I just finished the article, “How to Streamline the Writing Process and Save Time” by David Gywn, a writer on Medium. My struggle with topics has been well documented, and this has given me things to think about! Side note, I love Medium. I gladly pay $5 a month to read exceptional writing.
David lays out some really good steps inside his article: writing 10 ideas a day, dictating articles, and outlining your writing.
#whatsthepoint
The point is, we all struggle with our writing. We all go through those times where we simply cannot get the ideas, thoughts, words, or whatever to work out. Whether you are a note-booker or a blogger, paper and pencil or technology, we all hit that wall. The three ideas he lays out are ones that are easily to put into our writing, both personally and professionally.
Of the three things he lays, the one that hits home to me is the idea of writing down 10 ideas a day. This is also the most daunting of the three because it’s a daily activity, and if you think about it, you’ll have 3,560 ideas written down in the course of a year. Now he does say
Some (or most) might not turn into anything. However, even if 90% of them aren’t usable, you’ll still get one good topic every day.
#truth
A good topic a day? I’ll go with it. And if I can keep myself organized, even better!
For me, that’s the biggest problem, organization. It’s a problem in many facets of my life. I’ve got the trappings of organization. I’ve got my planner, my phone organizer, my note books (plural, not good). But my writing is widely out of control, which doesn’t surprise me a whole lot. If I could transform one of my notebooks into just ideas, dang, I’d not struggle and have a BUNCH of good content for the Slice of Life Challenge 2022! 🙂
As it is, a great article for ALL writers to read through and evaluate how they organize their writing and how they just simply get it done! I know it will help me in upcoming blogs!
Now, if I can just find my dang notebook.
#slob
April 14, 2021 at 12:11 am
Oh yeah. That’s a very solid strategy that I heard somewhere on a podcast too. Every effort, no matter how small, when compounded over time, has the ability to create huge results. Thanks for this post!
April 14, 2021 at 2:01 pm
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your thoughts, Stuart! My hope is that it will bring me good results! 🙂
April 14, 2021 at 12:20 am
Haha! I have often said, if I ever get organized… well, I guess no one is holding their breath for that…
April 14, 2021 at 2:00 pm
Ha! I’m guessing no one is hold there breath for me here either! 🙂
April 14, 2021 at 9:09 am
You could write a book titled “6th Grade Epilogue,” and make millions! 🙂
April 14, 2021 at 9:35 am
LOL!!! I don’t think that’s a story that many would want to read! 🙂
April 14, 2021 at 2:08 pm
Okay, this is the second post I’ve seen in the past 24 hours about writing ideas down in a notebook. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something…
I, too, relate to having the trappings of organization but not having my physical space reflect that. It’s the hazard of being geniuses, I guess.
April 14, 2021 at 11:11 pm
I like the 10-ideas-a-day plan … but that is truly daunting to think about! I’ve been participating in a personal essay challenge the last few years, so I have a long and growing list of possible essay topics (not 10 a day, but a lot of them). This idea reminds me of my list — it started in a notebook, but now it’s in a google doc. I need to go pull up that list and start writing! 🙂
April 16, 2021 at 5:55 am
Hey, I’m just impressed that you are already thinking about SOLSC ’22! I started writing a morning page this year, and found that it was great fodder for my Slices, even if I didn’t use the ideas–it warmed up the neurons, at the very least. I’m guilty of starting one notebook and then moving to another…my kids will look through them when I’m gone and be baffled, I’m sure.
April 16, 2021 at 9:17 pm
>I’m guilty of starting one notebook and then moving to another…<
OMG! Never has a truer statement been written! I know my kids will start looking through notebooks going, "Dad, what the hell??" 🙂
Happy Friday!