3 Dead Giveaways You're a Hack Writer

I'll be the first to admit it—when it comes to writing, I'm a hack.

When I say "hack," I'm talking about the kind who has to fake being a real writer, not the (much worse) kind who steals other people's stuff.

Lucky for me—and you, I bet—you can be a pretty damn good blogger without being a great writer.  Why?

Blogging Isn't Art

Blogging, for the most part, isn't about producing beautiful prose.  It's about gaining and holding an online reader's attention.  And while there's lots to learn about how to do that effectively, it ain't rocket science.

All of that said, if you make fundamental grammatical errors in your writing, you lose a lot of credibility with readers.

I'm not talking about intentionally writing in a conversational tone.  You can and should do that.  You don't want your writing to sound like a doctoral thesis.

But I'm talking about errors that aren't intentional.  Errors where you think you're doing the right thing, but you aren't.  And here are the three biggest ones I see all the time.

Not everybody notices them, but to those who do… well, you look stupid.  Even if you aren't.  Sorry.

3 Dead Giveaways You're a Hack Writer

1. Making a participial phrase refer to something other than the subject of a sentence.

As a certified personal trainer, exercises that work multiple muscle groups at the same time are my favorites.

This makes it sound like the exercises are certified, not you.  Awesome.  Instead, you want "As a certified personal trainer, I prefer exercises…"

This mistake is always good for a laugh, because when someone begins a sentence this way, it's usually in an attempt to establish credibility.  When you make this error, the result is the opposite.

2. Putting commas and periods outside the quotation marks.

I don't understand how anyone can call that "food".

If you're sitting in London writing in the King's English, you get a pass on this one.  But on the American side of the pond, we put this stuff inside the quotes.  Even for single words.

For question marks and exclamation points, it depends on whether the punctuation is part of the quotation or the enclosing sentence.  If the quote is a question or exclamation, put the mark inside.  Otherwise, put it outside.

3. Always using "I" instead of "me."

Just between you and I, sometimes I indulge a little bit when the dessert cart rolls around.

After our workout, my friend ate dinner with Erin and I.

Most of us can remember being nagged by our parents and teachers for using "me" too much.  We learned it was correct to use "I."

Good advice, but it only applies when you're the subject of the sentence.  (For example, "Erin and I went to the gym.")  It doesn't apply when you're the object of the sentence.  So if an action is happening to you (or with you, or for you, etc.), you want "me."

A good rule of thumb: Remove the other person's name from the sentence and use whichever word you'd use then.  You wouldn't say, "After our workout, my friend ate dinner with I," would you?

Similar rules apply for he/him, she/her, we/us, etc.

We're not all writers.   We're bloggers. There's nothing wrong with being a hack.  Just don't make it obvious!