Amazing and Shocking Insights on Writing Skills

How much do you love writing?  Whether you want to answer this question with a groan or heart emojis, writing is a necessary part of modern life.

For some, writing is a lucrative career. For others, writing is necessary, everyday communication through work emails, or texts with family and friends. Writing is a skill we can’t do without.

Writing tasks can be as simple as filling out name and address forms. Or it can be as challenging as writing a multi-page report complete with footnotes and data tables. 

Over time, and with practice, you can improve on the skill to overcome writer’s block, awkward sentences, jumbled thoughts, or grammar issues. 

Because writing is an important part of our lives, we are sharing some amazing and shocking insights on writing skills. It’s astonishing what you can achieve when you put together a series of words!

Amazing Insights on Writing

  • What is the fastest time for writing a book? According to Guinness World Records, the fastest time to produce a novel is 9 hours 5 minutes 8 seconds. A team of 53 professional authors and academics wrote Moş Crăciun & Co.
  • How quickly does the English language change? Every two hours, a new word is added to the dictionary! Leading style guides such as Chicago, APA, MLA, and AP regularly revise their rules for punctuation and words and phrases. Writers and editors need to keep up with the latest changes to ensure their writing is up to standard. 
  • Is there a limit to original story ideas? J.R.R. Tolkien had the idea for the Cauldron of Story (Pot of Soup), which is the collective imagination. All writers dip into this hypothetical pot, meaning no new stories are ever created.
  • How old is the earliest writing? About 5,500 years ago, humans drew symbols and images during the Stone Age. Around 3500 BCE, the first writing appeared, called Sumerian cuneiform, from pictographs. This writing system was used for business transactions, recording complaints, and refunds. Much later, writing developed into literature.
  • What are the most in demand writing jobs? The most in demand writing jobs are in content writing. Content writers write blog posts or articles. 
  • What are the highest paid writing jobs? Some of the highest paid writing jobs are (in no particular order): technical writer, copywriter, medical writer, speechwriter, screenwriter, ghostwriter, grant writer, and proposal writer. 
  • How much do writers make? The average writer’s salary in the United States is $65,000 (according to ZipRecruiter). The average salary for a creative writer in the United States is $52,576 (salary.com). Copywriter jobs pay from $75,000 to $140,000 (ZipRecruiter).
  • How is creative writing similar to professional athletics? German researcher Martin Lotze discovered that brain activity during the writing process and during athletic competitions are similar. However, professional writers used the speech-processing center of the brain while amateur writers used the vision center to visualize their story.
  • Do all writers write their own stories? If you have dysgraphia (difficulty with handwriting, typing, and spelling), it can be challenging to write a story. Author Agatha Christie published investigative books with the help of a typist like Barbara Blackburn, who could type 150 words per minute.

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How to Create Irresistible Offers

Some people lose all willpower when they see yummy chocolates. Others stop working when tempted by a cat video or postpone housework to watch an adventure movie. Every day, everywhere, we are tempted by irresistible offers. 

What makes an irresistible offer so difficult to refuse? Simple. It solves a problem or pain point. Each moment, we face another choice: Do another hour of boring work or break for a minute to watch an Instagram reel. Clean all the rooms or escape in an adventure movie. The choice is easy and the reward is worth it.

From a business point of view, creating that tempting offer is the key to getting customers and long-term clients. The solution could be products at the right price point, an enjoyable experience, or a worthwhile service. We’ll focus on the three best ways to create an irresistible offer. 

Solving a Pain Point at the Right Price Point

It’s easy to offer a quick solution to a problem at the right price with everyday items. Are you hungry? Go have some fast food. You’re hungry, and you need food now. Need some bread, milk, and eggs? Buy some. You need groceries, and you need to eat to live. 

With other purchases, it may be harder to get the sale. For example, delivery is convenient, but pick-up saves money. A new pair of shoes would be nice since the old pair is falling apart – but waiting for a sale can save a few bucks. 

As the price point goes up, it can become more challenging. For example, hiring a cleaning service might take a chunk out of the budget, but it will mean more time to spend with the family. Similarly, a new business owner may be reluctant to hire a virtual assistant or accountant, but working non-stop to be a jack-of-all-trades could be bad for one’s health.

The important thing is to offer a product or service that a customer sees as worth parting with their money. For example, satisfaction from  a great meal at a restaurant. Lots of laughter after a day at the theme park. Smiles and selfies after a great haircut.

A positive experience for customers is key when providing a service. Often high prices go hand in hand with great service or an experience customers can’t go without.

An Experience One Can’t Refuse

If you want to feel like royalty, having a meal at a five-star restaurant is one solution. It’s not just about delicious food; it’s about the experience of being in a posh environment and feeling special for the day.

Whether you can afford five-star restaurant meals daily or just once a birthday, you can live the life of luxury for that meal. You start by dressing up. You go to a pricier part of town where parking is twice as costly, and menus have higher prices, and find yourself seated at a table in a place with fancy decor.

The server pours you a glass of wine (and refills it from the bottle – you don’t serve yourself), and you order $100+ seafood appetizers served in a tower. When you look over, you see the open kitchen where the food is being prepared, and enjoy entrees that are $40 to $100 each.

Similarly, a visit to a theme park is about adventure, time with friends and family, and memories. The price of parking, the entry ticket, and the food can be shocking. But despite the cost, people still go because the fun and the experience is worth it. 

You pay for the framed photo to capture a moment at a ride, or pay for souvenirs to remind yourself that “you were there”. You experience the day once, and then the day is gone, but the pictures are what you get to keep. 

Create an experience that customers cannot refuse. Treat someone like royalty for an hour with a massage or with an expensive meal and live music. These are the irresistible offers that people desire. 

An Irresistible, Exclusive Offer 

Raising the price tag can create exclusivity, but money can’t buy everything. In some cases, your ability to get in on a special offer is what makes the opportunity so irresistible. 

For example, an offer is available only to VIP members or those with a “platinum-level” membership. How worthwhile are those offers? Only those who have the membership will be able to tell you! 

In most cases, a willingness to pay more money gives you that special experience. At the theatre, paying double for the ticket gives you access to a special area for adults only. You get a recliner seat with headrest, a swivel table, and access to food and drinks (including alcohol) that you can consume in the dark during the movie. 

Another type of luxury experience is one that seems to go against logic.

An example of how money can’t buy you everything is the experience of buying an Hermes bag at an Hermes store. Whether you’re a millionaire or billionaire, you need to know the Hermes culture to get a bag.

First, you have to know the lingo. You can’t just walk into a store and say that you’re there to buy an Hermes bag. You need to buy Hermes products, such as a scarf, a belt, or jewelry. Having a purchasing history of spending several thousand in their store in the past helps. It also helps to build a relationship with a sales agent. The sales agent can tell you about the bags they have in the store.

When it’s your time to buy a handbag, you are taken into a private room and shown one or (if you’re lucky) a few Birkin bags while enjoying a glass of champagne. The bags may not be the size or color you had in mind, but if you decide not to buy, going to the store again won’t increase your chances of getting the bag of your choice. Either you buy the bag that you’re shown, or you don’t.

It’s a different approach to selling luxury items. Even if you can afford to spend more than $10,000 for one Birkin bag, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get what you want. The seller has control.

The key to these exclusive experiences, whether they cost $50 at the VIP theatre, or $10,000 at the store, is providing a product or service that makes the customer feel great about the experience.

Key Takeaways

Tempting offers abound. Ice cream on a hot day. Tickets to see your favorite musician. An irresistible offer brings customers and clients. These offers could be products at the right price point, an enjoyable experience, or a worthwhile service. The irresistible offer is one that customers cannot go without.

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How to Deal with Making a Mistake at Work

Perfectionists and humans do this: anyone who isn’t a robot will at some point make a mistake at work. Mistakes are unavoidable. It’s how you deal with your mistake that matters. 

Mistakes happen, even if you are detail-oriented and careful. You may have called a client the wrong name or damaged your company’s reputation. After a mistake has been made, no matter how big or small, follow these steps to keep your job (or help you to find a new one).

Step 1: Acknowledge the Mistake

Whether you make a typing error that resulted in an important package being sent to the wrong planet or printed a thousand copies of the wrong file, the first step is to acknowledge the mistake. 

Everyone makes a mistake at some point in their career, and the best thing about making one is the confirmation that you are human. All humans are prone to errors. You say, “Oops” (or swear, depending on your preference), and start the recovery process.

Decide who to notify about the error, whether it is your boss, coworker, or customer, and tell them what has happened. The next critical part is damage control. 

Who does the mistake affect? Just yourself and one other person, or an assembly line of people? What must you say to each person? Is it enough to tell them about the error, or is there something you must do to put things back on track for each person?

Step 2: Analyze the Problem and Your Performance

After deciding who must be notified about the mistake, tell them what you will do to rectify the error. Will you need to issue an apology to a customer? Do you need to fulfill a product order a second time? 

How soon can you fix the mistake? Provide a timeline for each step and when you’ll have the issue resolved.

Those are the immediate steps that you need to take as soon as you realize that you’ve made an error.

You may also need to do some damage control to patch up relationships. For example, you forgot to complete your part of a project, so your coworker is angry with you. You could offer to help that coworker with their project.

Step 3: Process Your Feelings

You may be feeling frustration, embarrassment, or fear about what you’ve done. People may think you’re stupid or incompetent, and that’s a horrible feeling. 

When you realize you’ve made a mistake, you may be frustrated if the problem can’t be fixed right away, and other people need to be brought in to fix your issue. (And then even more people know what you did wrong. You’re getting famous – for the wrong reasons.)

It is embarrassing when other people are made aware of what you’ve done wrong. If only we could make things disappear with the snap of our fingers! 

In extreme cases, you may be fearful of losing your job because you’ve previously been warned not to make the same mistake, or the error is a costly one, resulting in the company losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

First, process your feelings. Acknowledge what you’re feeling and what is causing you to feel that way. 

Second, practice self-care. Do activities that will take your mind off what you’ve done wrong and regain your confidence. Watch a movie, spend time with friends, go for a run, or any number of activities that you enjoy.

Constantly dwelling on your negative feelings won’t improve the situation.

Step 4: Formulate a Plan to Prevent Future Mistakes

Analyze what went wrong and figure out how you can prevent the mistake from happening again. Could you create a checklist to follow? For example, if you made an error with a customer order, your checklist could include confirming the address and rechecking the customer’s name.

Ask for constructive feedback. What do your supervisor/coworkers/customers think you could do better? Is there any advice that you can take from the incident to improve how you do things in the future?

Taking initiative will show people that you’re trying your best to fix the mistake and prevent it from happening again.

Step 5: Focus on the Future: Mistakes Aren’t the End

If you are making the same type of mistake over and over again, analyze how you can improve yourself. Is there a skill you can work on? For example, if you are careless, how can you train yourself to be more precise? If you are disorganized, how can you be more organized with your schedule so you aren’t rushing to complete tasks close to the deadline?

In addition to improving soft skills, such as organization, what hard skills can you improve on to prevent mistakes? For example, if your error was the result of a lack of familiarity with a computer program or platform, can you take a course to improve your knowledge?

If your mistake was severe enough that you lost your job, you can still take steps to move on. How will you address the question (if it comes up) about why you left your last job? Instead of saying you were fired, you can simply say the job ended. Tell your next employer what you learned from the experience and the steps you’re taking to ensure a similar issue doesn’t happen again.

Always focus on self improvement. 

Key Takeaways

As the saying goes, mistakes happen. As soon as you realize that you made a mistake, take the initiative to acknowledge the error and find a solution. Mistakes are embarrassing, so take the time to process your emotions, take time for self care, and formulate a plan to prevent similar errors from happening again.

Do what you can to avoid making errors. Mistakes are unavoidable; it’s how you deal with them that matters.

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