Being understood in writing can be complex. The words we use express our expectations and tone, but readers often misinterpret the intention the author wishes to convey. In this edition of our business writing education series, author and book coach Anne Janzer explores how our expression of authority can unintentionally derail teamwork, and what to do about it.

Antonio manages a distributed team with people in different time zones. The team interacts daily through emails or messaging.

Antonio is frustrated that the team doesn’t collaborate well unless they’re all in a room together. When he tosses out an idea over email, either everyone agrees, or no one responds.

One of the most difficult parts of writing is figuring out which information is necessary to convey, and which is excess background information that detracts from the overall idea you’re trying to convey. Take a journey with author and nonfiction book coach Anne Janzer as she explores which facts you need to pack, and which you can leave behind.

You have carefully crafted your report, blog post, or project proposal, and now it’s time to get other people’s feedback.

Asking for feedback is never easy. Ideally, everyone will rave about how brilliant you are and maybe contribute one or two gems that make the work even better.

Realistically, you know you will receive feedback you don’t want to deal with. But you also know that it should improve the result. And perhaps your workplace requires review cycles or external approvals.

So you steel yourself and send the work out for review or approval, and wait for those responses.

And wait.

[Cue the sound of crickets.]

You need to write an important report or blog post. It’s a task like any other, right? You set aside a block of time and swear not to leave the desk until it’s done.

If you have high standards for your work, you may not be pleased with what you write. Being diligent, you keep going, perhaps banging your head against a metaphorical wall or flashing back to late night papers in college. It takes longer than you hoped to get to a decent draft and the process isn’t fun.

Does this sound familiar?

It gets worse. Because the experience was unpleasant, the next time you have a writing project, you put it off. (Who is eager to do something unpleasant?) Now you’re up against a deadline, perhaps working in the evening or weekend.

Thinking of writing as a single task puts too much pressure on the work and kicks off a vicious cycle that makes you avoid your writing projects. Break that cycle!

An idea for a new project comes to you when you’re in the shower. Or you’re on the way home from work when you think of the perfect words to convince your executive team to fund your initiative.

Breakthrough insights and inspired ideas often appear when we’re far from our desks.

That’s no accident. It’s an artifact of the way that our brains work. In this post, we’ll look at how you can set up your brain to generate insights when you’re doing other things. (It’s like crowdsourcing within your own head. More on that below.)

Successful professional writing starts with clear thinking.

In the rush of deadlines and projects, it’s tempting to jump right in and knock something out. Faster is better, right? Instead, take a moment to set a course before you write.

This post offers a simple, four-question checklist to complete for every work-related project, whether a social media post, a legal brief, or an email to a client. Make it part of your writing process and you’ll find it makes the whole process faster, easier, and more successful.

“Trust me, I’m an expert.”

That declaration doesn’t get you far in today’s divided world, where many voices compete for attention and influence.

How can you write with authority and earn readers’ trust without falling back on the old “I’m an expert” line? It depends on who you are writing for.