Today Fandango’s provocative question is:

In the context of blogging and writing, what do you think is more important: what you say or how you say it?

I used to think that what you say is the most important, as good content will always be read. However, as I’ve moved a bit further along the writing learning curve I’ve realised that it’s no use just jotting down something in any old fashion… you need to write your content down in a good and proper way for people to appreciate and enjoy. You have to pick your way carefully through the writing minefield, as readers will soon pick you up on bad grammar, bad spelling, poor sentence construction, too many adverbs and too many repeated words.

You start off writing your first novel and think that you’ve written a masterpiece. After it’s been edited it’s quite disappointing to see all those red marks with the sure and certain knowledge that you’ve got to rewrite the whole thing again – maybe several times. There’s always a better way to write your first novel, and what you do write in that novel says a lot about what you’ve learned about the writing process (by that time… nothing).

I wish I hadn’t rushed my first novel ‘Mind Games’ and had taken more time to re-write it. In this way the week-long nail-biting discussion by agents from the Susijn Agency about whether or not to represent me back in 2013 might have come out in my favour.

So yes… it’s how you say it that matters.