One question many writers have is about improving productivity when writing. If you’ve ever sat down to a blank document and stared at it for an hour you probably have wondered the same thing yourself. Writing productively is an imperative if you want to have a freelance business or you want to become a writer because most of the time you will have deadlines.
Do Your Research
Before you ever start writing anything doing the research comes first. You need to know who you’re writing for, what you’re writing about, and who the audience is that will read it. Plus, you’ll need to know a lot of other facts such as those revolving around the subject matter you’re writing about and the best keywords to use in your title.
Craft an Outline
Once you’ve completed the research, it’s time to develop an outline. Some people like to make a mindmap first, then turn that into an outline. It’s up to you how you do it, but it’s an important step that will make your writing easier. An outline will help you order the piece logically while also enabling you to fill any holes in your research before you get down to really writing. For some people, it helps to write a summary right now about what each section will talk about.
Check Your Facts
Once you’ve done the research, and made the outline, you should be able to easily plug the facts into the right areas, before you start writing anything. Summarize and quote the facts under each section where you want to write about it as you are checking them. This is going to fill in a lot of your requirements for the piece before you even get started.
Eat & Sleep Regularly
Now that you’re exhausted this is a friendly reminder that you need to eat and sleep like a normal person even if you’re a writer. The stories of the sleep-deprived writer or artist are old hat. You can do this without living that life. You can eat and sleep regularly and be a profitable writer.
Move More
Writers spend a lot of time sitting. You need to move more. Sitting just four hours a day is worse for you than being overweight or smoking. The only way to reverse this problem is to move. Set the alarm to move at least every 90 minutes for about 10 minutes, and you won’t suffer any bad consequences from sitting.
Eliminate Distractions
When you sit down to work eliminating distractions is going to help the most out of almost any advice you can get. It might seem impossible, but you need to turn off the music, the TV, and anything that might interrupt your flow. Read studies about multitasking, and you’ll soon realize that it’s a myth and no one can do it even if they think they are good at it.
Let the Words Flow
When you do sit down to write, if your area is comfortable and quiet, you’re not hungry or thirsty or tired you can now just let the words flow. You have done your research, you know about the topic, you understand who you’re writing it for, and now you can just go to the outline and fill in the rest.
Rest
Remember that you should take the time to take breaks and rest. You don’t really need to worry about writer’s block when you are well rested and have done all the background work for the piece you’re writing. Try to keep a regular sleep and work schedule so that you train your mind to work at work time and do other things like sleeping, playing, and eating at other times.
Even if your deadlines are self-imposed, it’s important to know how to produce a finished product as a writer. Without any finished work, can you really say that you’re a writer or an author? If you follow this process, you will find that you produce better work faster without all the stress and no writer’s block.
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