Write To Be Remembered
I decided to sharpen my writing skills sometime in 2020. This was after I had humbled myself enough to agree that I wasn’t as good a writer as I thought — a story for another day. In my frantic search for knowledge, I stumbled on a writing tip that said you could improve by reading the works of your favourite writers. I was interested in non-fiction at the time but hadn’t read much of it, so I got to work to find writers whose works I liked.
Soon, I was mindfully studying the works of Ann Handley, Bernadette Jiwa, Shane Snow, and Seth Godin, and I discovered something interesting. These top writers are big on planting lingering thoughts in your mind.
With Bernadette Jiwa, for example, her conclusions are always memorable. She closes with concise but delicious points that embody the message of the entire text. She ensures that those last words stay with you. They are like punch lines heavily laced with meaning.
The question is, why even bother creating a smashing ending? For one, I believe that great writing stems from genuine care for your readers, which also shows in how you end your work. You are not looking to “get this over with” and hop on to the next task. Instead, you care so much about your readers that you want them to leave with something useful, and you make sure of that in your conclusion by making it as memorable as possible.
Also, sticky conclusions reflect how much you care about your ideas. If you believe what you’re writing about matters, you’d want it to stick to people’s minds and would use every tool at your disposal to make sure of it, including your closing words.
The lesson here is short and sweet: you write to your readers as you would a lover. You make every line count, even the last one.
Day 5 of the Not Enough Writers 30-Day Writing Challenge
