What in the WORD?

How you say it is as important as what you say. Dull, boring, dry and stiff. If anyone receives criticism for their writing style, it's me. I love it. I preview about 50 articles a week and most of them get deleted in the first paragraph. Why? The writers aren't having any fun. They are stating facts and just putting words on electronic paper.

I have been writing since 1983 and the majority of criticism I get comes from grammatically correct people. I remember back in the early 80's I was writin' weekly fishin' articles for a couple of local newspapers in Arizona and had a fishin' show on a local radio station. Now keep in mind that I write the way I talk. Every week, an English teacher would send a letter to my editor berating and criticizing my grammar and way of writing. I loved it because she was reading my articles every week.

What that told me is that maybe she was just bored and really enjoyed some fresh new writing. If it was as bad as she made it out to be, why would she read every article, every week? She even wrote the manager of the radio station on several occasions about my grammar on my radio show. Well, to make a long story short...

I finally met her. Low and behold after about an hour she confessed to me that she really enjoyed the freshness of my writing style. She made me promise not to tell anyone because it would look bad for her with her students. After all, she was a graduate of English. She said that secretly she wished she could get her students to open up and use their imagination. Her confession was, "I can't because that is the way I was taught to teach".

I get a lot of e-mail telling me how I should change this word or rephrase that statement. How grammatically correct I am not. I really enjoy it. Why? They read it. They followed all the way through to the end and secretly enjoyed it. I look at it this way: as long as I am getting criticized, I know people are reading what I write.

On the other hand, I get a lot of folks write to tell me how they enjoyed my writing and I made things understandable and interesting. My articles are published in several Ezines every week and I personally feel it is because I try to keep it fun.

Yeah, I use acronyms and slang like Puters, fishin, and writin' and explain things in a way that any Newby can relate to. But more important than that, I try to keep things in perspective. I remember when I first got into Puters and the NET. I was lost. Not a clue and nobody wrote anything I could understand. So I will make you a deal. You keep reading my articles and I promise I will KISMIF. Keep It Simple Make It Fun - the same way we do our Websites and E-Books.

A word of advice to all you new writers out there. When you are writin' an article for your Ezine or creating an E-Book, start out with a smile on your face and be aware of it. The smile will slip right into your writin'. The rest of you critics just keep sending me your letters of discontent with my style. I know you are reading what I write.

Happy Writin'
Mike Smith, esm

About the Author

Your Internet Friend, Mike Smith, of CM/YMTC,
http://cmymtc.com, is an experienced site designer, writer, and master in Ebook and Ezine creation and marketing. His affordable two-book Easy Guide package will teach you everything you need to know to produce successful Ebooks and Ezines. You can even share in the profits with his Affiliate program.
http://www.makemoneyhowto.com/clkbnksale1.htm

webmaster@coyote1marketing.com
http://www.makemoneyhowto.com