Last updated on February 1, 2023
Ever since I read a blog post from Steve Gordon — a.k.a. RDQLUS — I’ve been thinking about the creative professionals that I’ve worked with during my career. “I’m so sorry,” they say by way of preemptive apology. “I’m not much of a writer.”
I always cringe when I hear that. Sure, maybe they’re intimidated about writing to a writer, but apologizing only draws more attention to their abilities, or lack thereof. These days, you have the benefit of relying on spell check and other grammar tools that previous generations never had. Granted, spell check alone doesn’t make you Jane Austen, but it does often prevent you from making egregious errors.
As Steve says,
“I’m not suggesting that we designers should be aiming for Pulitzer-status and dreams of literary prowess. Uh, no. But writing falls squarely in the creative arts. It actually overlaps neatly with design in the area of visual communication—that thing we all claim to be varying degrees of “professional” at.”
Why not practice? At the end of each day, sit down for 10 minutes. Pick a project and explain where your ideas came from and why you did what you did. When you’re done, refine it. Cut it to one concise paragraph. Practice. See if it improves your writing. I guarantee that it will help you to think about your work in a different light, and may even help you to become the writer that you want to be.
But let’s say that you — the designer, the web guru, the event planner — are completely uncomfortable with your writing. Why not outsource it? Do you think that the designer at that big-city agency is writing his own proposals?
No, I’m not suggesting that you hire a proposal writer to craft each proposal before it goes out the door; that would cost a fortune and be prohibitively time consuming. But there are probably some basic commonalities between all of your clients. I’ll bet that two or three different professionally written proposals would probably cover most of your clients with only minimal tweaking to customize it. Those templates are perfect examples of where a good writer can help you out.
And let’s not forget about your website. Professional writers can also help you build an apology-free website that accurately reflects the spirit and energy of your business.
You are a communicator. Always work to do it a little bit better on your own. Then, and only then, will you know what you can do yourself and when it’s time to call in the pros.
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