I’ve always felt a sense of renewal as a new year approaches. I join many others in the desire for a new project, challenge, and adventure. This year, I’m excited to say I start my new role as customer success champion for Readable.

I know what it’s like to struggle to cut out the fluff and simply be direct. When studying English in school, you’re taught not to think of yourself as a writer or critic. It seems more acceptable to write about your opinions hypothetically, never bold enough to say, “I think”.

By the time you get to higher education, you’re unlearning this process. Old habits die hard, and it’s harder to unlearn something than learn something! The fact is that this meandering and apologetic style is difficult to read. A difficult piece of writing isn’t always well-written.

You have seven seconds to grab a reader’s attention. In those seven seconds, there’s no time to be agonizing over what you write. Simplicity and clarity of message are key.

I’m here to help you achieve that with the tools we’re offering to you, the writer. You have great ideas - Readable is here to help you communicate them strongly to your reader.

But we can’t provide that service without you and those great ideas. I’m here to listen to your needs as a user and champion your success. By communicating with you, I’ll be helping to make this tool even better.

When I worked at a bookshop, I wrote some blog posts for our campus branch. One of these was an Author of the Month article. The subject of my piece was my favorite short story writer, Raymond Carver. His minimalist writing style has inspired me to write more simply and to a greater audience.

I obsessed over writing this article. For me, the devil is in the detail. I was so worried about perfecting my writing that I forgot the importance of my audience. Readable would have been a great tool to tell me I was using too many long sentences, my writing style infected by the nineteenth-century tomes I was reading for homework.

The sky is the limit with ReadablePro - but, we need your feedback. What aspects of readability do you struggle with the most? I’ll tell you what I always struggle with - too many adverbs. Stephen King would be going through my writing with a red pen.

Please leave a comment below telling me what your biggest challenge is. What features would you love to see to help you with it?

I’m an English MA graduate who loves unputdownable books, 35mm photography and writing. One of the most gripping novels I’ve ever read is The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I found my role here through the best in digital marketing recruitment, Clockwork Talent

It’s a pleasure to meet you!

Laura Kelly

Laura is a freelance writer and worked at Readable for a number of years. Laura is well-versed in optimising content for readability and Readable's suite of tools. She aims to write guides that help you make the most out of Readable.