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Discussion Post

Up until the point in our lives when we graduate from college and enter the workforce, all that most of us have ever known (as writers) is how to be a student. We write for grades, we write for deadlines, we write for word counts, and we write because someone else told us to do so. But once we enter the workforce, the guidelines will completely change. Yes we will still spend time writing for a deadline or writing because we were told to, but the way we will go about it is completely different. In college writing, it is usually important to keep your professor interested because that may be the only person who ever reads your work. But for business writing in the real world, you have to keep everyone interested. Gareth's tips highlight the difference between real world and school world writing. Even though it was obvious that he was being funny in his "Don't be redundant. Really. Don't." section of Suck-less Writing, I couldn't help but think of multiple instances when professional contacts have sounded just like this. We have to kick the impression that the more words we use, the more intellectual we sound because in nine out of ten cases it's just not true. I live for the short and to the point email responses I receive from employers. One of the biggest differences between college and workforce writing I learned from Gareth's tips was that it's good to have fun with your writing. In the workforce, anything you write is probably important to be read by some other employee. If you can have fun writing it, then maybe they can have fun reading it, and through this tiny change maybe everyone's workplace morale will be boosted a little more than it was before. Like Gareth said, you might be onto something fresh and exciting, and that's always better than the dry, boring version of writing you used to submit to hit every guideline and secure a good grade.