Writing

Want to write more and write faster too? Let's discover the secrets of great writing habits, which completely eliminate procrastination and writer's block.  Great writing habits start when you realize that writing is a process. Although others' writing (including articles and books) may seem effortless - as though a piece of writing has been written in a single seamless session - that's always far from the case.  If you understand the writing process, and that it's messy and chaotic, then your own scrambled writing process will seem natural to you, because not only is it completely normal, but you'll realize it's essential.  You can't create without chaos. If you try, you'll choke your writing. Writing will be difficult, if not impossible.  Let's look at three tips which will help you to get comfortable with chaos and to write more and faster too.

1. Set writing goals - what do you want to write?

All writing starts with setting goals for yourself: process goals, which only you can accomplish, and which you control.  For example, you may set a goal to have your writing appear in a particular magazine, or on a specific Web site by a certain date. This is a worthwhile goal, however it's not a process goal that's solely under your control.

A process goal would be: "By ________ (date) my essay for _______ (magazine name) is complete."

Always set process goals - goals which you control. Yes, you can set financial goals, however the basis of all your financial goals MUST be process goals. There's no point in setting a goal of making $250,000 a year from your writing if that goal isn't supported by many process goals - if you don't write enough, you won't sell enough. It really is that simple.  So set process goals, and enter the daily tasks you must complete to meet those goals into your planner.  Break the tasks down - chunk them.

2. Separate planning, drafting and writing

Writing is a process which involves planning, drafting and writing.  Always chunk your writing process right down.  For example, I plan the articles I'll write the following week each Sunday. I write the topics, the titles, and the outlines for all the articles.  During the week, I draft the articles further, and then I write them. Drafting for me involves a combination of free writing and mind maps. I separate the draft for a project from the writing by at least one day, often by a week.

3. Down-size your expectations while you write

I hope you have great expectations for your writing. Confidence is vital.  However, when it comes to the actual writing process, take the pressure off. All I expect from myself during a writing session is that I write - that I complete a certain number of words, and that those words are formed into sentences. That's all.  Writing is a whole-brain exercise. It's creative and mysterious. If you read the first draft material of any professional writer you'll get a shock. It's a mess, and that's fine. The writing muse sends you hints, which you write down.  Over several sessions, a project takes shape. If you demand that your writing is like typing, that the finished project gushes from your fingertips like water from a tap, you'll be disappointed.

If you take the above tips to heart, you'll find writing easy. And once that happens, you'll write more, and write faster too.