Kill Your Commas: The Secret Weapon Pro Writers Don't Want You To Know. And The One Pro Who Taught Me.

_{Day 15/100}

Just saw a LinkedIn post with a sentence so long it should've had its own table of contents. The commas were doing more heavy lifting than my gym buddy on leg day.

_{I have to add. This is one of the few times that a simple trick has actually made a huge difference for me. This isn’t a dumb click bait-y thing. John Harrison told me this, and my writing hasn’t been the same since. For the better. In every way. John Harrison is also my gym buddy on leg day.}

The Flow Factor

Ever notice how some writers just flow? Their words pull you through paragraphs without effort. Their sentences feel crisp. Their ideas land with impact.

Their secret? They use periods. Lots of them.
(For my British peeps, full stops. I find writing periods very weird, but hey most of you are from the US)

Many writers rely on commas as relationship counselors for ideas that should break up. Stop forcing connections. Let your sentences breathe. Kill your commas.

Before: Content marketing requires strategy, creativity, and consistency, and many businesses struggle with maintaining all three elements, leading to campaigns that fail to generate meaningful results.

After: Content marketing requires strategy. It demands creativity. It thrives on consistency. Many businesses struggle with all three. Their campaigns fail to generate results.

See the difference? The second version hits harder. It moves faster. It sticks with you.

Here's another example:

Before: Our new AI content generator analyzes user behavior, creates personalized recommendations, and optimizes for engagement, while maintaining brand voice consistency across all channels, which helps marketers save time and resources.

After: Our new AI content generator analyzes user behavior. It creates personalized recommendations. It optimizes for engagement. It maintains brand voice consistency across all channels. Marketers save time. They save resources.

In 90% of cases you can just swap the comma for a period.
In the other 10% you likely need to add a little something else.

The Comma Kill Challenge

Got something you're working on right now? Try this quick fix: Replace half your commas with periods. Then read it out loud. Your writing will instantly feel more confident. Your readers will thank you.

Your sentences deserve independence, not couple's therapy.

✌️ Tim "relationship counselor for sentences" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

P.S. Did you see yesterday’s product drop? New features in Clusters. Mini clusters now possible, and adding your own existing content to help build internal links all went live yesterday.