Whether we’ve resolved to write our first screenplay in 2017 or simply craft better emails, we benefit from mindfulness that writing is a three-step process: pre-writing, writing, rewriting. Too many of us focus almost entirely on writing itself, largely neglecting the before and after. So what better place to begin our 2017 posts than at the beginning?
Let’s say we’re composing a report on four unrelated personnel matters. Because there is no “natural order” to the report, we have many ways to organize it. How many? Well, those who remember advanced algebra know we have 24 possibilities (4 x 3 x 2 x 1). If we start writing willy-nilly, chances are we’ll have to do a lot of reorganizing as we go, and even then we’re likely to wind up with a product that could have been more cohesive.
The trick is making a wise investment in the report up front by spending a few minutes brainstorming and planning. Here are three examples of ways to accomplish that.
Magical methods
1. Take a sheet of scrap paper, cut it into several pieces, and jot ideas on each one. After you’ve brainstormed content for a short while, arrange the points as you want to convey them to your reader. You now have a skeleton for your rough draft. (And if you’re partial to working with Post-its instead, go for it.)
2. Brainstorm ideas onto a sheet of scrap paper and simply use numbers or arrows to plot the order in which you want to communicate your points. You might call the result a messy, but extremely useful, outline.
3. Brainstorm on your computer screen, perhaps with brief phrases. Then cut and paste those notes to create a winning order. (Cutting and pasting before we start writing, rather than while we’re writing or after, saves loads of time.)
The math is compelling
If we’re composing an agenda, and we settle on six topics for the meeting, we have 720 possible arrangements. If we’re writing a major document that discusses 10 issues, we have 3,628,800 conceivable arrangements. So whenever a document we are writing is at all unwieldy, we cannot afford to skip the planning step. When we pre-write, we win, and so does our reader.
You can go to http://www.normfriedman.com/index.shtml to learn more about my workshops on writing in the workplace, individual coaching, editing, and handbook – 100+ Instant Writing Tips. Thank you.