If you hired a writer to create copy for you, he/she would likely start by interviewing you. He would ask every question he could think of about your subject and keep probing until he found illuminating answers. You could find a colleague to help in this endeavor. Or, if you are feisty, you can interview yourself.

Write out a series of questions about your subject. (I’ll suggest what kinds of questions below). Then ask your colleague to pose these questions to you and record your answers. Or you can write your own answers down.

The key to interviewing is to keep probing. If an answer doesn’t make sense,say so. “I understand that your clients need to create strategy at corporate level, but I don’t understand how your software is going to help them do this.” If you don’t believe an answer, say so too. Keep asking for further and better particulars until you get answers that interest you and which you believe in.

SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF Here are some high-level questions to ask yourself.

So when you have an idea and your mind says, “not relevant to my core subject,” you ignore doubt. You don’t cross anything out. You behave as magpie.

To polish your copy, you do opposite.Here’s how: shut door and banish distractions. Read your copy v e r y s l o w l y and concentrate.

Better still, read copy out loud s l o w l y. If reading out loud is impractical say words to yourself soundlessly. The instant you sense “this shouldn’t be here,” cross it out.Trust your first judgement. Trust your first judgement.

What “shouldn’t be here?”. Any material that is superfluous, because you’ve said it before in a different way. Or because it is not central to your main argument.

You should be removing words as well as ideas. You want to communicate in as few words as possible. Shorter is better. Shorter is richer. Shorter is more bang for your reader’s buck. Short sentences are easy to read and understand.