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Mental Workout: 6 Steps to Train Your Brain to Write Faster and Better

How long does it take you to write a blog post?  I don?t mean all the hours you spend ruminating on a subject, and I?m not asking about research time; I?m talking about the time you spend in front of that blank page writing. Does it take an hour?  2 hours?  2 days?

No matter how much time you spend writing blog posts, there is a way to do it faster and better. Don?t believe me?  I hear some of you out there saying ?No, no, I?m just not a natural writer.  It?s always going to take me forever to write.?  Well I?m here to tell you that you can write quicker, clearer blog posts?even if you think it?s about as easy for you to write as it is for an eel to sprout wings and fly. What follows are 5 steps to grease the wheels in your brain and get you writing not only faster, but better.

1. Find Your Sweet Spot

Don?t wait until the end of the day to write, only to find yourself yawning your way through 2 hours with nothing but 3 bad sentences to show for it.  And don?t get up at 6am to get your blogging done early if you need 2 cups of coffee, a brisk walk and a hot shower before you can function. Everybody has a time when they are sharpest, most alert, and most creative?that is the time when you should be writing. If you aren?t sure about your own sweet spot, take the time to find out.  Write in the evening, write in the morning, after lunch, after coffee, before you make dinner.  When the words flow like water almost without thinking… that?s when you?ve found your sweet spot.

2. 90% of Success is Showing Up

Once you?ve found your sweet spot, stick with it!  Your brain is a creature of habit.  Writing at the same time every day trains your creative mind to show up at that time every day. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it?s worth reiterating: Just as daily exercise keeps your physical muscles in shape, daily writing keeps your creative muscle in shape.  You may think that inspiration is fickle and strikes when you least expect it, but inspiration strikes when she knows when and where to find you!

3. Separate Brainstorming, Research, and Writing

There are 3 major parts to the writing process:

• Brainstorming and idea gathering
• Research and organization
• Writing

I?ve found that giving myself time between the brainstorming/research periods to let the ideas percolate results in much faster writing and a richer end result.  I like to do my brainstorming and research in the evening, then sleep on it and write in the morning. You may need as long as a week to ruminate, you may only need a quick walk around the block; but if you give yourself time between the research and the actual writing to let your ideas ferment, you?ll be on firm footing when you begin to write.

4. Write Now, Edit Later

Writing requires a certain amount of free-flow of ideas.  Second guess yourself too much and you?ll end up paralyzed in your search for perfection.  My suggestion is to give yourself permission to make mistakes.  In fact, you should expect to make mistakes.  But just because you give yourself permission to make mistakes doesn?t mean everybody else has to see them.  Tell yourself that it?s okay to make mistakes because you?ll go back and edit later. This allows your creative mind to let loose with the mundane and the magnificent all at once.  Now, this isn?t giving you permission to be lazy?be sure that you do go back later to edit and perfect your writing, but for an hour or two a day give yourself the freedom to be messy.

5. Keep Your Toolbox Stocked

In his book On Writing, the very prolific Stephen King suggests that every writer should have a mental toolbox in which you keep everything you need to write quality content: vocabulary, grammar, organization, style, voice, etc. How do you get these tools in the first place?  Well… you read and you study.  To be a good writer you must read other good writers and think about what makes them good. How do you keep these tools sharp once you?ve acquired them?  Use them. Practice. Write every day.  There?s just no way around it.  What is the benefit of all this extra work?  Well, according to King (and I happen to agree with him), if you ?construct your own toolbox and build up enough muscle so you can carry it with you… then instead of looking at a hard job and getting discouraged, you will perhaps seize the correct tool and get immediately to work.?

6. What’s Your Favorite Writing Exercise?

I know I’m not the only one who has a daily writing regimen, and I’d love to hear what I’m missing.  What do you do to keep your writing muscles firm and fit and ready for action?

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Published by: Grant Griffiths

Full post as published by Blawg for Profit on May 05, 2010 (boomark / email).