Monday’s Draft

Writing is, at its heart, a creative medium. And with all creative mediums, there is a certain impulse to only write when you’re “inspired” to do so. That’s where the phrase “writer’s block” comes from.

I definitely used to be that way. Then I started writing for a living, and I couldn’t do that anymore.

If I want to get paid, I can’t have “writer’s block.” I have to be ready to go, every day, if I want to make a living doing what I love.

So, how do I do that?

Give Yourself a Deadline

Whether I’m doing a project for a client or for myself, I’m always careful to give myself a deadline to work with. My planner is my best friend. At the beginning of the week, I always take time to figure out what needs to get done, and schedule out time to work on it.

For projects that already have deadlines, I do my best to schedule my own personal deadline a day or two before.

Finish the Project Before Your Deadline

Now, here’s the trick — write your project before your deadline.

This blog is a perfect example. I’ve decided that I want to post this by no later than Wednesday — so I’m starting it on Monday.

This gives you plenty of wiggle room for the most important step:

Revision is Your Friend

Revision is, without a doubt, the number one way to cure writer’s block.

Knowing that you don’t have to get it right the first time is incredibly freeing. For example, while writing this blog on Monday, I know it isn’t perfect. It’s awkward, the content under the subheadings is too short, and the transitions are terrible and ungraceful.

But that doesn’t matter! Because I know that I’ll be able to rewrite it and revise it Tuesday and Wednesday.

What Do You Do During a Timecrunch?

Now, this makes it sound like I always have 3-7 days to complete an assignment. But on my about page, I say that my average turnaround time is only 24 hours. How does that work?

The short answer is simple: I follow this exact same pattern, but I shrink it to fit whatever time frame I have.

I have absolutely had projects where I finished writing, stood up, took a walk, pet my cat, and went back and edited 15 minutes later.

While this isn’t necessarily ideal (the more time I have, the better), it isn’t the worst way to do things. It still works, because it’s still following the same basic principle:

It’s okay if your writing isn’t perfect the first time. You don’t have to send your first draft in.

Once you fully embrace this line of thought, writer’s block disappears.

Tuesday’s Draft

Writing is, at its heart, a creative medium. And just like with any creative medium, there’s a sort of impulse to only write when you’re feeling inspired.

If you aren’t feeling inspired, you have “writer’s block” — an impassible, unavoidable part of any writer’s life. Through college, I lost more than one afternoon to staring blankly at my computer screen, throwing my hands up in frustration when I finally decided to give up and watch Netflix.

Then I started writing for a living.

Here’s the thing — if I want to get paid, I can’t have “writer’s block.” I can’t give up and watch Netflix, because then my clients won’t want to keep hiring me. I have to write every day, and the writing always has to be good enough to deliver by the time the client wants it.

So, how do I do that?

Always Have a Deadline

I don’t care if my client says, “Just have it to me whenever!” I don’t even care if the writing isn’t related to work. If I don’t have a deadline, I won’t be able to do it.

Let’s use this blog post as an example. There is no one forcing me to write these blogs. But I’ve decided to post to it twice a month.

I set Wednesday, August 9, as the due date for this particular assignment. I have it in writing, so I can’t tell myself what I really meant was Friday later.

Of course, on some projects, you’ll have a client holding you accountable for your work. Client-set due dates work too. As long as you have one and you know when it is.

Draft the Project Before Your Deadline

Here’s the thing that usually tripped me up in college. I was a master procrastinator. When a professor told me that an assignment couldn’t be started the day it was due, I took it as a personal challenge.

As you could imagine, my work ethic has changed remarkably.

These days, I always start my projects early. In the case of this blog, I wrote the first draft on Monday. And when writer’s block came along and told me I didn’t know what to write, I had an easy response — “It doesn’t matter if I don’t know what to write! I’m not finished with it yet!”

Once you take this approach, you’ll be able to write through a block with relative ease.

Revision is Your Friend

When I drafted this blog on Monday, it was nowhere near publication-worthy. Each subheading only had a few sentences under it. The sentence structure was clunky and awkward.

I knew none of that mattered, because I had time. On Tuesday, I went through and cleaned it up — adding detail, explaining myself better, fixing flow and tense issues. And on Wednesday, I uploaded the blog into WordPress and took a crack at it again.

(Pro-tip: Seeing your article in a different format can help you catch the mistakes you didn’t before. At the very least, change the font and give it another read-through.)

Revision is where the magic happens, and once you have your ideas down, it’s much easier to turn the article you were “blocked” on into something other people may actually want to read.

To get an idea of what my revision process looks like, you can check out the former drafts of this blog here!

What Do You Do During a Timecrunch?

Now, this makes it sound like I always have 3-7 days to complete an assignment. But on my about page, I say that my average turnaround time is only 24 hours. How does that work?

The short answer is simple: I follow this exact same pattern, but I shrink it to fit whatever time frame I have.

I have absolutely had projects where I finished writing, stood up, took a walk, pet my cat, and went back and edited it into submission 15 minutes later.

While this isn’t necessarily ideal (the more time I have, the better), it isn’t the worst way to do things. It still works, because it’s embracing the same exact principle: It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be on the page. You can fix it later.

Once you fully embrace this line of thought, writer’s block disappears.