Heyaa.
Itās Sunday here. Yes, Diwali. Not my usual morning, though.
Itās 8.32 PM now. The sky is lit with fireworks, and the vicinity echoing with crackers. I have nothing much to do. So, Iām writing.
Couldnāt do it this morning.
Had a tiring week. Actually, the most productive in the last three months. And I had to review and submit two projects.
In the past week, I rearranged my store products, changed some mockups and descriptions, and even published 2 articles on the store blog. Yep, Iām back to taking care of my merch store.
Added new tees and hoodies, and now testing for stickers and bookmarks.
So much happenedā¦ Still, when a friend asked where have I disappeared, I had no answer.
I donāt know whatās going on and what to do unless I check my to do.
Oh, wait, a song first!
Found it in the suggestions. A Punjabi song to vibeā¦ after years
Ok, soā¦ yeah, a panda that disappeared.
Actually, I havenāt been the best staying-in-touch friend ever. I donāt know what to say after the initial āHi, How are you?ā So, my chats are usually about work.
And lately, I have lost the desire even to chat.
Maybe I am just tired of everything. Recently, I unconsciously blurted that I didnāt intend to freelance for this long to another friend.
I actually didnāt think I could do freelance writing for this long when I started about 7 years ago.
But then, it made me a storyteller.
I donāt know how good or bad I am. As a storyteller, a writer, a marketer. I haven't been the most efficient, but me throughout.
Some learning here, some there. A bit of Chandler, a lot of Sheldonā¦ maybe some Phoebe, too. Ahhh, the good old days when I used to binge a whole season in a day.
Thinking about all the shows I watched, I realise I have little to no memory of stories in most books I read. Except for how that book made me feel, I recall no plot.
Maybe, I readā¦ just to read, not to memorise. Thatās how it should be, right?
While we are at readingā¦ I have something to share from a book. A tip about writing.
Check this excerpt:
There is an epidemic of loneliness, and most of its victims are men. A 2021 report by the Survey Center on American Life found that one in five single American menā¦] [...men do not have the emotional and relational needs that women do. They don't nurture others and they definitely don't need nurturing themselves.
This is absolute garbage first of all, andā¦
Doesnāt matter if you read the full excerpt or not. Itās not about that content.
I know most people rarely read the full piece of content. They skim through it. I do the same. Unless the first sentence of a paragraph needs some explanation, I move to the next paragraph.
Thatās why you need to write as if your readers are skimming your content. Connecting the first sentences of each paragraph in a flow.
Now, hereās what I found odd while glancing through that quoted part:
1st para: āThere is an epidemic of lonelinessā¦ā
2nd para: āThis is absolute garbage first of all, andā¦ā
Atrocious, right?
That was my first thought.
When I read it again, the whole first paragraphā¦ then only the next paragraph made sense.
But skimmers donāt do that. And I fear most of us are those.
So, what should you do? Just write every paragraph as single sentences? Nyahhh, that would be horrible to read.
You canāt write only single-sentence paragraphs.
The best you can do is have a good mix of single-sentence and double-sentence paragraphs, with a bunch of 3-4-sentenced paragraphs wedged between.
And when you need to write long paragraphs, make sure of two things:
The last line flows with the first line of the next paragraph (of course).
The first line flows with the first line of the previous and the next paragraph.
Got it?
Yes, write for the skimmers. But also keep in mind that some people do read the full content.
The content should make sense for everyone whoās reading.
In short:
āThe first line of a paragraph should flow with the first line of the previous paragraph and the last line of the previous paragraph.ā
Took me almost two years of writing to make a conscious decision to observe that.I still make mistakes, tough. Even this newsletter might have a few.
But then, I keep my paragraph length to, at most, two sentences. A few are longer than that, I know.
Itās because many people, including me, read their emails on mobile.
And too many two-sentence paragraphs can become a boring wall of text. Forget three or four.
Thatās how things are for me. Upgrading gradually. Thereās no one point where I can say this is when I learnt to write professionally.
OK, thatās all the gyaan for today.
Will wrap it up here. Itās getting late for my sleep.
Bidding adieu.
Live long and prosper.
See you next week, with another story.
PSā¦ Hereās a peek into my stickers.
a bit of Chandler, a lot of Sheldon.
- Phoebe and Penny reporting :P