A Better Writing Process in 5 Steps
Writing is a way to end up thinking something you couldn’t have started out thinking.
Writing is a combination of research, drafting, and rewriting. I won’t lie to you. Writing is painful. Incredibly painful. Your first twenty articles - blog posts, research papers, news columns - will challenge you. Those first articles are the dip when it comes to being a better writer.
But, consistency and ritual are key. Make sure you write at the same time every day, at least for those first twenty articles. This will help you build a habit. Once you’ve built the habit the writing process becomes easier. You can then write at any time you choose.
The Writing Process
You learned how to write drafts in school to keep you from becoming a derelict. To become a better writer you need to use those unused skills. Tap into what your teachers taught you. Remember all the red comments Ms. Wilson - your second grade teacher - wrote on your rough drafts.
You shouldn’t hate drafting. The reason you don’t like it is because you weren’t taught the purpose of drafting. Drafting is a technique to develop more cohesive thoughts.
Drafting helps you organize thoughts to communicate them more effectively.
Writing a Rough Draft
How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top.
The rough draft is your first attempt at explaining what you are trying to say. Write without thinking. Write like you talk. Don’t edit. If you start making a mistake or have another idea, write it down.
The point of the rough draft is to get your thoughts on paper. Although I use the word paper, it doesn’t matter if your medium is a paper, a type writer, or computer screen. Get the thoughts out of your head and onto some other medium.
It may help to listen to white noise. I personally like Ambient music. It shuts my mind off to the rest of the world, leaving me with my thoughts.
You are the only person who will read this version. In its current form, you are also the only one who can make sense of the babble. Once you are done writing, don’t go back and read it. Not yet.
Researching Thoughts and Ideas
Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding…
As you write your rough draft, you will write facts you’ve overheard, statistics that aren’t true, and quotes you can’t remember. Do not stop writing your rough draft to look them up. Looking up things will hinder you from finishing your thoughts.
Once you’ve finished the rough draft, you can fill in the blanks. Go research those thoughts and ideas now. Use facts to support your thoughts.
When researching you may discover an idea or thought is totally wrong. That’s great! No one has read it but you. Finding new information while researching thoughts and ideas is a great way to learn.
The new facts may change the shape of your original idea or it may completely change the purpose of your original article. Respond to the new data and adapt your article as you need. Use the new information to write a better essay.
Rewriting: The First Draft
You now have a rough draft with facts that support your ideas. But, as I mentioned, no one but you can currently read it. You now need to convert your thoughts into a consumable format.
Start at the beginning and read your article out loud. You will notice things that don’t make sense: Thoughts that go nowhere, one idea smashing into another, or unordered ideas.
Edit as you go. Make the article read better. Pay attention to the transitions. One thought should lead to the next. Move sentences, paragraphs, and sections around. Elaborate on key ideas. Fill in blanks.
This is all about rewriting the article. Continue adding, removing, and editing until the flow makes sense and the ideas are easily understood.
Editing: The Second Draft
The article now has a strong outline, great transitions, and facts which support your ideas.
You now want to channel Ms. Wilson - your incredibly picky English teacher. This part will be painful. Prepare yourself. You are not as good of a writer as you think you are.
But, chaneling Ms. Wilson can be hard because you don’t know what to look for. Fortunatly for you, developers uploaded Ms. Wilson’s brain into an online tool called Nitpicker.
Copy and paste the article of your text into Nitpicker and you will learn how bad of a writer you are. Remember, we put our well written draft into this tool and it still comes out red - or yellow in this case.
The first time you use nitpicker, you will not even know what it’s complaining about. Do your research. This is why the first twenty articles are painful. There is a large hill to climb, but with repetition, you will learn about each of the items the tool is complaining about. Pay attention to passive voice.
But, don’t fix all the things nitpicker points out. The tool is making suggestions, but you are the author of the work. Use the highlights as suggestions. For instance, I like reading contractions for blog posts. It’s less formal and reads the way a friend talks. Keep in mind what type of reading your audience perfers.
Publishing
The Final step. Releasing your thoughts into the world is the final step in the writing process. It’s the most important step. If you don’t let others read your ideas, do they matter?
I can’t emphasize enough how painful publishishing is initially. Letting other’s read your work is hard, but necessary.
If you continue writing, editing, and using online tools you will become a stronger writer. You can write without involving anyone else. No one likes editing. Even people who do it for a living.
You can write on your own. Continue writing and keep hitting publish.