On Facebook I saw a link to this hubspot blog post titled The 31 Best Tools for Improving Your Writing Skills.

It had the usual cool tools that you would expect… places to write, like Google Docs and all kinds of new-fangled tools to help you hack writing.

Let me share a different idea.  Instead of finding tools to help you write better, I’ll share a tactic: WRITE!

Just simply write.

9+ years ago I started blogging.  I blogged almost every single day. I thought I was a great writer, partly because that was what I had been told all though high school.  I wrote, and thought my blog posts were da bomb.

A few years into this writing journey, where I wrote almost every single day, I went back to some of my first blog posts.  To my surprise and embarrassment, I found them to be quite juvenile.  Poorly written.  There were mistakes (which is kind of okay, because hey, it’s just a blog), but worse, I didn’t like the tone I used.

I could only see this after having gone through the exercise of writing almost daily.

I don’t care if you get an old tool (pencil/paper) or a new tool (from that link above)… I have similar tools to a guy who lives down the street and does amazing finish work for a living.  My recommendation is, regardless of the tools you choose, JUST WRITE.  And write again and again.

As you write consistently, for years and years, you’ll improve your writing skills. You won’t improve them just because of a tool you choose (although obviously tools can help)… you’ll improve them because you work on your skills.