Writing is one of those activities that is really nice when it’s finished, but feels somewhat agonizing during the process. It’s very similar to working out. After you’ve worked out, you feel really great at what you’ve done, and though you’re a little worse for the wear, you’re filled with endorphins. Writers enjoy having written, but the act of writing can be exhausting, intimidating, and overwhelming. However, similar to exercising, the more often you do it, the easier it becomes. Over the years, I’ve developed a few ways to trick yourself into writing that make it a little easier to get started.
1. Create a Pleasant Environment
If you have a really unpleasant writing assignment, pair it with an environment that’s particularly enjoyable to you. Play some soft music in the background. Light your favorite candle. Grab your favorite drink. If you have to write about a subject you don’t enjoy, the least you can do is make everything else as pleasant as possible.
2. Unload Your Thoughts
Sometimes it’s hard to get your brain thinking about what you’re supposed to be writing about because it’s too busy thinking about other things. Set a timer and write about whatever comes to mind for 5 minutes. It can be anything from a grocery list to how you feel about what your best friend said to you last night. Whatever comes to mind, write it out. At the end of the 5 minutes, you’ll be able to focus more easily.
3. Set a Timer
If I’m really struggling to write something that I know will be due soon, I set a timer for myself. Sometimes the hardest part of writing for me is just getting started. If I give myself a low commitment, it’s much easier to start. I’ll set a timer for 5 minutes and tell myself I just have to get words on the paper (or screen) for that amount of time, and they don’t even have to be good words. Sometimes 5 minutes is all I do. Most of the time, however, I get into the flow and write much longer than this.
4. Lower Your Expectations
Lowering your expectations takes so much pressure off of yourself. Instead of thinking, “I came here to write an entire article and so I must do it all at once,” you can tell yourself, “I came here to get some thoughts out about this subject.” It’s a lot less demanding and your brain will be more cooperative. Knowing that something doesn’t have to be incredibly cohesive and flawless right away helps me to get started.
5. Concentrate on the Current Task at Hand
I’ve noticed that if I’m looking at a blank page, knowing that I’m going to need to turn it into 10+ pages of writing, I can easily feel overwhelmed and not know how to start. The best way to move forward is to break the task into smaller chunks and only concentrate on one small chunk at a time. Here’s how I break up my writing into smaller tasks.
Start with one phrase
When I come up with ideas for blog posts, I’ll write one phrase that encapsulates the idea into a subject line and save it for later. For the blog, I save it as a blog post draft. For other writing, I’ll save it on my phone or computer. It helps to keep all of your writing drafts in one place, whether that’s Evernote, a Word document, or simply a Notes app on your phone and computer.
Once I write in the working title, I usually don’t start writing immediately, but I know that I’ll come back to it eventually. Most of my ideas come while I’m driving or working or reading and don’t have time to flesh out the entire thing. If I write one phrase that encapsulates the idea, I know that I’ll remember the gist of what I wanted to talk about and can come back later. This allows the subject to stew in the back of my mind until I’m ready to come out and flesh out the ideas a little more.
Add a few points
The next step in the writing cycle is to flesh out the idea with some main points. One could use the word “outline” very loosely here. An outline be one word each or a couple sentences for each point. My brain hates feeling forced into writing, so I only write down what comes to me instantly. If I feel inspired to write more, I might put down a few sentences under each point, but only if I’m inspired. Then I walk away.
Next, “just add a few thoughts”
Later on, I’ll come back to the outline and think about what I have to say for each of the points. Then I’ll just write down a few thoughts under each. Oftentimes, these turn into full-fledged paragraphs just on their own. If they don’t, I don’t sweat it. It usually means I need to think about something more or get myself into a better frame of mind.
Turn the thoughts into a Rough Draft
Once I string together a few thoughts into paragraphs, I have a rough draft, which can later be molded and shaped into something more final. The hardest part of writing for me is to create something out of nothing. If I have something to start with, it’s much easier to keep working. With this rough rough draft, you can go through and add in thoughts that are missing, explanations, and illustrations. Before you know it, you’ll have a complete draft.
Look for errors
All that’s left is editing. Some people– okay, most people, do not at all enjoy the act of editing. I think I’m one of the exceptions here. It might be helpful to you to reframe it in to another phrase so that you don’t dread it as much. Tell yourself that you’re just looking for errors, or checking the flow of the paper. Maybe it would help you if you just told yourself that you’re reading it through someone else’s eyes one last time before you put it out there.
I find it’s best to give yourself a few days, if possible, between writing the rough draft and editing. Fresh eyes help you see your work in an entirely different light. You’ll also be more capable of catching errors that you missed before.
Phone a friend
If you’re writing something important, it’s best to get a second pair of eyes on your work, even if you’ve already edited it yourself. Before you hit ‘publish’ or ‘send,’ ask a friend to read over it for you real quick. If it’s something really important, like a cover letter for your grad school application, consider hiring a professional to look it over. If it’s in their specific niche, the editor will have unique insights for you and be able to offer you help that your friends and family can’t.
6. Give Your Brain a Break
Now that you’ve gotten a complete writing draft, give yourself a pat on the back and a break. Writing can take some serious mental energy, especially if it’s not something you do regularly. In time, your ability to churn out words will grow, but remember to go easy on yourself as you’re getting started.
Leave a comment and let me know what the most difficult writing task was for you. Did you trick yourself into writing or just muscle through it?
There are not a lot of people who actually enjoy the act of writing. Ask any author if they enjoyed the process of writing a book. There’s a reason they call it a book baby; it’s a labor of love. No, most authors enjoy having written, but they often don’t enjoy the laborious process of writing itself. Maybe you don’t consider yourself an author or a writer and so give very little thought to refining your writing skills. Maybe you’ve published 12 books already. No matter what you do or who you are, here are 8 reasons to improve your writing skills.
1. You’ll be more valuable in your current position
There are very few jobs that require zero writing skills. I work a lot with engineers, who spend more time writing reports, emails, contracts, and other miscellaneous documents than they spend doing actual engineering tasks. Chances are, you have to respond to emails or write reports or do other various writing tasks for your job. Employers love having an employee that they know will represent them well in the written word. Improving your writing instantly makes you a more valuable employee.
2. Your efficiency at work will improve
I can’t tell you how many emails I’ve agonized over before pressing send. Improving my workplace writing skills made me so much more efficient. I can work my way through my inbox in no time, sending professional and punctual responses. Win-win.
3. People will perceive you as more capable
It can be frustrating when people’s (often misconstrued) perceptions affect the tasks your assigned, position you’re given, or reputation you have. The fact that this might feel unfair doesn’t make it any less true. The more effective you are at communicating, the more likely people are to think that you are capable of doing good work, even if said work has nothing to do with writing.
4. You’ll have a greater influence
Whether this be in social media or business, improving your writing can help you become more influential for the things that you care about. The person who can state to their boss in clear terms why they need extra funding and what they can do with it is more likely to get it than the person who loses his train of thought, distracts his reader with grammatical mistakes, and misspells his boss’s name. That’s an extreme example, but you get the idea.
5. You’ll be more marketable
Refining your writing skills will make you more marketable, whether it’s for a promotion, freelance work, or a new job. This is true not only because your employer will be able to get writing tasks done well, but if you’re a better writer, you’re more capable of marketing yourself. The benefits of improved writing skills keep multiplying.
6. You’ll seem more dependable
Have you ever pulled up a promising looking article about something important, like how to find health insurance or change the oil in your car, only to find it littered with spelling and grammatical mistakes? How fast do you click away from that site? I realize that spelling isn’t as important to everyone else as it is to me, so maybe you would stick around and see what they have to say. But I promise you that there’s a good chunk of the population that will immediately dismiss the author because of those mistakes. Making sure that your writing is on point makes you seem like a more dependable source of information.
7. It gives you a sense of authority
You know the person on Facebook who posts this really long post in text lingo and bad grammar? Compare that to a person who posts on the same exact topic, with the same point-of-view. but with great writing. Which one would you rather read? Which one would appear more knowledgeable to you? The one with better writing would. Part of this is because it makes it seem like they care more since they took the time to use proper English. Part of this is because better writing makes a person seem more educated, and therefore more capable of giving sound information, whether this is true or not.
8. You’ll have better writing skills for life
Once you really absorb those skills, they stick with you. You’ll continue to have more open doors and better communication skills going forward, which is never a bad thing.
Learning to improve your writing skills is certainly challenging. Now that I’ve convinced you that it’s a challenge worth accepting, hop on over to this post to read more on some quick tips for improving. Refining your writing skills as a whole is not something you can do overnight, and you’ll probably need to enlist other people for help at some point. But don’t shy away from all the hard work it will require. As you can see, it will pay dividends in the future. Tell me, what was one way that you were able to really improve your writing?
Everyone has to write for other people at some point in their life, whether it’s a résumé, an email to a potential client, or a Facebook post about something that really matters to you. If writing is not something you’re accustomed to doing on a regular basis, this can feel really intimidating. You want your reader to focus on what you’re trying to communicate, not get caught up in how you put the words on the page. Improving your writing is a lifetime goal. Sadly, it’s never going to be one of those things that you can say you’ve finally arrived. But here are a few quick tips to get you started to improve your writing.
Look for repetition
This is advice that most of us learned in middle school but often forget to look for when we’re editing our own work. Often when you’re writing about an idea, there’s a certain word or phrase that seems to sum it up perfectly. So you use it. A lot. I’m guilty of it too. When you’re self-editing, be on the lookout for words or phrases that are repeated too often.
Stop trying to sound too smart
Unless you’re writing a legal document or a high-level academic paper, the big words are actually going to make you sound less intelligent. Oftentimes, using unnecessarily grand words makes it appear like you’re trying too hard or compensating for lack of knowledge. The other risk in trying to use too many big words is that it’s a lot easier to use them incorrectly. This has the opposite effect of what you’re going for. Instead of sounding more intelligent, you sound less so, especially for those who actually know what the words mean.
Even if you’ve looked up the obscure word in the dictionary and used it properly, it can still be a bad idea to keep it in your writing. Most typically, you’re wanting to write for a general audience who do not want to be scared off by big words. The point of writing is to communicate an idea, so make sure that your readers can understand it. Chances are, if you had to look it up to make sure that you used it correctly, your readers will have to look it up too. Keep it simple.
Vary your sentence lengths
Sometimes use short sentences. It’s also good to add longer sentences so that your sentence lengths are varied. This keeps your writing more interesting. It also makes it much easier for people to read. If all your sentences were the exact same length, they would blur together on the page. Change it up. But maybe not as much as I did just now. You want it to feel natural 😉
Never use the word very
It’s very annoying. But taking out the word makes it very easy to improve your writing. If you think about it, the word doesn’t mean very much. See how this word is getting very annoying and very distracting? If you took it out altogether, all your sentences would still have meaning. Read through the last few sentences again but take out the word ‘very.’ You can see that it doesn’t add anything to my sentences. In fact, the word only serves to distract from my point. Other similar words include really, pretty, and like, though there are plenty more.
One quick trick if you’re writing on a computer is to do a word search on whichever word you’re concerned you’re using too much of. This will show you every single instance you’ve used it, and you can quickly decide whether or not it’s necessary in every instance. This is perhaps the quickest and easiest way to improve your writing. And, of course, you can certainly follow the wise and colorful advice of Mark Twain.
Keep a list of words you struggle with
If you’re continually tripped up by there, they’re, and their, write it down so you remember to check for it in the future. When you’re editing, do a word search to see if you used the words properly in each instance. If you’re not sure, google it. Or, better yet, ask a friend to check those words for you. The more you check for those mistakes, the better you’ll get at not making them in the first place. This trick helps you improve your writing in the short term and will pay dividends in the future.
What do you think? Are there other tips you have to quickly improve your writing? Leave a comment and let me know if you’ve tried any of these!
Have you heard of Camp Nanowrimo? How about just Nanowrimo? If you think I’m talking gibberish, don’t worry, you’re normal. If the word ‘nanowrimo’ fills you with fond and sleepy memories, then you’re probably a word nerd like me.
Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write an entire novel, or at least 50,000 words, during the month of November. It’s both fun and grueling. Nanowrimo is a great push to get that novel (or other type of writing) you’ve been telling yourself you’re going to write out on paper. One of the best parts is the community. And the word count goals. I’m always a sucker for sticker charts.
Camp Nanowrimo is like the little sister of Nanowrimo. It takes place in both April and July, and the rules are a little more lax. Here’s how the website describes it:
Camp NaNoWriMo is a virtual writer’s retreat, designed for maximum flexibility and creativity. We have Camp sessions in both April and July, and we welcome word-count goals between 30 and 1,000,000. In addition, writers can tackle any project they’d like, including new novel drafts, revision, poetry, scripts, and short stories.
Nanowrimo attracts a community that is interested mainly in writing novels, which is great. We could always use some more novels in the world. But I think the community and the writing goals are beneficial for other types of writing, too. The flexibility of Camp Nanowrimo is perfect for blogging. This year, I’m participating as a way to push myself to write 40 blog posts during the month of April. Much of the advice I’ve heard from more experienced bloggers is that it’s important to write ahead, so that’s just what I’m planning on doing.
Of course, Camp Nanowrimo is great even if you don’t have a blog. Last year, I participated in order to work on the book I gave my husband on our wedding day. Proof that you don’t have to be a novelist to participate.
Why you should do Camp Nanowrimo
Motivation
There’s something incredibly motivating about the community and the word count goals. Each day that you write, you update your word count and watch yourself get closer to your goal, whether it’s by 15 words or 2,000. I love seeing the statistics.
Community
Community comes in two forms. There are ‘cabins’ you can participate in, which are essentially just forums of less than 19 people. I also love to follow along on social media and hear about how everyone else is doing. There’s also not a lot of writers in my day-to-day life. Writing has always felt like an incredibly private thing to me, but sometimes it’s just nice to share that experience with other people.
Focus
Reaching your goal takes incredible focus, and I find that the challenge, the daily emails, and the pep talks help me to work on my projects with more focus than I would have if I had just decided to do it myself. It’s easier to stay focused when you know there’s an end date, too. Turning down those coffee dates doesn’t feel so bad.
Projects you could work on
Write a reservoir of blog posts before summer
Fun things always come up in the summer and get in the way of blogging. If you have a reservoir of posts already written that you can pull from, that last minute trip to the lake won’t throw you off your blogging goals.
Create a free resource for your subscribers
Chances are, you could probably work on your email list. Have you been intending to put something together for a while and just haven’t found the time? This is the perfect opportunity to create one or two lead magnets.
Write an eBook
Writing an eBook doesn’t have to be as scary as it sounds. This is something you can definitely whip out in a month if you stay focused. If you have one that you’ve been intending to write, now’s the time.
Write a Course
Maybe you’ve been intending to create a course on how to blog or how to make your home more green. This would be a great opportunity to get that done before the busy summer months.
Start a Podcast
You can work on your title, outlines for posts, a synopsis on what your podcast is going to be about, and so much more.
Improve your writing—even if you don’t have a product to show for it
There have been a few times when I’ve participated in Nanowrimo and have had nothing to show for it. That’s not to say that I didn’t complete my word count. I did! But nothing happened with all 50,000 of the words I wrote, and that’s okay. The best way to improve your writing is by writing.
Probably you think I’m trying to sell you something. I’m not. Camp Nanowrimo is totally free, though you can donate if you’d like. I just really, really like the program. 🙂 Oh, and if you win (aka reach your goal), you get discount codes for some neat writing resources.
If you decide to participate in Camp Nanowrimo, leave a comment and let me know! I would love to add you to my cabin!
Hi, I’m Kelsey! I live in the DC area with my husband and two cats. I currently spend my days working from home, reading all the books, and enjoying home life in our new-to-us 1940s condo. Read more about me here.
