Style guide
Writing is the medium through which I express myself. It allows me to explore new ideas, people, and perspectives.
Constraint is freedom – it supports creativity. Every playground needs its rules, just as every writer needs her toolbox.
This style guide serves as a reminder of what writing means to me: what I use it for, how I use it, and why I write. It is a living, breathing blog post that will be updated as my needs change and tastes evolve.
Have fun
Write about the things that interest you. Look for that spark. Let curiosity guide your writing and follow those intuitions at every turn. Where will they take you?
Choose a playful, curious attitude when you're writing.
Be Gorgeous
The sound of language is a joy. Be Gorgeous as you listen to the words you write. Read it out loud, read it out loud, read it out loud! Try to balance your sentences and your word use. On one hand, use simple, everyday words that are easy to understand. On the other hand, choose words that ignite your inner child and strong verbs that move the text forward.
Be Daring
Write about the topics that matter to you. Stand for something, e.g. stand up for people's rights to be who they are and the freedom to express themselves. Look over your values and let them shine through in your writing.
See the blog post Things I Believe for a primer on your values.
Write for yourself
Writing is memory. By writing it down you preserve your thoughts and can come back to them later. This way, you can better spot how your thinking (and writing) has evolved over time. You leave breadcrumbs for your Future Self to revise and build on later.
Write primarily for yourself. Be selfish and useful.
Write for one person
Sometimes, it's useful to change your perspective. If so, write for a friend. Picture the two of you sitting at a café, sharing your favourite hot drink, and discussing ideas that matter to you both. That's the tone I'm aiming for with my writing.
DO NOT write for search engines, large language models, or "customer avatars" and "marketing personas". Such guidelines are remnants of your past marketing career. Be Daring and let it go!
See also how I use AI on this site.
Write in plain English
Use short, familiar words over unnecessary jargon.
Write as if you're explaining something to a ten-year-old. That's the real challenge. You worry that you will "dumb things down", but try it out and see what happens. You'll be surprised.
Writing in plain language is daring. You can't hide behind big words or abstract concepts. You're doing everyone a huge favour by writing in plain English.
So:
- Have fun
- Be Gorgeous and Daring
- Write for one person (even if that one person is you)
- Write in plain English
Above all, respect the reader and yourself. Everything else will be fine if you do that.
Resources
Several web pages and books inspired my own style guide. I'm sharing them here for easy reference.
English style guides on the web
Swedish style guides on the web:
General accessibility style guides for the web:
Books on writing and style:
- Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story, by Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Elements of Style, by EB White and William Strunk Jr.
- On Writing Well, by William Zinsser
- On Writing, by Stephen King
First version: 15 November 2025, from my home in Sweden.
Second version: 18 June 2026, from my home in Sweden.
Last revised: 5 days, 7 hours ago