One of your most important writing skills is the ability to focus on a single task at a time. It is something of a cliché to say that writers are scatter-brained. But for many of us, much of the time, it's true. As we sit alone at our desks we often find it hard to keep our minds focused on one task at a time. Instead, our minds wander. We may be working on one … [Read more...]
Prepare Before You Start to Write
The most important writing tip of all: Prepare before you start. I have been advising and coaching writers for years now, and the best writing tip I know is to spend time on preparation before you start writing. It doesn't matter whether you are writing a report, an essay, an article, a white paper, a book or anything else...preparation is the key. Writing preparation … [Read more...]
Feeling Overwhelmed? Advice for Writers
At times the life of a writer can be overwhelming. You have one head and many hats, both professional and personal. You have to get your work done, juggling schedules across different clients, all of whom somehow conspire to set deadlines on the same day. You have to deal with the administration of your business, submitting invoices, paying bills and keeping up with … [Read more...]
4 Tips to Boost Your Writing Productivity
Whatever the size of your next writing assignment, the time in which you complete it can vary to an extraordinary degree. How come? It all comes down to your writing productivity. As an example, I know I can write a 500-word article in about 30 minutes. But I know it can also take me two or three hours. Same article, but different levels of productivity. So what makes the … [Read more...]
Turn Your Good Habits Into Rituals
As writers we all have our own habits. Some of them are good and some are bad. A habit is something we kind of slide into. In our work environment we may get into the habit of checking a few online news sites before we start work in the morning. Or maybe we'll run through our list of things to do, and set priorities for the day. One way in which you can really help … [Read more...]
Wake Up Productive, Every Day
When you get up in the morning, go through your regular routine and finally sit down to work...how effective and productive are you for that first half hour or so? Do you dive directly into high-value, profitable work? Or do you fumble around, figuring out what needs to be done first, checking through some papers on your desk and then finally getting started on … [Read more...]
The Cost of Procrastination for Writers.
If there is one thing almost all writers have in common, it is that their productivity varies from day to day. Some days are great, targets are achieved, projects are completed and there were no problems. Other days, writers find themselves procrastinating. They get distracted and find that by the end of the day they haven't achieved even half of what they set out to get … [Read more...]
How to Overcome Writer’s Block
Writer's block is one of those problems that somehow defies a clear description or explanation. It's tough to tie down and be clear about what it really is, simply because every writer's experience of writer's block is a little different. But the end result is the same...one day we are writing well and productively. And the next day we come to a grinding halt. Writer's … [Read more...]
How to Write Faster and Get More Done
If you write for a living, your income will always be dependent, in part, on how fast you write. Putting aside physical elements, like your typing speed, much of your ability to write quickly comes down to preparation and focus. In other words, whether you are writing an article, a web page, a white paper, a report or an e-book – the time it takes to complete each task or … [Read more...]