A Writing Workshop : “When She Writes”

I’ve never seen myself as a blogger or even an aspiring writer. It has never been my hobby to write. I’m more of a reader I guess. But last 2018 God spoke to my heart to write about His story in my life. At first, I was clueless. I thought “okay” so it’s just like telling a story and that’s it? But to my surprise, there’s so much to learn for to be an effective writer.

In Colossians 3:23 it says,

Whatever you do, work at it work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,

If this is something God wants me to do, then I have to be equipped on it. I can’t just keep on telling stories without any guidelines to follow and strategies to use to be able to capture the heart of my readers. I need to know the how-to’s so I can confidently express myself in writing especially if this is for the Lord.

When She Writes

Thankfully Mamacademy PH once again had a very wonderful workshop of their “When She” series that aimed to empower women to confidently express themselves through writing. It was titled “When She Writes: A Writing Workshop for Women”

The speaker, Ms. Jamie Ayque, is the author of the new adult romance book “Why don’t We”. A freelance writer and a mommy blogger, she had been writing professionally for 13 years.

A lot of important points were discussed on what makes an effective writer. The speaker also shared a lot of tips and lessons. In a business setting, effective writing is a powerful tool. Here are just some of my important notes that I’d like to share:

Know your Goal and your Target Audience

What is your goal in writing your article or maybe your first content on your blog? Do you wish to INFORM them of the latest trend? PERSUADE them to buy a product? ENTERTAIN them with the current celebrity news? Or just merely EXPRESS your own opinion on some general issues?

Whatever your goal is, you can use different approaches and styles to appeal to your readers. It is also important that you know your target audience so you can craft your content based specifically on what you think they need.

Show, Don’t Tell!

We have to use descriptive language with our writing so it can touch our readers. With our words we can make them feel our true emotions in what we want to convey. We can use adjectives, gerunds, or adverbs to make our work more appealing.

We we’re given exercises where we had to rewrite some sentences using descriptive language. I guess broadening your vocabulary is a must on this.

Watch Your Grammar

There are times that it’s really hard to organize our thoughts. What more in using the correct structure and tenses as we put them in sentences. It is really important that we review the basics of grammar. To be an effective writer, we can’t confuse our readers of what we want to say just because of our wrong grammar. It is essentially important if your target audience is foreign people. Fortunately, there are a lot of tools online to help us improve on this.

I still get confused with some grammar rules but thanks a lot there’s Google where we can look up on anything! hihi Thanks also to Ms. Jamie that she patiently taught us of the most common mistakes done in writing.

You have a Story to Tell

One of my most unforgettable takeaways from the workshop is this:

What is stopping you to write? What’s holding you from expressing yourself? Are there people discouraging you?

Believe that you have a story to tell. You have something to say. You know you can influence others by expressing your feelings and thoughts through writing. Your message can reach and help people, old and young, men and women, rich and poor, so why stop writing?

What I also love in this writing workshop is meeting new mommy friends who share the same passion as yours.

Mamacademy PH offers interesting and very useful workshops for moms who have the desire to learn alongside motherhood. To know more of them, you can visit their site at http://mamacademyph.com/