In my last piece, I wrote about the nine ways to become a writing genius. The truth is that we would all love to write more, but sometimes we just get stuck. We don’t know how to be disciplined about our writing, get to the finish line, and and it keeps us from doing our best work. Most importantly, beyond just writing, we need time to THINK about our writing and revise our writing. This isn’t about having more work, it's about being more organized around work.
Here are the top 6 tips to turn your writing into a daily practice:
1) Separate time to brainstorm. Sleep on ideas, write them down, read related material and read unrelated articles to your writing. Then go back to them when you’ve had some time to think about them.
2) Have a conversation with someone else about your idea. Exploring ideas with others can make a huge difference. If you can’t meet or talk to someone, write an email to yourself and read it in 2 days. You’ll definitely have evolved thinking within 48 hours.
3) Get ideas into a external form. Even if you don’t know what your writing yet, get it on paper. Sometimes the best ideas come out of a journaling, free flow exercise.
4) Make a writing calendar. Set up intentional time to start thinking about your assignment. Take creative projects and turn them into scheduled appointments. Don’t let them get missed!
5) Make writing social. Form a buddy group and make dates with others to share 1500 words with each other in a writing meeting. Or form a googlegroup and make your own online writing team.
6) Externalize your writing. Have a workspace devoted to writing projects where you can store notes on each projects. I have a physical inbox of index cards of my ideas and my writing. I separate the writing workflow for each piece based on the date its due, the date my draft is due, and the date I will start thinking about the piece.
In my next piece, I’ll discuss how to convert your writing into a following—the essential next step. Stay tuned.
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