Niche Diamonds

Seven Writing Tips

Jul 5, 2008 Selling Online 101

Note: This article is similar to Lesson #1 of our ‘Selling Online 101′ email course.

Do you write articles or e-books?  If so, how long does it take you to write?  Do you wish that you could write faster, but without compromising the quality of your work?  If so, you’re in the right place.  There are many different techniques and tricks that you can use to write faster, while keeping the quality of your work top-notch.  Here are seven of those tricks and techniques:

Comfort – If you want to write faster, you need to find a place that you feel comfortable in.  In addition to feeling you are in a comfortable place, you actually need to be comfortable. Whether you feel like working from your bed or outdoors, you are better doing so.  You should also dress comfortably. When writers are comfortable, they are able to not only work faster, but also produce better quality work.

Distractions – All distractions need to be eliminated. Although this may seem difficult, it really doesn’t have to be.  For instance, if you work at home and have kids, you can try sending them to daycare, even if it is only a couple of days per week.  You can also try working during nap times or even at night, after your child has gone to sleep.  The elimination of distractions obviously will allow you to write quicker.  But beyond that, it is also a quick way to reduce or completely eliminate the chances of developing writers block.

Typing – Are you a fast typer?  If you type less than fifty words per minute (wpm), you really need to think about taking a typing class.  One of the many problems that book, and specially, e-book writers face, is that their fingers don’t go as fast as their minds do.  Once your typing improves to a quicker speed, you may notice a significant improvement in the amount of time that it takes you to write and also greater amounts of time in a flow state, or in the zone, if you prefer.

Outlines – If you don’t use an outline when you write your articles or e-books, you really need to think about doing so. Outlines are relatively easy to develop and they have an huge number of benefits.  One of those benefits is that you know exactly what to write and how to write it, and this means that you can just focus on writing and not necessarily thinking about your next step. It’s like a map to your creativity. This, alone, will save you a considerable amount of writing time.

Spell Check – Really. I know it is a no-brainer, but if you buy (and read ) e-books, you know way too many writers simply don’t spell check. Spell check, without a doubt, is crucial to any e-book, and it also shows heaps of your ability and professionalism. Think about it, if you couldn’t care less to push a button before you send out your latest masterpiece, and when one of your readers start noticing the blatant errors, what do you think they’ll think of you as an author and expert? That is why it is important that you do it, but you want to write first and spell check later.  If you use a program like Microsoft Word, all of your misspelled words will be highlighted and waiting for you. For that reason you are advised to wait until the end, doing so will eliminate small breaks; breaks that in no time will turn to a massive writers’ block.

Proofreading – Here is another capital sin of writers. As with spell checking, proofreading is extremely important.  Many e-book authors like to proofread after writing a chapter or a paragraph.  If at all possible, you should not to do this. You may want to write now and proofread later. Once you get on a roll with writing, you do not want to stop; squeeze as much of that flow state as possible and put as much of your e-book down on paper (or file) as possible.  In the end, you will find that you finished your work much quicker.

Time – You really shouldn’t worry about time.  Even if you are close to a deadline, you need to take your time and not think about it. All the fixation on the time you have left and all the worrying about just how much time it takes you to write will have a negative impact on your work.  In fact, it is likely to result in more mistakes, and I mean the ‘oh no, I didn’t!’ kind of mistakes.  Those mistakes take time to fix (if they can ever be fixed), and your credibility will suffer.  If you are looking to write quicker, you should focus on your writing, rather than time itself. you are trying to make more in less time, with the same quality standards, you are not trying to beat the world record of ‘most clumsy e-book ever written’. Put the watch away, you will be surprised just how much it helps!

The above mentioned write faster methods are just a few of the many that exist.  As with everything else, what works for someone else, might not work for you.  With that in mind, you should give these approaches a honest try.
Really, what do you have to loose but greater e-book delivery times?

Also, bear in mind that writing faster is really a lot easier than most people think.  If you put your mind to it, if you are disciplined, you will be writing faster in no time at all.

Tags: writing