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Writing Final Draft 20.You’ve done rough draft, 1st draft, and are into 2nd draft. You’ve put everything in your own words and are observing your outline structure. The article is starting to sound less like something you’ll get blamed for, and more like something you might actually claim. 21.Edit for readability, grammar and style. 22.Use active voice in all your writing. “Active voice” is a sentence construction where subject performs verb action. Don’t go to sleep on me, this is important. Example: “The dog bit boy.” Quick, active, easy. Here’s an example of passive voice: “The boy was bitten by dog.” Yikes! 23.Technology writing is full of hideous passive voice construction. Here’s another example from a technology marketing document: “This successful vendor interoperability was demonstrated at Summit in Chicago.” Ack! Instead, write: “Vendor teams successfully demonstrated interoperability at Summit in Chicago.” See how easy that was? PLEASE use active voice. Everyone will be so much happier. 24.If you learn nothing else about business writing in all your born days, learn to write in active voice. Subject all of your sentences to this simple little exercise and you will improve your writing 100%. 25.Please don’t be boring, but don't get too cute. I will stick in something funny every once in a while -- mostly because I get a big kick out of myself -- but don’t get too chummy.
Final Draft 26.You’re almost there – you see light at end of tunnel, and it isn’t a train. Now is time to polish sentence structure and word choice, and punch up your paragraphs. 27.Polish your opening paragraphs. Add a snappy lead, define what you're talking about and why it's important, and list three or so points you’re going to make. 28.Read through your article and make sure you’ve made those points. If you did an outline, main points should already be subheads. (See why an outline is so great?) 29.Polish your conclusion. The conclusion doesn’t have to be undying prose, but do restate your points and conclusions. 30.Read through one more time for overall readability. 31.Run your spelling and grammar check. 32.Save and send – but be careful to send right file! I accidentally turned in my rough draft once instead of completed final. Luckily this was with one of my oldest clients, so they contacted me and asked me for real article. A new client would simply have assumed complete incompetence on my part. 33.And for final tip: everything gets easier with practice. Good thing, too.
Christine Taylor is president of Keyword Copywriting, which helps marketing and PR pros leverage their relationships with technology clients. E-mail her at chris@keywordcopy.com, call her at 760-249-6071, or check out Keyword’s Website at www.keywordcopy.com.