Looking for articles/books on how to improve my writing

Hey Pras, this is one of the most powerful questions you could ever ask yourself. To improve your writing is to improve your thinking. And when you seriously commit to writing, you soon realize that you don't know how to clearly articulate your thoughts. And you get distracted. By everything.

If school was supposed to teach students how to write, then nobody would be asking this question.

Oh, and one more caveat: SEO doesn't make you a better writer. It makes it easier for people to find you. And when people find you, they'll stick around if what you're writing is worth reading.

Here's some resources and tips that I, and just about every other writer, highly recommend.

1)On Writing Well by William Zinsser

You're not a writer until you've read this book.

2) The Elements of Style

Pairs extraordinarily well with Zinsser's book.

3) The War of Art

For the days you don't feel like writing (which will likely be every day). Goes beyond just writing, too. This book will change your life. It's short. You could read it in a day. I've read it thrice.

4)Writer's Bloc.
I'm a member of an online community of writers. It's a slack based community where we share drafts of our blog posts, newsletters, and essays. It's a network of enthusiastic writing brains at various skill levels. It's loads of fun, and we have workshops every other week with guest speakers teaching us how to write better. It's $7 a month to join. The group has tremendously improved my writing because you get feedback from so many different perspectives. I've submitted somewhere near 12 pieces of writing to the reviews channel, and already my writing has drastically improved.

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5) Read good books.

Not the popular New York Times Bestsellers. I mean the tried and true stuff. The books nobody else is talking about. Read books written 500 years ago. Just be a fucking voracious reader, and you're bound to start picking up on details you like and dislike.

6) Write every single day.

Everyday. Make it an atomic habit. Write two sentences each morning. I don't care how busy you are. You have time to write! All it takes to form a sentence is what, a few nouns and verbs? Boom. There's your sentence. Now you're writing.

7) Write in public.

Not everything needs to be put online. But I highly recommend writing in public, frequently, as way to keep you on the hook. Pick a few deadlines. Decide to have something published twice a week, or thrice a week, or every day.

8) Write badly.

You will write badly. For months. Years, maybe. I've been writing everyday on my blog for the last 10 months. I still write badly. Sometimes I write less badly. But the goal here is to write even on the days when everything you write looks like dog shit. Because those are the days that teach you the most.

Good luck to you, and I hope you continue to write. Because the entire world can benefit from people who know how to write.

Hi @pras2018, Check out David Perell and Julian Shapiro. Paul Graham How to Write Usefully is also good.

Hey @pras2018, I did a course on Udemy called "Writing With Flair: How To Become An Exceptional Writer" by Shani Raja. I can't express how much of an impactful it has made by demystifying what good and bad writing actually is. It blew my mind!