You know how you have those days when the words won’t come that are on the tip of your tongue? Well, I’m finding that “I don’t get it” is a handy phrase indeed. Along with a handful of imaginary friends…but I’m getting ahead of myself here.

I do tech based rewrites as part of my work. Sometimes it’s hard to find another way to say the same thing over and over without diluting the facts you’re working with or going off at a tangent. Rewrites help your articles appeal to different audiences and levels of understanding. When you know who your target group is and it’s a narrow one, it can be fairly easy.

However if it’s a more generalized framework, (” write it for women” is an example) it becomes more of a challenge. When you’re doing it for the tenth time with the same material, it can be downright hard not to double back on yourself and be repetitive and boring. The last thing you want is your piece to be stale before it’s even hit the client’s inbox!

So reading what I want to rephrase and imagining someone sitting across the desk from me saying ” I don’t get it…” can be a great tool. That means I have to explain it in a different manner, right? Right. It’s such a simple thing yet I find it really helps me when I’m stuck for a word because I can give them different personas.

How would I phrase it if I was explaining something to a 20 year old woman compared to a 70 year old retiree for example? I’d very likely use different language and a more formal tone with the retiree. If I can imagine the conversation, I can write it down.

Try it and see how you get on sometime.

But keep an eye on your coffee pot…these imaginary friends can be real caffeine guzzlers.

Visit Kay at her blog,  Hill Holler, for more writing tips, competitions and ramblings.