Writing a book or publishing articles are powerful tools to help you establish yourself as an Obvious Expert —the go-to person— in your field. Here are five simple tips for making the writing process easier.
Write in blocks.
Set blocks of time to write without letting anything—anything—interrupt you. This means don’t answer the phone, check a resource, or go to the bathroom … just write.
Start with a block of time you can truly commit to, like 10 minutes. As you discipline increases, work your way up to 20, 30, or even 40 minutes (much longer than 40 minutes at a stretch isn’t good for either the circulation that keeps the blood flowing through your extremities or that which keeps the thoughts churning in your head.
To help you build the discipline of writing in blocks, add a countdown timer to your computer, such as Online Stopwatch (which can be set to count up or down) or Karen’s Countdown Timer.
Past Obvious Expert blogs to read: So Who Has Time for Business Marketing?
Write in fragments.
Keep a notebook handy. Make notes every time thoughts come to mind about your writing. Pay attention to the thoughts you have before falling asleep and when first waking up; these may be times when you are best connected with your creative and problem solving sides of your subconscious.
Use your downtime waiting for meetings, in airports, traffic jams, or any time you have even three or four minutes to kill, and instead of murdering them, focus them on your writing project or writing goals.
Past Obvious Expert blogs to read: Turning the Tables on the Obvious Expert
Prioritize your writing time.
Some people write best early in the morning, others are the most productive when sitting at Starbucks using the background sounds as white noise, and still other writers find that in the cool of the evening when world goes still, their writing juices flow the very best. It won’t be hard for you to figure out what time of day is your most productive. When you know, sacredly guard that window of time for cranking out pages and pages of text. But don’t assume you can’t use other times of the day effectively too. Use your ‘less-than-prime time’ hours for proofreading, editing, researching, organizing, or any of the other tasks related to writing a book or article.
Use good tools.
The days of starting your literary masterpiece on the back of a paper napkin are gone, (one more reason to always have a notebook handy). Invest in a good desk chair, which doesn’t usually mean an executive chair. The classic high-back, luxurious leather executive chair is designed for pondering and decision making, not clicking the keys. Look for a really comfortable task chair designed for someone who will be spending long hours in it. Turn up your lights and keep your workspace bright; doing this increases your productivity and reduces eyestrain. Use an ergonomic keyboard, mouse, wrist rest, or any other tool that keeps your body in better alignment during the time you are writing.
Don’t use lack of expensive toys (tools) as an excuse.
Reasons to ‘not write’ are abundant; you can come up with hundreds, maybe thousands. Don’t let the lack of an ideal writing chair/desk/keyboard or other component of your workspace become an excuse for not writing. Write. Write today and write tomorrow. Write every day until you reach your goal. It may take the completion of an article or a book to help you gain recognition as an Obvious Expert and increase your earnings to pay for that perfect desk chair, so don’t let the lack of a nest egg stop you from hatching your golden goose. Who can say, which comes first, the ideal office or the published book?
