So, you’ve written something you’re proud of.
You’ve looked everything over. You’ve fixed all your typos. You’ve eliminated all the little red squigglies. You’ve even run your work through a readability app.
At this point, you’ve done everything you need to do to deliver a great piece.
You’re all set and ready to hit publish.
… or are you?
Some would argue that you are.
But I would argue that… you’re not.
In fact, I would argue that before you can even consider publishing your ‘perfect’ piece of prose…
You do one ultra-important, non-negotiable, should-never-move-forward-without-doing-it task first.
If you don’t check off this box, you risk the chance of your writing coming off as lazy, limp, and flaccid.
But if you do check off this box, you can almost guarantee your work will be far-off leagues better than it was before.
You wanna know what it is, don’t you?
Well, consider it your lucky day.
Because here it is:
The single most important task you should do before you hit publish or deliver your piece of work is…
Dah-na-na-naaaaah…
Read it out loud.
Yes, read it out loud.
In fact, read it out loud as many times as you can.
Each time you do, you smooth your work out a little more. You find all the hidden areas where it doesn’t flow or sound conversational. And then, you can fix them.
One of the most essential characteristics of your writing is that it’s easy to understand. And I know no better way to do that than to make it more clear and conversational in tone.
If you read your work out loud, this will happen all by itself.
But if you don’t…
Well…
That’s not a risk I’d be willing to take.
And you shouldn’t be willing to take that risk, either.
So read your work out loud and save yourself the trouble. If you do, I promise your work will be far better off because of it.
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And when you’re ready 