B2B Writers International

Want to Be a Better B2B Writer? Do the Work

4 minute read

Hunter S. Thompson, famous for living with the Hell’s Angels for a year so he could write about their lives and experiences, was razzed by a friend for typing out The Great Gatsby. “I just want to know what it feels like to write those words,” he replied.

As we’ll talk about in a moment, typing isn’t the best way to commit things to memory. Studies show that handwriting is the way to go. But I was fascinated to see that Thompson recognized the power of copying great works, just to get the feel of how it would be to write them. Did he consciously know that’s what he was doing?

But before we get into copying successful text as an exercise that improves your writing, let’s talk a little about exercises in general. Would you read a chemistry book, skip the labs, and then expect to ace the course? Of course not. You need to do the exercises to gain a full understanding of the subject.

It’s a theme that shows up in three seemingly unrelated books:

  • Unfollow Your Passion, by Terri Trespicio
  • Tiny Habits, by BJ Fogg, PhD
  • Building a StoryBrand, by Donald Miller

They all have doing exercises in common. Exercises that will help deepen your understanding of the material.

They’re also all books that I thought, “Exercises? I don’t do them!” But I know I should. And you know you should, too.

Truth be told, it was the StoryBrand book that gave me the idea for this article. I was happily reading along, enjoying the ride, when… Exercise! As I was whining to myself, wondering if I could skip ahead and be okay, the thought came, “Just do the exercise.”

Exercises. Just do them. Preferably by handwriting them out.

How many times have you written yourself a note, so you won’t forget something, only to realize later that you didn’t need the note because you remembered organically? Yet, if you tell yourself, “Oh, I don’t need to write a note, I’ll remember,” you don’t?

That’s the power of the brain-handwriting connection.

Studies show that writing by hand makes a strong connection between the brain and what is being written.

Probably the best known of these, “The Pen is Mightier than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand over Laptop Notetaking,” was published in 2014.

“The Importance of Cursive Handwriting Over [sic] Typewriting for Learning in the Classroom: A High-Density EEG Study of 12-Year-Old Children and Young Adults,” was published in 2020.

When I began my research, I started out by taking notes on my computer. I switched to handwriting after coming across these studies. I realized that I should practice what I intended to preach in this article.

(“It seems that our digital companions are so good at storing information that we don’t even bother remembering it.” Sylvain Kalache, in Forbes.)

A lot of the content I found was focused on how children learn, which was disappointing because the article I was writing is aimed at adults. Then I realized that while we’re adults, hopefully we’re also still learning. So an article that talks about the connection between handwriting and how well children learn (or not), will still have good points to make.

So what constitutes “handwriting,” anyway?

I found a few definitions. I like this one from askdifference.com:

Handwriting is the writing done with a writing instrument, such as a pen or pencil, in the hand. Handwriting includes both printing and cursive styles and is separate from formal calligraphy or typeface. (Emphasis mine.)

I like that it covers both print and cursive. That’s one thing I was wondering about in my research. Yet, it looks like, as far as learning goes, cursive beats printing. Seems it’s the connecting of the letters that’s the key.

So what does all this have to do with exercising, er, exercises?

Writing is a muscle. I bet you’ve heard that before. And what happens to muscles that don’t get used? I’m sure you know the answer to that one.

But, you’ve got to exercise in the right way. Doing leg presses won’t build your upper-body strength. The same is true of writing exercises.

Writers train their brains by exercising, just like athletes. One way to exercise your writing is to practice how you want to write. Want to write better marketing emails? Find some that make you want to buy. Especially if it’s something you don’t really need or want. Copy them. By hand, cursive if you can. At least three times.

I know people who keep pen and paper handy even while reading for pleasure, just so they can make note of a handsome turn of phrase. That’s another way to not just practice, but practice great writing.

I wanted to know what it felt like to write great copy. So I studied the masters. And by that, I mean I copied them. By hand.

But not in cursive, I printed. My printing is faster than my writing, and marginally more legible. However, I’ve been working on my handwriting and the next time I copy a master, or a control, I’ll be doing it that way.

I hope to encourage those who think they “don’t have the time” to hand write those long sales letters — make the time to do it. Think of it as an investment in your business. It’s classwork.

And just because you don’t want to write direct response is no reason to skip this. It’s the foundation that counts. The structure is the same whether it’s a long sales letter or short social media ad. The sales letter just has more words.

If you want to write like the best, copy them. Literally. Start with AWAI’s Hall of Fame. You’ll find approximately 50 classic and new sales letters to get you started.

Bottom line? No, you don’t have to do the exercises. But whatever you want to learn will suffer if you don’t.

Just do them.