I spent a very enjoyable hour or so this morning with Susan Heaton-Wright: former opera singer and now executive voice coach, and a fellow podcast host. I interviewed her for my podcast and then she interviewed me for hers – Superstar Communicator. I know that sounds ridiculously meta, but it was actually fascinating to come at the same two topics – writing and speaking – from each side in turn. Susan hasn’t written a book and I don’t really make speaking a big part of my business (unless you count podcasting, which I don’t, as you can do it in your slippers) but we both know our respective areas inside out and we both recognise how interrelated they are.
We talked about that crossover between the processes of writing and speaking and how they can work together to help you communicate more effectively, not just in terms of getting your marketing message out there, but right back upstream, as you try to articulate what it is you’re actually saying in the first place. As Susan said:
“If you write down what you’re going to say and then speak it… it will help you with the actual structure and the shape of the phrases and the paragraphs and the natural way that we drop the sentence, the energy at the end of the sentence in English. For those people who are very reluctant, I’ve been there. I know where you’re coming from. You feel that step up from writing and almost keeping what you’re feeling, what you’ve written, secret because you’re not sharing it verbally, is to stand in front of a mirror and read it to yourself. Try and catch your eyes in the mirror.”
I love that tip for making the direct, real-time connection – the thing that really separates writing from speaking and makes so many of us so terrified of the latter – in a safe way.
Tell yourself what you’re thinking, and listen.
Write, read, speak, listen, write, read, repeat.