Don’t write without an outline
A friend of mine recently wrote to me telling me that she’s having one of the worst cases of writer’s block….EVER! She can’t seem to get a word out on paper…nor on her computer. I told her to take a break. She did. And she still couldn’t write. This friend of mine is new to the writing business, she’s been at it for about a year and I would have to say that in terms of creative writing, she’s good! Pretty darn good.
But what happens is that I asked her to review her outline and see if she can try to twist things around a little, to give her writing a little bit more….erm, well, to suit her mood at the moment.
She asks, “What outline?”
Never, I repeat, never write without an outline. That’s the first thing you should get down first. If you’re basing the article on another article, make sure you have all the points you need down so that you can refer to it and shape the article that you’re writing. It doesn’t matter how long the article is, in case you’re asking, in my personal opinion, if you want to get the words flowing, you just have to whack out all the points that you have to say in the article first before even writing the first letter.
The outline will also help guide you in terms of direction…meaning, when you get side-tracked in the middle of writing, the outline will guide you back. Haven’t you have moments whereby you’re writing about picture-taking as a hobby and then ended up writing about your skiing trip to New Zealand.
To avoid that, never start writing without an ouline.
Over and out.
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