The first 5 lessons in the “How to Write with Flair” have taught me value techniques when writing emails within business. I highly recommend you read these first 5 chapters to improve your writing!

In the first chapter I learned how to use exciting verbs in my writing to make it more appealing to the audience when they read it. You need to Grapple with strong verbs and fritter away from the feeble ones. I noticed my writing seemed a little boring and bland in the past and I look to improve it moving forward by incorporating action verbs.

In the second chapter I learned the Big 5 punctuation marks: semicolons, colons, dashes, parentheses, and commas. Dashes can help highlight a part of a sentence, parentheses can imply a whisper, semicolons can combine sentences together that work with each other, commas can help make introductory clauses, and colons can create a list. These 5 uses punctuation have made my writing easier to read; helping it flow better. https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/punctuation-marks/#:~:text=We%20can%20break%20down%20the%20punctuation%20marks%20into,and%20parentheses%205%20Apostrophe%2C%20quotation%20marks%2C%20and%20ellipsis

In the third chapter I learned how to vary sentence length and change the way they start to create rhythm. Now when I’m not sure what to write next I first try to start the next sentence with either the first or last word from the last sentence.

In the fourth chapter I learned the importance of using clever wordplay in your email writing, such as puns, repeated first words, and self-answering questions. This chapter has helped my writing become more enthusiastic and appealing by writing in a more exciting tone. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/puns/#:~:text=A%20pun%20is%20a%20joke%20based%20on%20the,a%20clever%20use%20of%20language%2C%20or%20generate%20irony.

In the last chapter, chapter 5, I learned how to engage my audience in my writing. Sometimes I write as if I don’t know who I’m talking to, and this lesson taught me to recognize my audience and write in an appropriate tone to appeal to that audience. https://recruitment.relaypub.com/blog/writing-styles/#:~:text=Some%20tips%20for%20writing%20persuasively%20include%3A%201%20Identify,writing%2C%20even%20when%20faced%20with%20obstacles%20or%20opposition

All these 5 lessons have been impactful for me when reading them, most importantly lesson 4. I always thought writing had to be seriously all the time. I never tried to write with fun and engaging words. This lesson taught me that it’s just as important to keep your audience engaged as it is writing to the point. By using clever wordplay, you are able to keep your audience reading through the whole email, without wanting to put it to the side. You want your audience to read your emails all the way through so they can take something away from it.

Before I dive into Jack Dorsey’s memo to all the employees, I truly believe this was a tough decision to make, considering the circumstances. How would you have handled this decision if you were Jack? I would definitely highlight ideas that Jack used, such as expressing gratitude to the employees who were laid off and helping them find new jobs. I think it is important to be respectful to the workers that are being fired because we don’t want them to go down in flames. They deserve nothing but the best; this was truly an unfair situation. Overall, I liked how Jack showed respect to the workers in his memo, but I don’t believe he did the best job in his introduction. https://getjobber.com/academy/how-to-fire-someone-nicely/#:~:text=You%20can%20fire%20someone%20nicely%20using%20these%20best,…%208%20Give%20them%20time.%20…%20More%20items

Jack explains that he is going to give it to the audience “straight”. However, he doesn’t deliver that message right away, resulting in a much more indirect approach out the gate. He then rambles on about what the company is trying to accomplish and what they recently launched. He forgot to go straight to the point: that fact that he is firing 336 employees. Workers reading this probably don’t realize what is happening from the beginning. They might become disinterested from the jump and skip the rest of the email. In doing so, they would end up having no idea they just got laid off. https://www.bing.com/search?q=how+to+write+straight+to+the+point&cvid=5d678715c1374655b9796c6b75f38bdd&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIECAEQADIECAIQADIECAMQADIECAQQADIECAUQADIECAYQADIECAcQADIECAgQANIBCTEzMTkzajBqNKgCALACAA&FORM=ANAB01&PC=DCTS

I didn’t necessary understand why Jack named the subject of the memo “A more focused twitter”. I would recommend switching the subject to something along the lines of “employee layoffs”. It seems a little harsh, but it gets to the point of the email. Employers can then open the email and immediately get the idea Jack is trying to convey. Jack’s memo has many pros and cons: he shows respect for all the workers being laid off but also doesn’t get straight to the point from the start. https://writingcommons.org/article/memos/#:~:text=Memos%20are%20used%20in%20a%20variety%20of%20workplace,new%29%20Instructions%20Procedures%20Announcements%20Trip%20reports%20Distribution%20Medium

I totally agree with everything Bill Taylor said in the video; reading your writing out loud has some major benefits. He mentioned the importance of making what you write memorable and attractive to the audience. He recommended that you try reading your writing in a funny voice.  The writing will become memorable if it flows with that funny voice. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200917-the-surprising-power-of-reading-aloud

He mentions you can get to your point quicker by immediately drawing the reader in. He emphasizes that you need to get people to pay attention to what you have to say. If your writing flows with a funny voice, it will often draw readers in faster. Whenever I find something entertaining, I’m drawn in right away. We need to think about writing in the same way. He explains that great writing has the ability to attract people based on different moods.https://hellosummers.com/get-straight-to-the-point-writing/#:~:text=5%20Tips%20to%20Help%20You%20Get%20Straight%20to,…%205%205.%20Repeat%20at%20the%20wrap-up.%20

I can relate to Taylor’s ideas because I have tried to use the same strategy before in my writing. Whenever, I read out loud, I often find errors that I wouldn’t have found otherwise when reading to myself silently. To help make my writing more engaging to an audience, I will implement reading in funnier voices moving forward. I believe this strategy will help me add another element into my writing within the business world!https://www.bing.com/search?q=writing+to+engage+audience&cvid=e5d01115c6334e4f9f23435b38365afc&aqs=edge..69i57j0l8.7225j0j9&FORM=ANAB01&PC=DCTS

Taylor conveyed that you need to write and say things that are worth paying attention to. If you don’t get to the main idea right away, the audience won’t feel that your writing is worthwhile to listen to. Sometimes I try to build up to the point, however, I should instead imply exactly what I’m writing about right from the start. Taylor has many points worth agreeing to: Reading out loud to revise your writing and catch errors, reading with another voice to see if your writing is something the audience wants to listen to, and writing something that is worth reading from the start. I look to use these strategies to improve my writing in the future!