Word Wise Blog: Content Writing Made Easy

Dec 09, 2025

3 tips for writing short content stories to hook readers

Fiction writers can find plenty of helpful tips for writing short stories. Newsletters, online articles, books – even full-length courses – explain how to write fiction that’s got engaging character development, conflict, plot lines, and resolution.

But what about content writers? We, too, are storytellers.

Sure, you can open a post or article or letter plenty of other ways: with a shocking statistic. With a quote from a celebrity or expert. With a summary statement.

But stories are universal in articles, blog posts, web pages ...

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Dec 08, 2025

The 10 commandments of newsletters

Newsletters are a powerful tool to use to keep you in touch with your readers, donors, and prospects.

In fact, no matter what your industry – from media to publishing to tech startups to services to retail – you can get in front of readers regularly with a newsletter. Especially if you publish one online.

This is especially true for small businesses, nonprofits, and solopreneurs...

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Dec 07, 2025

One powerful way to limit writing distractions

Want to write more but have trouble staying focused?

A recent study explains that you’re not alone. Microsoft found the average person’s attention span has dropped by a third since 2000.

In spite of its increasing frequency, distraction has been a common challenge through the ages.

Take a look at ...

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Dec 06, 2025

How to write a sidebar with value

A study Bible has extra notes, information, charts, maps, and illustrations to help readers understand the scriptural text.

Much of this information appears in extra articles or sidebars.

Study bible sidebars are not part of the original text.

They’re extras that ...

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Dec 05, 2025

Make a personalized plan to get your book done in 2026

“I want to write a book.” You’ve said that more than once. In fact, your book idea has been floating around in your head for some time.

But an actual manuscript? You haven’t made much headway on that, if any.

What you need is a book writing plan — a plan that is simple enough to ...

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Dec 04, 2025

What your fundraising letter MUST have

An effective fundraising letter contains certain key elements – pieces that must be included in order to accomplish its goal of persuading the reader to give.

While this list is not a template, it offers a good sequential order to follow in a fundraising letter body.

Not every letter will follow this formula exactly. This particular order is simply a logical one to follow.

In fact, each of the elements is 100% necessary...

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Dec 03, 2025

How to choose topics for your 2026 content plan

How do you choose content topics for your upcoming content calendar?

If you write with regularity, a content calendar helps you stay organized so you can produce your material on schedule — whether you’re a solopreneur or you work on a team.

My content calendar includes …

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Dec 02, 2025

How to write a Christmas letter that people want to read

When my husband and I had children, I began to write a Christmas letter each year.

Until that point, I had sent handwritten Christmas cards with a short note. Yes, more than 100 of them every year.

I admit it: Christmas letters had just ...

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Dec 01, 2025

Avoid these 5 deadly fundraising mistakes

When times are hard, one of the biggest nonprofit fundraising mistakes you can make is to complain.

Partners and prospects read negativity, and click “delete” or toss your letter quicker than the latest stock market indicator plunge. And why not? They hear plenty of it already on the news.

Whining is deadly.

Even in down times, you can cultivate your readers and build your audience...

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Nov 30, 2025

The PS: It may come last, but readers read it FIRST

When I first started down the copywriting road, I thought the PS in a letter was a throwaway.

Then I found out that nearly 4 out of 5 readers – a full 79% – look at the PS first. As in before the first paragraph ...

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Nov 29, 2025

Email list? Paul wrote mass messages, too

Email lists – collections of email addresses –allow you to share specific electronic content with a particular group of readers.

The principle is much like group messages sent in Bible times.

Paul, for instance, wrote letters to...

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Nov 28, 2025

Use this template to plan your 2026 content

I created this content calendar template when I couldn’t find one that was simple.

I use it every week.

And now is the perfect time to get started planning your content for 2026 ...

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Nov 27, 2025

How to write the perfect donor thank you letter

A donor thank you letter is the perfect opportunity to cultivate a relationship with a supporter and show she’s personally important to you. Send it immediately (within 72 hours of receiving a gift).

And plan it with care and thought.

A perfect donor thank you letter does 3 things ...

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Nov 26, 2025

5 tips to help you write cleaner right NOW

"Write cleaner." You hear that all the time from writing coaches.

In order to hook your reader and keep him, you’ve got to grab his attention with enticing content – facts, anecdotes, statistics, angles, ideas.

But even if your reader is passionately interested in your topic, they will only stick with you if your content is easy to read. Clean writing will make or break you...

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Nov 25, 2025

Writing courses: how to choose one that's right for you

Writing courses provide the opportunity to develop your writing skills. You can also take a course to learn how to write in a new genre.

No longer must you be enrolled in a college program to take a course in writing. Oodles of courses are available in a variety of venues and in an endless array of formats.

Assuming you have limited time and cannot take every course that comes your way, how do you know which ones to choose?

Consider these 4 elements...

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Nov 24, 2025

Simplify your writing with this 1 quick tip

Start a sentence with the subject.

Reason? You want your writing to be easy to read.

Clean writing is easier to read than cluttered writing.

And my guess is that, like me, you want to make it easy for your readers to read what you write.

Let me show you quickly what I mean ..

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Nov 23, 2025

Make a content plan and you'll exceed 91% expectations

“A content plan? Oh yes, we need one.”

Nine out of ten bloggers and business owners are convinced that quality content is a powerful marketing strategy to use on their websites, blogs, and social media.

In fact, 91% believe in reaching readers through content – but only 9% are successful in doing so.

The reason? They’re ...

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Nov 22, 2025

How to write a memorable ending

The beginning. The middle. The end. Which is most important in your writing project?

As an experiment, think back to last week’s sermon … or the one before that. What do you remember that sticks with you?

Often, I find myself saying ...

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Nov 21, 2025

Fun gift idea for the pre-teen girls in your life

My editor asked me to write a book of fun devotionals for girls at just the right time in my life.

My daughter had only recently emerged from her preteen years. I had seen her struggles in learning to ...

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Nov 20, 2025

Use these simple call to action (CTA) examples to move readers to act

Readers expect to be told what to do. But writing an Ask can feel awkward – like you’re being bossy or salesy.

When you have some call to action examples to use as a template, you can have confidence to ask with clarity.

You know how it is: your reader has a need.

You’ve addressed that need in an engaging letter … email … landing page … blog post.

Then you reached that point in your writing when you’ve got an icky feeling.

You need to tell her what to do...

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Nov 19, 2025

This foolproof article formula I've used to write 1,000 articles

I’ve made a living writing for more than two decades.

No, I’m not a writing phenom. Rather, I attribute much of that success to using a simple article formula.

My first published article? I slaved over it for weeks. And I was thrilled with that first $35 paycheck.

I’ve become much faster since then. My articles, now numbering over 1,000, are published on websites, in magazines, on Medium, and in dozens (hundreds) of client publications.

My approach centers on ...

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Nov 18, 2025

6 tips for writing social media posts that get read

These 6 quick tips for writing social media posts help me keep grounded.

I admit it: I want people to read my posts. I want interactions. My guess is that you do, too.

But in the process, it can be tempting to use tricks to get people to read what I write.

But that’s not what my ...

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Nov 17, 2025

41 writing projects you can get paid to write

Just exactly what kinds of writing projects can a freelance copywriter expect to do?

Dozens.

But in the end, it all boils down to three basic types of pieces. In each of those 3 buckets are multiple kinds of projects. Read on …

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Nov 16, 2025

What to look for in a writing instructor

My first “official” writing instructor was a guy named Lou who guided me one-on-one, step-by-step, through a course on writing articles.

He helped me focus on writing clearly. “Make one point in your article,” he said. “And eliminate all those extra words.”

After Lou came Chris, my copywriting coach...

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Nov 15, 2025

Don't fall into The Hook Writing Trap

When I first started writing (and many times since then), I got tripped up in The Hook Writing Trap.

I mistakenly thought I had to write the hook – the lead – first.

I’d comb through search engine results for ...

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