You’re doing yourself a grave disservice if your writing opens with something boring or banal. You’re going to lose me, at least. I’ve got a list of stuff to read and watch as long as your arm.

Maggie really digs into this, in an effort to get better.

Your challenge is finding the compelling problem in your topic, and clearly presenting it up front. That problem might be deeply buried under a bunch of boring facts and informational details. It might be hard to figure out what it is, and hard to describe once you’ve found it.

The examples Maggie pulls together, both bad and good, are compelling. Don’t miss the ending, which is a heck of a way of saying they are just as important.