Why and how to add POP to your writing

Three essentials can help writers conceive, develop and execute their prose.

They’re easily remembered with the acronym POP: purpose, objective, process.

Here’s how they roll out:

1. Purpose. This is the overarching reason you’re writing. It might be the theme of your blog. Identifying purpose involves a macro-level understanding of what you’re trying to accomplish.

Consider Julie Powell, whose story was featured in the movie “Julie & Julia.” Powell’s purpose was to whip up 500-plus recipes, all drawn from Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” in 365 days—and then share the experience with a growing cohort of readers. Again, it’s the big-picture view of the endeavor.

For Brighter Writer, it’s about sharing decades’ worth of gathered writing and editing guidance with our websites’ readers.

Regarding internal emails, one’s purpose would probably be conveying work-related updates and other information to colleagues—and, in certain cases (ahem), making obscure pop culture references.