, “Do what you do best and hire others to do what they do best.” Seems like something Ben would agree with, too.

Write Something Worth Reading

What if you do want to create your own work and it just doesn’t seem to flow? Does it have great SEO? Or, what if you like the idea of writing your own content. You end up talking about it all of the time over coffee with friends, but then never get around to keying it? The resistance can make getting the ideas down seem like a huge chore. The cliché, “making a mountain over a mole hill” rings true here. Procrastination can cause the simplest task to seem like a daunting endeavor.

Do Something Worth Writing

There is a middle ground here. You can provide an outsourced writer or editor a greater amount of detail about the project to make the writing streamlined. The document you assist in creating would be easier for a contractor to complete that way.

Turning the Key

Whether you write your own text, let a professional writer handle it, or work collaboratively with a professional writer, you want results. You can turn the key on to greater productivity when deciding which method would work best for you.

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Complete Closings Keep Correspondence Classy

“Best” Advice? Stop Using This 4-Letter Word

Best advice? Stop using this modifier to end your business letter, email or text messages. Opt for a more traditional closing to leave the reader feeling respected.
Best advice? Stop using this modifier to end your business letter, email or text messages. Opt for a more traditional closing to leave the reader feeling respected.

Somewhere along the road trendy people began using best as short-hand in their correspondence. Best, that wholesome modifier of Sears and Roebucks advertising troika “Good, Better, Best” has seen better days. Blame it on celebrities, who have trended the drop of nouns and prepositions to truncate traditional closings for the fastest way to ink their greetings. What was once “Best of luck,” “Best wishes,” and “Best regards,” has been stripped of its civility to its most utilitarian form. The trickle down effect? “Best” began to show up everywhere as a quasi-acceptable means of ending a business letter, email, or text message. Still want to use it anyhow? Think that this decision is not a big deal?

Think again.

The best advice you can get is to skip this four-letter word for good. Why? It is all about the perception this word brings, which is distorted. It is rushed. It is rude. It is, in a word, insincere. And the irony of this whole topic is that people most often put “best” as a closing to sound casually friendly. These are the same folks who start off emails with “Hey (fill-in-the-blank)!” This overt casual slant does not work well with a traditional business model of polite and gracious prose. It comes of as brash instead of considerate.

Here are a list of alternative closings that can be applied to nearly any business letter, email, or text. You can use them in personal correspondence, too, to set yourself apart from those who believe that they are being trendy with their “best” singularity. You want you reader to feel respected and not turned off by your phony-baloney phrasing. Keep it real. Keep it on point. Keep it classy. Keep using traditional closings to end business writing and personal correspondence.

  • Sincerely yours
  • With great sinceritiy
  • With warmest wishes
  • With warm regards
  • Respectfully yours
  • With respect
  • Your friend

 

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Great Blogs Begin with Honest Emotions

Honest emotions draw customers into blogs for a closer read.
Honest emotions draw customers into blogs for a closer read.

Honesty Best Policy When Writing Blogs

As idioms go, “Honesty is the best policy,” is pretty hard to dispute in everyday life. Blog writing is no different. Why? Because unless you are going for comic relief, lying just is not worth it. Of course there will be those out there that disagree, probably loudly, with my belief. Sure you can nearly always fatten the bottom line with padded statements, white lies, and cloaked reasoning. But when your head hits the pillow at night, telling the truth always, always, always matters most when writing content. So what are some guidelines for honing honest writing?

A Few Guidelines to Promote Honest Blogs

Here are a few guidelines to keep your writing,  as well as your integrity, in tact:

  • Write with the audience in mind. Reputable publications do not allow travel writers to cover junkets. Such excursions are usually loaded with pre-written scripts. These do not encourage the frankness needed for a successful travelog. It is the same in any industry. Write blogs about the things you have paid for and enjoyed. If you have been given an advanced copy of a novel for review, say so. Readers can see right through anything else.
  • Engage in real emotions by using regionalisms and local color. For example, if I were to write a post about a recent stop at”Duke’s Barbecue” in Walterboro, South Carolina, I’d make sure to add the linguistics of the South. When I asked where the drinks were located, the waitress pointed passed the buffet and said, “the sweet tay an north tay are right over!” Quizzically, I replied, “North tea?” Before she could reply, another diner, presumably from points north of the Mason-Dixie line, chimed in: “She means unsweetened tea.” “Gotcha!”
  • When giving detail of a service, a product, or a combination of the two, give specific details of what customers can expect. Anything less gets written up in a negative Google, Yelp, or AirBnB review. And that means bad news for you! Half-truths will haunt you much longer than you might believe when dashing the blog off.
  • If you are in doubt of the level of honesty in a blog, hand it over to your mother, former middle school English teacher, or a local writer. Most will be unflinching in their appraisal of your wording.
  • Write from the heart. Whether it is about a non-profit that cares for the adoption of teenagers or a company that provides complimentary care, such as massage therapy, make sure your blog reflects what actually is happening to its readers. After all, you want people to share your blog posts, don’t you?

Truth. It will never go out of style. Nor will your integrity if you mind your blog with honest words!