When I started as a writer, there was nothing more important to me than to improve my writing skills and become a high-paying writer quickly. I felt I was racing against time. With all the different wins from fellow freelance writers in the Facebook group I was in, I felt left out. 

I didn’t like the feeling. But it wasn’t because of jealousy. It was a positive feeling that urged me to try harder to get the same results they were getting in a short time.

That pushed me to invest more time and look for ways to improve my writing skills significantly.

Later, I realized I was unconsciously comparing my journey with the others, which wasn’t right. 

Someone pointed out that I shouldn’t compare my learning journey because it’s different for everyone.

To Improve Your Writing Skills is a Journey

Did you ever feel the same way I did? That feeling that you wanted to get results in the shortest possible time.

If you decide to be a writer today, you should get your first client in after a week? 

At first, I thought freelancing is the fastest route to getting rich and achieving the financial freedom I’ve always dreamed of, but I was wrong!

Writing is a journey, and that journey depends on how much effort you put into your becoming. 

Maybe what I’m trying to say is that all good things take time to create. 

Whether in relationships or in life, the more time and energy you invest, the better it is. 

It’s the same with skills. 

You need to flex your creativity and do exercises to improve writing skills. 

The more energy and time you dedicate to developing your writing skills, the better you become. 

Therefore if others are getting results in a much shorter time than you do, don’t fret! You’ll have your time if you don’t quit. Everyone does!

Too much for rambling…

In this blog, I’ll share with you different ways to improve your writing skills in English.

Most of these tips are angled toward how you can practice the skill. 

Let’s face it! Practice, or should I say, consistent practice makes perfect. 

Without further ado, let’s dive in. 

  1. Write social media posts

We all love to post just about everything on social media—about our lives and experiences. 

What you might not know is that you can use Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms to practice your writing skills. 

“I can?” 

Of course, you do!

Here’s one tip. 

Instead of using your native language in your posts, use English instead. 

It’s a little “hack” for aspiring writers to get feedback from online critiques.  

As you do this, there’ll be one or a couple of friends or connections who will point out your grammar mistakes or give you feedback regarding your writing skills.

Rather than being offended, think of it as constructive criticism. 

I know it takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there to be criticized or judged by people you know or don’t know on social media. 

But be optimistic about this whole thing and thank these people because you can get grammar lessons for free. 

Do you get where I’m getting at? Good!

So you can become a good writer, make an effort to post on your social media every day. 

This is one way to improve your writing skills online. 

Who knows? You may even discover the niche you’re most comfortable at writing because of this. Or maybe, just maybe, you’ll find your writing mentor through this.

What topic should you write about?

As for me, what I did was get an inspirational quote from Pinterest or books and write at least 100 words about it. 

I discovered that this is a great way to get my creative juices flowing, even if I’m not motivated to write on some days.

You don’t have to do the same, but if it will help you, that’s great! 

Again, there’s no topic you need to stick into so you can write about your pets, tips on growing healthy hair, or your past travel experiences. 

Remember, the most important thing is to be consistent with posting. 

  2. Participate in writing challenges or contests

Writing challenges are fun, and if you get lucky, you may even win or get some sort of reward. 

Thousands of activities to improve writing skills in English are organized online, and some even offer rewards. 

There are annual writing competitions from thousands of online publications that you can join in. 

The best thing about these writing challenges or competitions is, besides you get to hone your writing skills, if you win, you’ll get to meet other writers or become a published author.

What writing challenges did I join?

In the first few months I was practicing my writing skills, I came across this Facebook page called Millionaire Writers Network.

Thinking about it now, I don’t know exactly how I came about this page. 

This page is managed by Toby Nwazor, a talented writer from Nigeria. 

Most of the members in this group are from Nigeria because the group admin is Nigerian, and I think he created the group for the local audience. 

I think I’m the only Filipino in that community. 

And I’m still a member of that group until now. 

So one fine day, I think it was around February of 2019, Toby decided to organize a 30-day writing challenge for members of the group. 

At that time, the members were only around 500. 

I checked it earlier, and it has over 3k members already. 

Toby’s goal was to encourage aspiring writers to write consistently because that’s the only way to get better at any skill—by being consistent. 

For the next 30 days, what we should do was publish any type of post in that group. 

There was no word count or any writing standard as long as we could post once a day for the next 30 days. 

By the way, Toby offered a monetary reward for that challenge. 

That was around ₱3,000 or $60, plus access to his course. 

It wasn’t that much, but thinking about it, I had much fun writing and interacting with other newbie writers. 

I got a chance to chat with Toby and the other members of that community. 

In the end, I was ten days short of completing the challenge because I got a paying client. 

That’s where my writing career started. 

Today, you can do a quick search on Google for any writing challenge or competition. 

You’ll find one that would interest you. 

There are writing practice opportunities out there that you can join in to start today. 

  3. Writing prompts

I would highly recommend writing prompts. 

It’s just like posting on social media every day, but since you get topic suggestions, you can push your creativity to the limit. 

There are many free writing prompts you can explore today to help you establish a good writing habit. 

There are 365 days writing prompts, but you can choose shorter ones, like 30 days writing prompts. 

The most important lesson you can get from these writing prompts to establish a writing habit. 

Speaking of habits, many people believe it takes 21 days to establish a new habit, but others oppose this belief. 

It matters the least how many days you can form a good habit. 

The important thing is you use the writing prompts as resources to improve writing skills and building a writing habit. It doesn’t matter how long it will take you.

Although I didn’t finish the 365 writing prompts challenge (most probably because of my lack of self-discipline), it still helped me become good at what I do. 

This is why I decided to impose this 120-day writing challenge on myself. 

Why 120 days?

120 days from now will be a week before Christmas, so it’s the perfect time to take a break. By then, I’ll see if I was successful with this challenge. 

Remember, all these writing prompts and challenges are useless if you don’t get your hands dirty. 

I know I’m repetitive, but again, you need to push yourself and stick to them. 

Sometimes, we’re not aware of what we’re capable of until we put ourselves on edge. 

  4. Read a lot of books

Great writers are great readers first. 

You can’t just write. 

You need to read as well because there are books that improve writing skills.

It’s by reading books that you expand your knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, and style. 

You can’t just write to your readers using the same words over and over again. That would be boring!

You need to be creative, and one way to do that is by reading many books. 

Doing so will give you ideas on the different writing styles, writing flow, and just creativity in general.

I’ve been reading books since childhood, and I love it.

I’ve read books on different topics, such as self-help, copywriting, freelancing, sales, and business. 

I particularly love reading books about the law of attraction as it helps me maintain the alignment between my vibrations and desires. 

If you haven’t read the book “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” by Robin Sharma, you should give it a try. 

I love this self-help book, and it’s been influential to me in keeping the right mindset, which is necessary if you want to help improve your writing skills.

What kind of books should you read?

You can read any books, including fiction books, if you like them. 

However, since you’re venturing into writing, I suggest you slipping in a few books to improve writing skills. Even marketing and business books are helpful. 

If you plan to use your writing skills to make a living as a freelancer, you should study, just like a college student studying for a major exam. 

You should know how to say the same thing in other ways, recognize the right writing style, and correct grammar mistakes. 

Reading books can help with all these. So if you ask me, “Can reading improve writing skills?”

My answer is an absolute yes!

Learning takes time, but you’ll get the hang of all these gradually. 

Another thing I want to give focus on is perfection. 

I’ve been there. I wanted things to be 100% perfect, without errors and dents. 

But this kind of personality isn’t always right. 

It can impede your growth if you focus on doing things perfectly all the time. 

If you may, let me share one piece of advice.

The secret to getting better is getting things done. Again, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Just get things done and move on to the next! 

That’s the secret to being a good writer.

Many native speakers also commit grammar mistakes, so it’s not a big deal if you do the same at first. 

But eventually, you’ll be working with a client, so it’s better to learn one grammar lesson every day and apply it to your writing. 

Make it a goal to improve your writing by 1% every day.

 5. Start a blog

Starting a blog, I’d say, is one of the best tips to improve writing skills fast.

But this also depends on your commitment and how much time you dedicate to your blog. 

The good thing about having a blog is you can use it as a platform to get your writing out there. 

Think of it this way. 

If you’re selling books, you can’t just sell it from home. 

You need a good location or space so you can get sales, preferably one where potential bookworms go. 

It’s the same with having a blog. 

With a blog, you can showcase your writing skills to potential clients. 

You can use your blog as a platform to show your writing style and voice. 

And the best of all, if you have a blog and you take care of it like a baby and put in the hard work to build it, you can monetize it later on. 

But you shouldn’t start a blog with only a goal to monetize it. 

Your primary goal should be beyond money, so whenever you get self-doubts, which you absolutely will at some point, you can just dig through the “Why?” in your mind. 

Your “Why?” is your biggest reason why you’re writing in the first place or why you venture into this kind of career.

Your “Why” can be for your family or yourself, just don’t make it about money all the time.

Money is a good motivation for doing things, but it’s not always the best one. 

I know because I’ve been there. 

I used to believe that I can do any kind of stressful work as long as I can have lots of moolah. But I was wrong. 

Ultimately, you’ll want to find a career or job that doesn’t make you feel like you’re working at all because you enjoy doing it. 

You won’t feel burnout or tired right away. 

Therefore, if you love writing, you’ll never get tired of trying out different strategies to improve writing skills. 

Final Thoughts

You don’t have to try everything that I mentioned above all at once. 

Focus is an essential thing for writers.

Just choose one, for example, social media posting, and focus on it for a few weeks or depending on how long it becomes easier for you to crank out writing ideas. 

Don’t mind your grammar too much because it will get better if you’re writing consistently. If you write consistently, there’ll come a time that you’ll be able to catch grammar errors automatically, even if you don’t pay attention to them. 

Again, you can improve writing skills in these five different ways. 

If you seriously want to become a writer, make it a priority and give it time to develop and put in the work. 

You’ll be a better writer soon. Trust me on this! 

If you like this article and learn something from it, please share it with your friends. They may learn a thing or two from this, too. 

Till tomorrow,