Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Workplace Writer's Process: Getting the Job Done
    The Workplace Writer's Process: Getting the Job Done
    The Workplace Writer's Process: Getting the Job Done
    Ebook174 pages3 hours

    The Workplace Writer's Process: Getting the Job Done

    By Anne Janzer

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The Secrets of Business Writing Success

    If writing is any part of your job, you owe it to yourself to figure out how to get it done consistently, efficiently, and successfully.

    This book covers the business communication skills no one teaches you in writing class:

    • How to collaborate effectively with stakeholders or subject matter experts
    • Why the style guide is your friend, and how to create one for your business
    • The most efficient way to approach revision
    • How to set up your projects to sail through reviews and approvals

    The Workplace Writer's Process is filled with actionable advice that you can use immediately to finish more projects in less time and create content that fuels your career success.

     

    The Workplace Writer's Process won a 2018 IndieReader Discovery Award for Nonfiction, and was named one of the Best Business Writing Books of all time by BookAuthority.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCuesta Park Consulting
    Release dateJul 18, 2017
    ISBN9780986406294
    The Workplace Writer's Process: Getting the Job Done

    Read more from Anne Janzer

    Related to The Workplace Writer's Process

    Related ebooks

    Professional Skills For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Deciding to Self-Publish

      Dec 21, 2021

      Whether you’ve been querying for a while or are still considering how to get your book into the world, self-publishing might have crossed your mind. The great thing about self-publishing is that technically, it’s open to anyone and provides opportuni

      4 min read

    • Article

      Edit Like a Surgeon

      Dec 21, 2021

      Most writers know the importance of self-editing their work before submitting it to an editor or publisher. However, even established writers sometimes struggle to understand exactly what the editing process should entail, and how to know when they’r

      6 min read

    • Article

      Starting Out in an MFA Program?

      Aug 12, 2020

      I HAVE taught fiction writing for almost three decades and served as program director of two graduate programs—the MA program in creative writing and literature at Kansas State University and the MFA program in creative writing at Oregon State Univer

      9 min read

    • Article

      How to Get Paid

      Apr 10, 2019

      LAST year James Wolf, a retired insurance agent making his first foray into literary fiction, sent portions of his unpublished novel, “No Good Day to Die,” to a handful of agents and publishers. In their responses the industry experts all told Wolf e

      9 min read

    • Article

      Set the Hook With Great Beginnings

      Oct 18, 2021

      As a novice fisher, I’ve only caught a few fish, but I’m already thinking about better ways to hook more. Likewise, as a writer, I think a lot about how to write beginnings that will hook readers. Just as fishing advice abounds, so too does writing a

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Writer’s Bookshelf

      Aug 17, 2022

      As you find your path as a writer, there may be no better support than the wisdom of your fellow travelers. Let these twelve recent and forthcoming books by some of contemporary literature’s most insightful and generous luminaries guide you on your w

      4 min read

    • Article

      Level Up Your Writing (life)

      Oct 10, 2022

      Truth be told, on the one hand, I’m terrible at journaling. Yet, on the other hand, if pressed to name my creative writing superpower … I’d answer “journaling.” There are all kinds of ways to journal—and one might just become your superpower. Traditi

      5 min read

    • Article

      Bookish

      May 21, 2019

      There’s no one right way to live a writing life (unless, of course, you never write a word). But how does one start being a writer? Who’s allowed to call themselves a “writer,” anyway? And beyond grammar and syntax, what does a person need to know be

      1 min read

    • Article

      Prologue

      Nov 13, 2021

      Prologue
      1 min read

    • Article

      Nonfiction Book Proposals

      Oct 13, 2021

      FOR years journalist Chloé Cooper Jones, who was born with a rare congenital disorder called sacral agenesis that affected the development of her hips and legs, had been filling free moments between assignments by writing journal entries on how stran

      8 min read

    • Article

      Going Indie in 2021

      Aug 14, 2021

      Going Indie in 2021
      15 min read

    • Article

      Romance Writing Academy

      Dec 18, 2021

      Romance Writing Academy
      3 min read

    • Article

      Build On Your Strengths

      Aug 14, 2021

      Build On Your Strengths
      5 min read

    • Article

      Advice For Indie Authors

      Aug 14, 2021

      Keep in mind the long term. A lot of times, we worry about right now. Be patient, and don’t be afraid to ask questions and learn a little more before you push any buttons. You only get one chance to make a first impression. There’s a lot to learn. I’

      1 min read

    • Article

      Find Your Niche

      Apr 11, 2022

      Find Your Niche
      5 min read

    • Article

      Group Work

      Jul 17, 2021

      Many writers want to hone their craft but don’t want to commit to or pay for a full-blown MFA program. Luckily, many local and online classes, workshops, and certificate programs can support writers’ needs without obliging them to commit several year

      11 min read

    • Article

      2021 Holiday Gift Guide FOR WRITERS

      Oct 16, 2021

      This poster allows readers to scratch off each of these 100 iconic books as they finish them. $15, uncommongoods.com “Roll the cubes. Make a story,” encourage the makers of Story Cubes. Stick with the original set of brainstorming dice or opt for mys

      2 min read

    • Article

      From Where I Sit

      Feb 14, 2022

      There’s an outdoor cat who is slowly adopting me. When I first moved into my house, I saw her slink through the yard occasionally, but for months, when she saw me, she bolted. Then something happened to change her view of me—I started leaving food ou

      2 min read

    • Article

      On Writer’s Block: Advice from Twelve Writers

      Mar 19, 2018

      Our Writers at Work series, which spans sixty-five years of interviews with nearly four hundred writers, offers no shortage of advice. Should this multitude seem daunting, fear not! The editors of The Paris Review have combed through the series and s

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Writer’s Toolbox

      Jan 30, 2018

      1. I pulled the heavy red book down from my dad’s bookshelf. Bryan A. Garner’s A Dictionary of Modern American Usage, its cover announced. “David Foster Wallace said it’s the only usage guide he ever consulted,” my dad said, a note of pride in his vo

      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Workplace Writer's Process

    5/5

    3 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This is a great how-to book written in simple English with lots of super practical tips. I love the way Anne Janzer describes best practice processes for planning, writing, editing, delegating and other tasks and then quietly picks out common problems and offers solutions. If I’d read this twenty years ago, she would have saved me a lot of pain!I’ve been a freelancer for decades and have been rethinking some of my processes recently in order to fit in with new markets. This was a very useful overview and it’s given me some good ideas for preventing problems.The Workplace Writer’s Process by Anne Janzer is brilliant. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to write: college students, managers, bloggers and fiction authors included.I received this book from the publisher via Net Galley and am reviewing voluntarily

    Book preview

    The Workplace Writer's Process - Anne Janzer

    I

    Writing Rules That No One Teaches You

    Before you commit to doing more writing at work, get your mindset in order.

    Common myths and misconceptions can lead you astray. If you take a narrow view of your responsibilities as a writer, you leave a great deal to chance.

    The chapters in this section expand the traditional definition of the writer at work. In addition to assembling words, successful and valued writers practice project management and basic cognitive science. They are team players at work, yet advocate for the reader.

    No matter what kind of workplace writer you are today, the lessons of these chapters are key to long-term success.

    1

    Five Myths That Can Hurt You

    Common misconceptions about writers and writing can hurt your chances of success. Let’s identify and debunk them here and now.

    The Destiny Myth: Writers are special people

    The Universal Writer Myth: Everyone can write

    The One-Size-Fits-All Myth: Writing is writing

    The Big Idea Myth: The idea is the hard part

    The One-Step Writing Myth: Writing is just drafting

    The Destiny Myth

    Myth: Writing is destiny that people are born to.

    Reality: Writing is a skill developed through effort and intention.

    Some people imagine that writers are special creatures, sprung from the womb with a thoughtful look and a pen in hand. That’s the Destiny Myth, and it quickly becomes a limiting belief.

    If you don’t think of yourself as a natural-born writer, you’ll avoid jobs or assignments that entail writing. Ultimately, buying into this myth may constrain your career options.

    What if you pride yourself on your prose? If you believe that only writers should take on writing tasks, you risk becoming the writer for your group or workplace, pigeonholed into the role. This may limit your career options as well.

    It’s no myth that writing comes more easily to some people than others. But as the psychologist, professor, and MacArthur genius grant recipient Angela Duckworth points out in her book Grit, natural talent is only the starting point for achievement. Effort counts much more. We prefer to attribute success and achievement to talent instead of effort, and that’s a problem. Duckworth writes:

    The ‘naturalness bias’ is a hidden prejudice against those who’ve achieved what they have because they worked for it, and a hidden preference for those whom we think arrived at their place because they’re naturally talented.

    Our persistent belief in talent as the source of success damages both those with natural talent and those who labor diligently for their achievements.

    How to counteract the Destiny Myth: If you identify as a writer, let other people know the variety of the tasks involved. Expose the processes. Expose the activities of planning and revising as well as drafting. Encourage others to contribute and write.

    The Universal Writer Myth

    Myth: Everyone in the workplace should be able to write for the business.

    Reality: Not everyone writes effective content.

    This misconception is almost the opposite of the Destiny Myth, yet it can do as much damage.

    The people who promote this belief are often adept with words, exhibiting strong verbal intelligence. They assume that writing is as easy for others as themselves. (People often undervalue their own strengths, not understanding that they are difficult for others.)

    The Universal Writer Myth marginalizes the effort involved in effective writing.

    Writing can be easy if you don’t care about who reads your content, or what they think or do after reading it.

    In the business context, effective writing is trickier.

    To be a valued writer, you must write valuable content.

    Anyone can write 600 words on a topic vaguely related to the job and put it in a blog post. But what does it accomplish?

    We’ve all seen blogs that result from the Universal Writer Myth, populated with content of little value for the prospective audience.

    When you write without consideration for the reader, that’s called journaling. It’s a fine activity for personal development and deep thought, but holds little value beyond yourself.

    Writing effectively for business requires that you execute several tasks, including:

    Finding the right tone and style

    Creating content that serves the target audience or advances business objectives

    Fitting the writing work and deadline into existing obligations

    Navigating internal approval and publication processes

    How to counteract the Universal Writer Myth: If your workplace adheres to the Universal Writer Myth, the processes described in this book provide critical structure that helps everyone become more effective.

    The One-Size-Fits-All Myth

    Myth: If you’re a good writer, you can write anything with equal ease and success. Writing is writing, right?

    Reality: Writing has many specialized skill sets; success in one format does not translate automatically to success in others.

    Congratulations, you wrote a terrific LinkedIn ad campaign. Since you did so well, why don’t you write the product documentation next? This happened to one writer I know at a company she joined. She ran into the

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1