How to Write Articles, Reports, and Books Quickly
BY GRAHAM JONES
Do you have trouble getting your
thoughts and ideas down into an article? Do you find it difficult to put
'pen to paper' to get your book started? Do you sit facing a blank
screen struggling to find the words to write? If so, here are some tips
and strategies you can use to get your material written quickly.
1. As daft as this may
sound, don't worry about the words. Most delays appear to
be trying to choose the words. You don't do this when in
conversation. The words come naturally. By trying to be
careful over the words, you are interrupting your brain's word
selection processes. The result is that you can't choose the
words - because you are trying! So, don't try to choose the
right words. Just get writing - your brain will choose the
right words. Trust it, just as you do in conversation.
2. To make it easier for
you to get writing, start off as though you were speaking to
an individual. As I write this I'm imagining I'm talking
directly to you. When you write for an individual it is so
much easier. This is because your brain is in 'conversation
mode'. The words come more easily then. Plus...and this is
important...conversational English is easier to read than
'written' English. Many business reports are difficult to
penetrate and fail to communicate their message because the
authors have spent ages agonizing over the words to write them
in 'business-ese'. Forget it: make your reports easy to read -
and easy to write - by being conversational.
3. Get the words down and
do the editing later. This is how newspapers and magazines
survive. They get thousands of words first, then they knock
them into shape later. Editing 'as you go' doesn't work. It
slows things down. Switch off your spell checker and grammar
checker. When it shows you with squiggly lines what's wrong,
you'll be inclined to go back and check it. This will slow you
down. Check the spelling and grammar once you have finished.
That way you'll get your work done more quickly.
4. Set a deadline which is
absolutely fixed. Do not set deadlines like 'next
Wednesday'. Instead, set a deadline of 10.15am on Wednesday.
Give yourself an immovable deadline and stick to it. The
difference between newspapers, magazines, TV and radio and the
rest of the world is that their deadlines cannot be moved.
Each day a national newspaper produces the equivalent of two
novels in terms of number of words. They can do that because
the deadlines are completely fixed. The pressure of the
immovable deadline is a tremendous motivator to getting the
words down on paper. I know many potential authors who still
haven't written their book because they keep moving their
deadline. Don't do that, you'll never get your article, report
or book written. Most people move deadlines because they are
worrying about 'getting it right'. Forget getting it right,
get it written.
5 If you really do find it
difficult to put 'pen to paper' or 'finger to keyboard' tape
record your thoughts, ideas, knowledge etc. into a tape
recorder, or onto your PC in some way. Then get the
material transcribed and use this as the basis for your
written material. Or get yourself interviewed by someone in
your field, then use the interview as the basis for your
printed material.
6. If all else fails get a
ghost writer. You'll only need to pay a small fee to get
most things written. A book, for instance, will only cost you
a few hundred dollars.
Graham Jones is a psychologist
who has specialized in the way we use the Internet. He is an
author of 27 books and thousands of articles. He runs
Infoselling.com where you can get a free report on how to
sell your own information products, eBooks, reports and
articles online.
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