9 Strategic Ways To Sharpen Your Writing

by Staff Writer and SSCHEPER, 9 Tips

Finally, you decide to sit down and write your first manuscript but something is missing. Your mind becomes distracted and before you know it your train of thought is off.

Do you want to know how to effectively communicate your points and find a routine that works best for you? Need something to help you focus when you write? Follow Stephen King’s routine. He listens to Metallica when he writes or you can take a more ‘strategic’ approach.

 “1. Read. A lot.

As discovered above by Dr. Krashen, you must read to become a better writer. In order to do this, I suggest writing in the morning and reading at night. Slap on a pair of headphones and read while your spouse stares at the T.V.

Yet, is what you read more important than how much you read?

To this day, studies haven’t found anything conclusive on this; however, it’s common sense that this principle should hold true. We are what we think about. And what we think about is correlated with the inputs we load into our minds.

2. Map out the idea

Grease Pencils for Mapping Out Ideas

Before you sit down to write, map out what you’re going to write. Otherwise, you’re just journaling. And news flash: nobody cares. We live in a world where people have less and less time to read. Don’t make it harder by meandering through thoughts; instead, spend time in communicating points.

Don’t restrict your mind by using electronic tools to map out your idea. When I asked author Seth Godin about his favorite tool, he replied, “Big pads. Different ones all the time. Grease pencils.”

If you’re always on the go, you may want to look into Moleskine notebooks. They’re basic, simple and straightforward notebooks. They’ve gained somewhat of a cultist following due to their history. The list of famous writers and authors that use Moleskines include: Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Bruce Chatwin.

3. How a writing strategy makes writing easier

When writing about something, you want to present it in logical fashion; yet, this concept doesn’t hold true in writing a novel. In a novel, you’re essentially telling the truth. You’re revealing a story as it comes to you, as the inspiration speaks to you. You then go back and redraft.

It’s different when writing a book that centers on communicating and convincing others of your thesis (this book). As in my case, my thesis centers on the belief that the most successful people have a degree of focus that normal people rarely practice. In order to reach this thesis, I continually craft and map out how I’m going to communicate this point. My chapters are much different than it would be if I were writing a novel. My chapters center on essentially three parts: (i) I tell you what I’m going to tell you, (ii) I tell you through stories, data and steps, (iii) I tell you what I just told you.

You must have a strategy for writing the piece in which you’re writing. If you’re writing a novel, your strategy should be freedom of thought in telling the story. If you’re writing a thesis-based book, your strategy should center on mapping out the direction of your book, and focusing on what your reader wants to know about the subject at hand. Once you understand your strategy, writing will become easier.

4. Creating a writing environment

You need to create an environment that drives you to focus, and enables you to write. Your environment should be quarantined of any major distractions. This includes cell phones, television or anything that may distract you.

In my focus lab, there’s basically two things: a light and a desk. There’s no pictures, no furniture, nothing. The closest thing to art is the entire wall that I painted a deep red–it’s my belief that this color drives creativity, it drives action and it drives focus. There’s also some cultural implications in the use of colors that I’ll soon get into within my chapter on the focus lab.”

Look around, are you surrounded by clutter? If you are, remove all distracting objects and clear your mind and just write!

5. “Effective ways to listen to music while writing

Believe it or not, Stephen King rocks out to Metallica while writing. We all have different music preferences for working. Some prefer listening to Pandora all day, whereas others prefer silence. When writing, if you do decide to listen to music, I recommend using headphones and an ipod; not listening to music on your computer. If you’re trying to write and you’ve got music that’s running in the background, you’ll stop where you are and begin fiddling with iTunes, Pandora or whatever’s on your computer. Before you know it, you’ve just wasted 15 minutes. Having music running in the background on your computer is a distraction.

As we discussed in auditing your gadgets for focus, when writing, you should only use tools that serve one major function. In my this case, use a computer for writing, a pad of paper for mapping out thoughts and an iPod for listening to music.

6. Redraft later and you’ll finish writing a book

When writing, nothing’s going to be perfect. Don’t try to finish the perfect chapter. In my case, I literally write this book in real-time. I ship the chapters, and then re-write if it’s needed.

Redrafting a chapter over and over is a roadblock to finishing your project or book. With this book, I am very selective in the time of redrafting. Plus, I’ve got you, the reader, that can help me along the way!

If you want to finish a book, finish it, let it rest for six weeks and then redraft it.

7. Enjoy the process

It’s odd that in many professions, people hate the process of creating. They’re so focused on finishing, that they miss the enjoyment of creating. Ironically, it’s because of the fact that they lose focus on the creative process that people end up never finishing projects or books they’ve started.

Take a step back and enjoy the process of writing.

8. Have a time-line

This is the most critical component in writing. Have a time-line of about three months to finish the first draft; otherwise, the passion that drove you to start the project will start to fade. After you finish the first draft, leave it alone for six weeks. When you’re ready, pick it up again, print out your work and read it through (making marks of any changes).

You’ll find great amusement out of this process. You’ll be surprised with how good your work is. You’ll have forgotten about things you’ve written. And you’ll be confused about things you’ve written. That’s why taking a break is good.

9. No biggie

Life is too important to take too seriously.

Just like life, writing is too important to take too seriously. You need to be honest with yourself, and be honest with your readers. They’ll be able to sniff out any bullshit you throw at them. For instance, as I was re-reading this chapter, I had an introduction that could be cut down to three words. So what did I do? I cut it out. I don’t want to waste your time, because you respectfully haven’t wasted any of my time.

Yet, if you do end up writing something that sucked, or even an entire chapter that didn’t move anyone, don’t worry about it. No big deal. Trust yourself to improve. Trust yourself to grow, and don’t cut yourself down for imperfect writing style.

Everyone must start somewhere. If you look back at prior drafts and nothing stands out that could be improved, you should be worried. That means you haven’t grown as a writer. It’s a healthy sign to look back at things you’ve written in the past and correct them.”

Maybe not all of these nine strategies will work for you. The goal is to find a system that helps you write.  MLM Publishing Company has the tools to get you started with your writing today. CLICK HERE