{"id":28090,"date":"2025-01-15T07:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T07:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/investing\/jan-newsletter-verbs-make-your-writing-vivid\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T07:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T07:24:11","slug":"jan-newsletter-verbs-make-your-writing-vivid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=28090","title":{"rendered":"JAN. NEWSLETTER: Verbs make your writing vivid"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

I was struck by this advice in Alexander Chee\u2019s\u00a0How to Write an Autobiographical Novel<\/em>:<\/p>\n

You want vivid writing. How do we get vivid writing? Verbs, first. Precise verbs. All of the action on the page, everything that happens, happens in the verbs.<\/p>\n

According to Chee, writer Annie Dillard told her students to \u201cincrease the average number of verbs per page.\u201d Strong verbs allow you to avoid using adverbs to fill in what your verbs fail to convey, as Chee says later in the same chapter of his book.<\/p>\n

I discovered an interesting exercise from Dillard in Chee\u2019s book. Dillard told her students to print the draft of an essay. Next, follow these steps, as described by Chee:<\/p>\n

\u2026 cut out the best sentences \u2026 and tape them on a blank page. And when you have that, write in around them. \u2026 Fill in what\u2019s missing and make it reach for the best of what you\u2019ve written so far.<\/p>\n

I might try that exercise with a personal essay with which I\u2019m struggling.<\/p>\n

Speaking of essays, here\u2019s an essay I wrote long ago: \u201cA Pink Kimono From a Japanese Mother<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Punctuation with quotation marks<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

I frequently find that writers misplace quotation marks around their other punctuation, as I discussed in \u201cBloggers\u2019 top two punctuation mistakes<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re puzzled by the rules of when to punctuate inside or outside quotation marks, review this nice summary about \u201cPunctuation with Quotation Marks<\/a>\u201d on the website of the library of Loyola Marymount University.<\/p>\n

Fact versus interpretation in your blog posts<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fact or interpretation, which should you place first in your article, commentary, or blog post? For my take on this, read \u201cFinancial writer\u2019s clinic: fact vs. interpretation<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click to email me if you\u2019d like to buy one of my digital products<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

If you\u2019d like to buy one of my digital products\u2014such as the PDF versions of\u00a0Financial Blogging<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Investment Commentary<\/a>\u2014click on the \u201cBuy\u201d button to email me so I can send you a PayPal invoice. Thank you for your interest in my products!<\/p>\n

Research denials of health care claims<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Difficulties with health care claims have been in the news lately.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to find out why a claim was denied, try using this\u00a0Claim File Request<\/a>\u00a0from ProPublica. I haven\u2019t used it myself, but ProPublica is a respected investigative journalism organization.<\/p>\n

Happy 2025!<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

I hope that 2025 is a healthy, happy, and prosperous year for you.<\/p>\n\n

What my clients say about me<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cFast, effective, insightful. I can think of no better resource for superior financial writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSusan has an exceptional ability to tailor investment communications to the sophistication level of any audience. She has an uncanny ability to make very complex investment and\/or economic topics accessible and understandable to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSusan\u2019s particularly good at working through highly technical material very quickly. That\u2019s very important in this business. A lot of people are good writers, but they have an extensive learning curve for something they\u2019re unfamiliar with. Susan was able to jump very quickly into technical material.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more testimonials<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n

Improve your investment commentary\"\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

Attract more clients, prospects, and referral sources by improving your investment commentary with 44 pages of the best tips from the\u00a0InvestmentWriting.com<\/a>\u00a0blog.<\/p>\n

Tips include how to organize your thoughts, edit for the \u201cbig picture,\u201d edit line by line, and get more mileage out of your commentary.<\/p>\n

Available in PDF format for only $9.99. Email me<\/a> to buy it now!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Boost your blogging now!<\/h2>\n

Financial Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract Clients<\/em>\u00a0is available for purchase as a\u00a0PDF<\/a>\u00a0($39) or a\u00a0paperback<\/a>\u00a0($49,\u00a0affiliate link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was struck by this advice in Alexander Chee\u2019s\u00a0How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: You want vivid writing. How do we get vivid writing? Verbs, first. Precise verbs. All of the action on the page, everything that happens, happens in the verbs. According to Chee, writer Annie Dillard told her students to \u201cincrease the average […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[11550,19131,19132,8379,2456],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-28090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing","tag-jan","tag-newsletter","tag-verbs","tag-vivid","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nJAN. 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