Writing Waves, where No Wave is the Same, and I mean that! I plan to craft compelling and captivating client waves for a long time, so it’s understandable why someone might question my claim, “No Wave is the Same.” This low tide should ease any doubts as I share the tools used to guarantee No Wave is ‘ever’ the Same!
Forever a Creative
I may sound vain but um, that’s cool! 😀 I keep my waves fresh and engaging because of what God and my parents gave me. Creativity! This active mind is quite visual. You could say I work backward in this sense because I envision the reaction I want the reader to have, the action I want the reader to take, and then I write. When I say, “… navigating sentences with empathy and purpose,” it’s true!
Then there’s Canva for the artist within. I mean, I can’t draw to save my life. I never had the DESIRE to be a graphic designer. The options and ease of Canva, make me feel like an expert! I know I’m not and I take NOTHING away from REAL graphic designers. Canva is a great tool for a novice like me. I envision and then create what appears to be an endless stream of one-of-a-kind images.
The late, great, Maya Angelou once said, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” Let’s just say, the opening of Writing Waves opened my creative floodgates!
Keeping It Old School
You have to remember, I’m still in love with many ways of the past and taking things slow. I mean, seriously, I still have and use my VCR with my VHS tapes. Don’t play with me! 😀
Books! Books are how I keep it old school. With all the rules, guidelines, and procedures out there, it’s very easy for this middle-aged mind to forget a thing or two or three. I believe in asking questions. I believe in referencing and quoting. I believe in knowing and being accurate for my clients!
My grammar and punctuation aren’t always correct and that’s part of my charm as I fuse standard and non-standard American English during casual conversation, be it verbal or written. Yet, for my clients, I always do better. To make sure of that, when in doubt, I refer to my trusted sources:
- The Elements of Style by Strunk and White
- The Best Punctuation Book, Period by June Casagrande
- The Only Grammar Book You’ll Ever Need by Susan Thurman
- Google – yep, good ole Google! I mean hey, I gotta blend the old and new, ya know?
The Elements of Style is not as much of a reference as it was when I first started my company. The other two books are easier to navigate which decreases the time spent looking through them.
When it comes to knowing how to meet my clients’ needs, I have some books for that, too. When I started Writing Waves, I knew how to advertise. I quickly learned that marketing is an entirely different game. I had to learn new lingo/terminology and new methods that weren’t around during my ‘journalism as my major’ days at Cal State Northridge. WHOA, learning curve much? So! After reading them all, I knew they were worth keeping, especially since I marked them up so badly:
- Writing Tools (10th Anniversary Edition) by Roy Peter Clark
- How to Write in Plain English by Nicole Foster (published, January 2023)
- The Freelance Content Marketing Writer by Jennifer Goforth Gregory
- Branding is Sex by Deb Gabor (she ain’t lying!)
Sooo, yeah. I still love a good book from time to time. Especially, if it helps build my brand, my clients’ brands, and enriches my business!
Let’s Talk Technology
I can’t honestly call myself running an online business and not having some online tools to use. Come on. How oxymoron-ish and deceitful would THAT be? Yeah, nah!
First things first. AI! Ohhhh myyyyy goodness! I won’t get into my “AI vs. Writers” rant in this tide. For now, I’ll simply say that AI is a TOOL for writers, not a REPLACEMENT! Y’all go ‘head and keep using ChatGPT and others to REPLACE writers if you want. Don’t be surprised if your previous writer increases their rates when you return to them, because um, you WILL return if you trust AI to REPLACE your copywriter, content writer, content marketing writer, or any other type of writer. Also, Google will not rank 100% AI-generated content. So, be prepared for your AI-generated content to sink to the internet’s ocean floor. Whew! Now that that pink elephant has turned gray, moving on!
These online tricks are few, yet favorable. Be forewarned, one might surprise you:
- Capitalize My Title – With clients having various writing styles, it can be difficult trying to keep their rules/guidelines separated. This SO helps!
- MS Word’s Read Aloud – It’s like turning my waves into audiobooks. This is how I proofread, by listening. My second pair of eyes is actually my first pair of ears!
- Blog Title Generator – Yep, an AI program and it’s a good one!
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There you have it word-surfers; Writing Waves’ sources and resources to help guarantee No Wave is ‘ever’ the Same!
Writing Waves 