Samantha McLaren

Read anything and everything. From subway ads to Teams chats from your manager, look at how writing shows up in your day-to-day life and ask yourself questions like: - What is the core message they're trying to convey? Are they doing so clearly? - Is it repetitive or needlessly wordy? What words could be cut without losing anything important? - Is their tone clear and consistent? - Are there missed opportunities (for humor, impact, or flair)? The more you examine other people's writing for improvement opportunities, the easier it will be to start noticing these opportunities in your own writing.

Writers, I know this is hard to read, but AI is here whether you like it or not. As a writer in any capacity, the best thing you can do right now is familiarize yourself with this technology — even if you don't like it — because it is going to have an impact on your career in one way or another. It's better to anticipate and direct that impact with intentionality than let it sneak up on you.

Sometimes, the best thing you can do for your writing is walk away and return with fresh eyes. There's only so long you can stare at a page until the words stop making sense. Sleeping on it or even going for a lap around the block can work wonders, resetting your energy, giving your brain space to think through what you want to say, and allowing you to look at what you've already written through a more distanced, critical lens. The hardest part is recognizing when you actually need to step away and when you just want an excuse to procrastinate.

Setting boundaries up front is important, but so is reinforcing them. Early in my career, I thought bending over backwards for difficult clients would win them over. As a result, I would respond to their demanding emails after hours, work late at night and on weekends when they sprung a sudden deadlines on me, and do additional rounds of feedback beyond what was scoped. But, rather than making the clients happy, this behavior just signaled to them that they could be even more difficult and demanding in the future. It hurt the relationship in the long term. The best relationships I ever had with clients (even previously difficult ones) were built on mutual respect. These are the relationships that last. Don't let yourself be bulldozed.

Having exploratory calls with clients is critical for understanding not only their goals and timelines, but also the intricacies of their industry and organization. This is especially important for bigger and longer term projects where you'll be expected to get knee-deep in their world. Plus, it creates an opportunity to build trust that can be hard to do over email alone. Some difficult clients will push back, expecting you to just read their website and know everything about them from that. Make sure they understand the purpose of the call and how it will fuel long-term success, and be sure to scope for it. Then, send an agenda ahead of time to maximize your time and theirs.

The hard truth is there are going to be some clients you simply can't win over. Don't let your experiences with them put a shadow over your work moving forward. When I was working for an agency, I had some incredibly toxic clients who would phone me at all hours of the day and night to yell at me. I had one email my boss to say something incredibly unkind about me that kept me up at nights for weeks. It's easy to dwell on these clients, but I tried to always remind myself they were the small minority. I had lots of incredible clients, too. Learn what you can from these experiences and move on. Step into the next experience with fresh eyes and an open mind, ready to wow them and keep growing your craft.