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Copyright (c) 2002 by Angela Booth ** This article is adapted from my new email workshop, Writing ToSell In The Internet Age. If you want to get a taste of theworkshop, you can sign up for the free mini-course based onWriting To Sell In The Internet Age, on the Web site ---http://www.digital-e.biz/ Want to become a better writer? Easy. Just write an article aday. When you write each and every day, you develop skill. Writing isa skill that demands the easy interaction of various parts ofyour brain. This interaction isnt developed without practice,nor does the interaction seem to remain viable unless youconsistently practice --- unless you write every day. I imagine writing skills as being like developing communicationpathways between different areas in the brain. If you dontpractice your writing daily, those pathways disappear, just likeuntraversed paths through a forest.=== Please for seven daysNo instruction I give you about getting ideas for articles, doingresearch, or how to structure an article will do as much for youas actually writing the things. Consistently. Day after day. Forat least seven days.I promise you, at the end of the seven days you will be a betterwriter. Youve been reading articles in newspapers, magazines andonline for years. You know how its done. Doing it will bring outthat hidden knowledge you have and make it consciously usable. Writing articles is a skill you learn by doing, just as youlearned to tie your shoelaces and to walk.Id like you to , of at least three hundredwords. Thats just over one page.Use the BEST formula below to get your articles written.The BEST formula is an easy way to remember basic articlestructure. I discovered it in June Duncan Owens book How ToWrite And Sell Articles (Penguin Books 1992, ISBN 014 0146 253). === The BEST formula for writing articlesBEST is an acronym for ---B --- BaitE --- ExplanationS --- StepT --- Termination=== The BAITThe BAIT is also known as the hook. Its an intriguing beginningfor your article. As well as being the beginning of your article, its also themost important part. It tells the reader why she should care, whyshe should stop and read the article. Its important because ifyour reader doesnt like the bait, shes not going to read therest of the article.Pick up six different magazines, ones you have at home, or onesyou go and buy. Look at the baits, the first couple ofparagraphs, in each article in those six magazines. All the baitsin the articles will be different. Dont spend too long writing the bait for an article. I oftenwrite the bait after Ive finished an article. The only time youneed to spend a lot of time on getting your bait exactly right isif youre writing an article for a major market. If youregetting a dollar a word or more, its worth it to write out tenor twenty forms of bait and pick the best one. When youre writing your seven articles for the next seven days --- and forever afterward --- dont be too enraptured or concernedwith the bait paragraph or paragraphs. Your bait is important,but not so important that you stall over it, and never get aroundto writing the article.The bait can only become a stumbling block if you let it. Get thearticle written, and then you can worry about individualcomponents like the bait.=== The ExplanationThis part of your article explains the articles subject, orthesis. If youre writing about a computer program, you canexplain what the program does in a nutshell, or why the programis important. If youre writing a personality profile, theexplanation tells the reader why he should read the profile. Sometimes you wont need an explanation, it will be covered inthe articles headline and the bait.=== The Step (s)The Steps are your argument. They can be individual anecdotes, orpieces of evidence. If youre writing about a computer program,the Steps could be various ways of using the program, or how toget started with the program. If youre writing a profile, theSteps could be your subjects career, his family life, thedetails of his run for office, or the details of how he won thetennis championship, what others say about him, and so on.I usually write the steps in any order, and then rearrange theorder with appropriate transitions as I work through laterdrafts.In a short article of 300 words, you wont have space for morethan one Step.=== The TerminationThe ending of the article.In the case of the article about the computer program, it couldbe how many people have bought the program, when the next versionwill be available, or where you can buy it.In your personality profile, the ending could be a final quotefrom the subject.A circular ending, when you manage to refer to the bait or theexplanation in the ending, is satisfying, and is an easy way towrap the article up without working too hard. Although the BAIT formula seems prosaic, it will release yourcreativity. It gives you a structure, which is always the hardesttask in writing an article. So go ahead. for the next seven days. At the end of the seven days, youll bea better writer.== Resource Box (publishers please use) WRITERS! Creative Small Biz, the FREE ezine for creatives,transforms your talent into a flourishing business. Visit ---http://www.digital-e.biz/

About the Author

Australian author, journalist and copywriter Angela Boothhas been writing professionally for over twenty years. She writesbusiness books and copy for businesses.