Blog - COMPLETE WRITING... Cayman Islands

While only few of the text books that were required reading throughout my academic career actually had any real personal value, I can say that one of those books, Writing with Purpose (McCrimmon, 7th ed) is as useful to me now as it was then.  It was in fact the only text book I read from cover to cover and remains a close companion to this day.

The book targets writers and delves, at  some depth, into the 3 stages of writing:  prewriting, writing, and rewriting.  While this might be a typical process that most writers or students engage in, it is not necessarily a process that is of much benefit to non professional writers who are simply seeking to produce acceptable pieces of communication.  Prewrite, write and rewrite an email??  Ahhh....I don't think so.  Prewrite, write and rewrite a business letter?  Maybe, but depending on your work load, you might be advised to try to get it right the first time.  

Really, the only part of this 3-stage process that's important to 99% of the population is the middle one:  write.  It's hard enough to just write in the course of what is likely already overloaded personal and work lives. But writing, fortunately or unfortunately, is a necessary evil. So you're best to get it right the first time around.  

The question begs, then, "How do I get it right?"  Good question. It's simple. You write with purpose, which is McCrimmon's underlying message.  Always, always, always, always, always write with purpose.  I promise  that if you write with purpose, your written communications will be as long as they need to be, persuasive, and to the point.  As is the case with the first line (see my blog of 11Jan12 Writing the First Line), if you write with purpose, you will communicate your thoughts in a simple, succinct, and clear way.  

So how do you write with purpose?  You give some thought to what it is you want to say and then you answer those 5 questions your grade 4 teacher made you apply to  everything you wrote:  why, when, where, who, and so?  Hopefully you will have covered the 'what' in your opening line, but if not, then be sure to ad 'what' at this point.    For example, let's say that you've just had a bad shopping experience, and you want to write to the store manager to express your concerns.  Here's how it might read:

Dear Ms. Complaint;

(What?) I was recently in your store and had a bad shopping experience.  (Why?)  I received very bad customer service from one of your floor staff who reprimanded me for moving to look at one of the display cabinets while she processed my return.  Her words exactly:  "Are you deaf? Didn't I tell you to stand right there?"  She was very rude and clearly unhappy that she had to serve me.

(When?) This happened the evening of December 28th and (where?) it occurred in your jewellery department.  (Who)?)  At the time, as displayed on her name tag, Kelly was serving me.  
(So?)  Please know that I was actually looking to exchange a previous purchase, hence my desire to look at one of the display cabinets, but following Kelly's rude behaviour, I left the store having only returned my original purchase.  I went to one of your competitors to buy the jewellery I would have otherwise purchased at your store.

Just thought you should know.

Kind regards,

Ms. Not So Happy


And that dear readers, is what you call writing with purpose.  It took me 5 minutes to write, and while I could take the time to dress it up and make it better, the fact is that it is fine just the way it is, and it allows me the time to get to other pressing matters.  Always remember, unless you're writing for moolah, perfection is not key.  OK, try to stick to proper grammar and spelling as much as possible, but as far as content is concerned, just write with purpose.  Anything beyond purpose is just a bunch of blah, blah, blah, which just translates into wasted time for both you and the reader.

Just a quick footnote.  You don't have to necessarily answer all 5 questions for everything you write.  You may answer just a few of them or answer each more than once.  The key is just to keep asking yourself the 5 questions over and over again.  In my example above, had I included the sentence "I don't understand why you would choose to employ someone with such bad customer service in your store?" it would have answered not why, when, where, who or so? This sentence would have been superfluous and taken me outside the boundary of writing with purpose.

Write with purpose folks!  You'll find your communications will be more powerful and more persuasive.