Help: I am writing articles...BUT???

Here's a trick guaranteed to speed you up and get an article out
of your head and onto the page.

Ready?

You have to do exactly what I tell you or else it doesn't work. It's
kind of like magic except without the spells. The one thing you learn
as a writer is how to trick yourself into writing; because if there's
one thing all writers experience is blank page-fright.

So, follow me here.

First, you said you have done all the research necessary to create
three good articles? Great, I'll believe you. So I want you to sit down
in front of your keyboard and set a timer to go off in 15 mins.

in that 15 mins I want you to sit and think about the research you
have done and the article you are going to write. Don't write anything
down, just think - this is important.

Think about what you are going to put into the article, what the
facts and details are, what the structure will be. Think about how many
words it will be and how many paragraphs. Think about what will be
in each paragraph, the beginning the middle and the end.

Just think about it all.

If it gets boring then remember your research process and the places
you went to find the information for these articles. Remember the
ambition you began with and the excitement you experienced when
you realised you had at least 3 good articles in the research you were
doing. Remember the websites, the books the pictures and the words
you found in relation to the topic you searched on.

When your alarm goes off I want you to set it for another 15 mins and
start writing - for 15 mins only, write everything you can about what you
were just thinking. But don't think atall. Write.

Write everything that crossed yoru mind in the first 15 mins. Write
anything new that crosses your mind now as you are writing. Write
every single thought, no matter how important or how trivial. Write
your article, write about your article, write about writing your article.

The important thing is that you have only 15 mins to get everything
on to the page. Don't stop, don't try to correct yourself, don't go
back and don't think. Simply write the article you were thinking about
and if that doesn't happen then write your thoughts about what you
wanted to write. The point is to write. And write for 15 mins then stop.

This will teach you two things, if you repeat it regularly: It will teach
you how to plan and it will teach you how to write. And most
importantly, it will teach you to separate the two activities so one
doesn't get in the way of the other.

In my experience, writing is often wrong. I rarely, if ever, get the right
words out first time. Worrying about getting the right words out,
perfectly formed in the shape of an article (or whatever the task is)
is one sure way of not writing anything useful atall.

The best thing you can ever do as a writer is put off perfection until
the next time - but get the words down now in anticipation.

Phil

I usually just start writing and keep going then edit later. Other times I will use an outline, that way I know what to write about in each part of the article, after research of course.

Lambert