Intro
Whether new to writing or a seasoned professional, it is easy to find yourself in a writing rut. Sometimes you just don’t know where to start, or maybe you find yourself rehashing the same sentence over and over again. When you’re on a deadline, these minor inconveniences can make it hard to reach your writing goals. The following tips may help you avoid frustration and make the most of your writing time.
Having the right environment and routines
Having the right environment for your writing session and a pre-writing routine can be crucial for success. If you already have a routine that works for you, that’s great! If you are often distracted or antsy during your writing sessions, it may be time to reflect on what part of your routine isn’t working for you. Scheduling, habits, and work environment all play a role in our ability to focus and write efficiently.
For most of us, our ability to focus can’t be turned on and off like a light switch. Pay close attention to your energy levels throughout the day and consider scheduling your work around your natural patterns. Maybe you find you are constantly tired in the morning but working at night is a breeze. If your work schedule allows it, avoid fighting morning grogginess by starting work later in the day. Listening to your body’s natural cues will help you be more productive and alert during a writing session.
Your work environment can make or break your writing session. Having too much or too little noise or other stimuli can take attention away from your projects. I personally focus best in a quiet environment, so I love working at the library or in a calm space at home. Others might have the opposite feeling and find the quietness of a library off-putting. Some of my friends find it so quiet in the library that they get distracted by any little sound they hear. If you’re like my friends, you may find a coffee shop works better for you. Spaces that are a little busier may help give your mind enough stimulation to stay focused on your task. Plus, you’ll have the social accountability to keep busy in a public space. When you are alone, it is easier to get distracted by your phone or other activities.
Preparing your mind and body for a writing session can also be extremely helpful. Try thinking of some pre-writing activities that might get you in a focused headspace. Some ideas include:
- Going for a quick walk to burn off any extra energy.
- Making a hot beverage or snack to enjoy while you write.
- Starting your work day by free writing or using a journal prompt.
- Doing some quick stretches or meditation to help calm your mind.
- Checking your calendar and emails.
Once you develop a pre-writing routine, your body will start to get used to the pattern, and you will have an easier time transitioning to writing. Creating healthy habits and understanding which environments are best for optimizing our energy and focus can significantly impact the ease and speed of completing work.
Listen to background music
If you can’t bring yourself to a busier work environment (those coffee shop bills add up), consider doing a YouTube search for some background ambiance. There are lots of options on YouTube with a wide range of categories. Bring the coffee shop vibes to your house by searching for café ambiance videos or cancel out any background noise with some lofi beats.
ASMR (autonomic sensory meridian response) is a relatively new form of background noise that many people find relaxing. There are many genres of ASMR, but videos focused on helping people work typically include sounds like mic brushing, tapping, or crinkling. It might seem a little strange, but with the view counts on many ASMR videos, it’s clear that there is a huge fan base!
There are many choices for background music or sounds, but the key is finding something with no talking or words. Our brains aren’t great at doing two things at once, so trying to write words while listening to lyrics is almost sure to throw you off.
Brainstorm or create an outline of your work
Sometimes getting started on a project can be the hardest part. Staring at a blank screen with no idea where to start is discouraging. Creating a brainstorm or outline can help direct your writing and save you from the daunting feeling that may come with an empty page.
One method of outlining is to create subheadings focused on important points you’d like to touch on in your article. Not only does this give you prompts on which to base your paragraphs, but you will also be able to understand the overall flow of your piece. Breaking your writing into segments can also help you avoid thinking of your work as one big mass of writing, making it easier to navigate and edit.
If you prefer a less formal outline, brainstorming webs or simple jot notes can also help lay the foundation for your writing. Once you develop ideas for shaping your piece, you will feel more prepared to write larger sentences and paragraphs. Writing a more formal outline after you do a brainstorming web can help streamline this process even more.
Work on what you want to
It is human nature to want to start a task from the beginning and finish at the end, but writing doesn’t always work this way. Writing your body paragraphs before adding an introduction or conclusion is perfectly acceptable (and many times beneficial). If you are frustrated with a section, move on to the next topic and leave that one for later! Going with the flow and working on what you are drawn to in the moment will be a lot more motivating and have no adverse effects on your writing.
Think of your writing like a jigsaw puzzle. You wouldn’t start a puzzle from the top of the image to the bottom; you look for pieces that fit together and slowly build the puzzle in chunks. When you are finished, the picture is complete, but it doesn’t matter how you got there! Writing is similar. You can leave sections blank and fill them in as you go. When reading the completed piece, no one will be able to tell what order you wrote in.
Goals and rewards
Setting reasonable goals and rewarding yourself for a job well done are also great motivators. Knowing your assignment is to complete a 2000-word article can feel daunting. Thinking of the 2000 words as ten segments of 200 words is much more manageable. Feeling like you are reaching a goal every 200 words can be a lot more motivating than looking at the word count and seeing you still have a long way to go. Goals don’t have to be based on word counts. You could also try measuring your goals by paragraphs, sentences, or giving yourself a time limit. You could even try racing the clock to see how many words you can write in 15 minutes if you’re competitive. When you feel accomplished, you will feel less frustrated with the writing process and more motivated to keep going.
Rewarding yourself is also a great way to stay motivated. Often during a writing session, we may get so caught up in our work that we keep thinking about what is left to do or what could be done better. By giving yourself a small reward, you are giving yourself time to decompress and reflect on what you have accomplished instead of worrying about what you have yet to do. Rewards are personal to everyone, but a few examples could be: drinking a hot beverage, checking social media, going for a quick walk, calling a friend, switching focus to a project you love, or listening to a favourite song. Rewards can be minimal, anything that motivates you to finish your task.
Edit later
Ever heard the expression: “you can’t see the forest for the trees”? Getting too involved in editing as you write is an excellent example of this saying. Often, we are so focused on the details of a sentence that we lose track of how our idea fits into the overall piece of writing.
As tempting as it can be to make changes to your writing as you go, try to limit the amount of editing you do during your writing process. Being too hypervigilant of errors or wording can cause you to overthink what you are writing, which leads to a cycle of writing a sentence only to erase it immediately. This process is not only frustrating but time-consuming. Getting words on paper and then going back to edit later will help you resist the urge to micromanage yourself.
If leaving all of your edits to the end sounds like a nightmare to you, consider editing once at the end of your work session, after every few pages, or at another interval that works for you. You may be surprised at how much easier editing is after you have cleared your brain and looked at your past work with fresh eyes. Taking a break between the writing and editing of a paragraph often helps you get out of your head. Upon review, you may discover that what you wrote initially was perfectly fine and didn’t need nitpicking. You may also find that you have the perfect solution for a troublesome sentence or idea after taking some time to clear your head. Once you are finished with your edits, try having a friend or coworker read through your work. We often have a hard time seeing our own mistakes (especially after looking at a document for hours), so having an unbiased proofreader can help catch any last-minute spelling or grammar errors.
Placeholders
Are you ever on a writing roll when suddenly you can’t think of a specific word or phrase you want to use? Instead of taking yourself out of the zone to search for the word you’re missing, try using a placeholder. Placeholders allow you to leave a space for that missing piece while you finish the rest of your thought. A standard placeholder is “TK,” meaning “to come.” An example of using a placeholder could be: a teacher from (TK) High School received the (TK) award for teaching this afternoon. Adding placeholders to this sentence allowed me to finish my thought without looking up the details. I now have the shape of a complete sentence and can quickly add in the details while editing.
Pomodoro technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a productivity method developed in the 90s by Francesco Cirillo. The technique entails breaking your workday into 25-minute blocks (or pomodoros, the Italian word for tomatoes) interspaced with small 5-10 minute breaks. After you have completed four pomodoros, you take a more extended 20-30 minute break and start the process all over again. The method got its name from the tomato-shaped timer Francesco used to track his work blocks.
The Pomodoro Technique is a great way to help you keep track of time and focus on your task. You will be surprised how much you can get done in the 25 minutes of pure focus! This method is beneficial if you are often distracted by text messages, emails, or phone calls during your writing time. Instead of taking yourself out of the writing zone by reading an incoming email immediately, you can wait until your pomodoro is finished before responding to messages. Most people don’t mind waiting 25 minutes or less for a reply, so sticking to your 25 minutes of dedicated writing time allows you to avoid these distractions.
Conclusion
Of course, the writing process will be different for everyone. I have personally started using a few of these methods during my working time and have noticed that I am not only writing more effectively, but also enjoying the process a lot more! Getting bogged down on the details was always a bit frustrating for me. Using placeholders and choosing to edit my work later has helped me cut down my writing time and write more freely. As with all advice, it is good to take what you need and leave what you don’t. Employing all these tips and tricks at once might be more harmful than helpful but choosing one or two at a time can help you set up habits that will make a big difference in your writing speed. Happy writing!
