Manage Your Writing

This week: Try "TK"

Cory Doctorow has published a great article, "Writing in the Age of Distraction." Though he's a science-fiction writer, his advice is good for us business writers as well. For example--

Researching isn't writing and vice-versa. When you come to a factual matter that you could google in a matter of seconds, don't. Don't give in and look up the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, the population of Rhode Island, or the distance to the Sun. That way lies distraction — an endless click-trance that will turn your 20 minutes of composing into a half-day's idyll through the web. Instead, do what journalists do: type "TK" where your fact should go, as in "The Brooklyn bridge, all TK feet of it, sailed into the air like a kite." "TK" appears in very few English words (the one I get tripped up on is "Atkins") so a quick search through your document for "TK" will tell you whether you have any fact-checking to do afterwards.

This week, take Doctorow's advice: draft without stopping to look anything up. When you come to a place where you need a fact, just type "TK." (I've been told it means "To Come," but with less common initial letters.) Your draft will be better as a result. Then when you revise, search for "TK" and get what you need. 

There are other good tips in the article too.

(Thanks to Lifehacker for the lead.)

This week: Say it in one sentence

A VP at 3M, legendary for its innovation, told Tom Peters, "We consider a coherent sentence to be an acceptable first draft for a new-product plan."

This week, choose one message that you need to send, and write a one-sentence first draft. After a break, when you get back to the draft, you may find that you need to add another sentence or two. (I've decided to expand this message to five.) 

But you may find that one sentence is enough.

This week: Add up the cost

At his blog Writing, Clear and Simple, Roy Jacobsen has a great post on figuring the cost of a piece of writing and balancing that cost against the value to your reader. He writes:

Assume you’re writing an email message that you’ll send to a company distribution list. The message isn’t long, so let’s say it takes five minutes to read. Only five minutes; that’s no big deal, right?

Well, how big is the distribution list? 100 people? In that case, if we assume the value of their time averages $60/hour, your single email costs the company five dollars per person, or $500. (That is, ($60/12)*100.) 

Now, add on a 10 page whitepaper that you’ve attached (because it contains valuable background information). How long does it take to read and digest that?

We haven’t added the cost of your time and resources here, but remember that there’s no multiplier effect magnifying those costs. (This analysis also disregards the cost of the delivery channel, which might be significant.)

You see, the cost of even a little thing like an email can add up to a sum larger than you expected.

This week, read the rest of Roy's article and follow his closing advice:

Before you begin writing, ask whether the value of the content outweighs the cost. Think about it: How much time do you spend sorting out the really valuable kernels from all the email chaff in your inbox? Multiply that amount of time across your organization, and then decide whether you want to create more kernels of value, or chaff.

This week: Try managing your writing

This week, take a big-picture look at managing your writing.

Start with the very next writing job you have to do. Instead of diving right in and working on the first sentence, stop for a couple of minutes and do some writing management.

Remind yourself that you're a writer, that writing can be managed, and that it's largely a matter of managing time. Then set up blocks of time for planning, drafting, and revising--with more time allotted for planning and revising than for drafting. Give yourself at least one break, between the drafting and revising stages.

When you've finished the writing job, take a few minutes to evaluate how the process worked for you. If writing this way seems awkward or unproductive at first, don't give up; we all have a lot of old habits to replace. With practice and time, you'll become a much more effective and efficient writer.