Check It Out–For Your Readers

March 8, 2006 by Liz Leave a Comment

The rule is

Allow half again as much time for editing.
If it took 20 minutes to write it, allow 10 more to check it out.
For me, it works the opposite, if it took 20 minutes to write,
it will take 40 minutes to check it out.

Why I Know What I Know about This Step

I’m probably the last person who has any credibility in writing about this topic–but maybe that makes me the one to whom you should listen. You see I have so many strikes against me in this area–I come from a family of dyslexics. I suffer from the writer’s curse of seeing what I meant to say, instead of what’s on the paper. I’m a big picture person, which means focus on details takes an extra effort–that I’ve had to find ways of building in safety nets to avoid embarassing myself and the people I work for.

Reading for Your Readers (2-4 minutes)

The writing is done, but it’s not over. Time to check for all of the little glitches that occur when words move from your head down through your finger to the screen. We owe it to our readers to give what we wrote a good and thorough reading. Here are some power steps to follow to make sure that you catch all of the errors in the shortest time possible.

Switch your document into the preview mode.
Set your browser to a type size at least two sizes larger than you’re used to reading.
Print the document and read it on paper.
Run a spell checker on the document.
Use a checklist to guide you through longer articles.

Printing and reading the document in a larger type size on paper as opposed to on the screen will help you see errors more quickly. Read with a pencil and point to each word as you read it. That will help to prevent your mind from filling in words that you expect to be there but, in reality, are not on the page.

Try to get the basic grammar rules correct, but know this about commas–even the most experienced copyeditors have problems with commas. Be consistent with your use of punctuation and your readers will be able to understand your message.

At this point I copy the document out into a text editor for a spellchecker. I find WordPress spellcheckers to be unreliable. Even if I spellchecked in an offline editor before moving to my blog software, I make changes that haven’t been checked. Checking again is one more safety net that only takes a few seconds, and saves me errors that others would see.

Inputting Changes (2-4 minutes)

If you’re like me, you’ve probably found an error or two. Actually, if you’re like me the number is probably closer to 20 errors. Know this before you start inputting changes. There are three risks I’ve observed from working with professional inputters who have input changes from whole departments of editors.

Look closely again near any error you found. It’s human nature to feel so good about finding one error that we miss one right next to it.
Tick off each error as you input the change . Missed changes are a common problem with inputting corrections.
Introducing new errors at this stage is often a problem. Watch what you input that you don’t accidently add or delete too much. A common mistake is to change a verb that affects the use of the word “to” later in the sentence. For example, if the sentence Ask them to stop. becomes Have them to stop. it is common for folks to forget to delete the word “to” in the second version.

Do yourself and your readers the favor of printing and reading the document again to check that all of the changes have been made and that the document reads smoothly. If you’re as impatient as I am, you want to just publish it . . . but use the few seconds it takes to read it anyway.

The ethic here is spare the reader.

Your readers won’t notice if your work is a few minutes later, but an error will be there until you find it and fix it.

Let me know if you have any questions if your process works in a different way. You might have ideas that will help someone else be a power writer.

Remember every writer’s process is personal. Hope this helps you find out what works best for you.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related articles:
Introducing Power Writing for Everyone
DonÃ¢â¬â¢t Hunt IDEAS Be an Idea Magnet
Why Dave Barry and Liz DonÃ¢â¬â¢t Get WriterÃ¢â¬â¢s Block
Editing for Quality and a Content Editor’s Checklist

Got the Idea. Now What Do I Do with It?

March 7, 2006 by Liz Leave a Comment

A quote I like a lot says

I hate writing. I love having written.

Make a Five-Minute Writing Plan

You can at least get to be friends with writing, if you start with a simple writing plan.

I’ve got a pile of ideas. Writing the article should a breeze. Right? Well maybe. But sometimes, it isn’t. Why is that? Usually it’s because I haven’t really decided what it is I want to say. This is how to avoid that problem by making a quick writing plan.

Decide What You Want to Say (1 minute)

Choose the idea you’re most interested in.
Write one sentence stating why readers need to know about it.
Use that sentences a working title for now.

Plan How You’re Going to Say It (2-4 minutes)

Sketch, visualize, or tell yourself what three main points of the article will be. “I’ll say this and this and this.” Most articles that aren’t how-to articles only need 1-3 points well-said.
Add something from your personal experience–one bit– that will make a point more clearly or make the article more appealing.
Let the research sit there, unless you need it to look something up. It’s served it’s purpose. (See DonÃ¢â¬â¢t Hunt IDEAS Be an Idea Magnet.)

Five are minutes up, time to start writing!

Starting, Going, Done in Minutes

When I write I think about my audience–one person that I might be talking to. That makes it easier to frame my message. I picture a prototypical reader–always someone who likes me. Why start out with someone who doesn’t? Then the writing would take on a defensive tone. I want my writing to be friendly so I choose a friendly audience. It’s as simple as that.

Middle, Beginning, Ending

Ever sit down to tell a story and not know how to start it. Inevitably a listener will say, “Start at the beginning.” But just where is the beginning? Sometimes the beginning is the hardest part to see. That’s why I start from the middle with the main points that I just sketched out.

By starting from the middle, no blank screen can intimidate me. I know exactly what I’m going to write and in what order. I get my ideas on paper and flowing. I begin to see the article take form and imagine my readers reading it. I also get a feeling for what exactly it is that’s working.

Write Until You Need to Walk

While I write I add flourishes–metaphors and explanations. Occasionally my mind gets stuck on a word or an idea. It’s that feeling where I know what I want to say, but just can’t seem to find the words or the image to express it. That’s when I move around. Movement helps let the ideas gel. I walk around the apartment, looking at the floor and thinking–this is a no talking, no listening time–it’s sort of like putting my brain on a swing set. The sentence I am trying to write plays in my head–over and over in new versions. When I get back and sit down, I’m ready to write again. In fact, that’s how I got from the words Sometimes I walk in this paragraph to here just now.

Beginning, Ending

When I get the Middle set, I stop to read it and set the subhead. Then it’s time to tackle the Ending and Beginning, which are usually about the same thing–why the heck should people read this and why the heck should they be glad they did?

As the old presentation adage goes:

Beginning: Tell them what you’re going to tell them (and why they want to hear it.)
Middle: Tell them what you said you’d tell them.
Ending: Tell them what you just told them (and why they should be glad they heard it.)

So that’s exactly what I do to call the writing done.

What I Just Told You

Starting with a simple plan–a sketch what you want to tell your readers–and starting in the middle are two ways that you can get yourself into the writing with less pain and more productivity.

Only two things here are critical: know what you want to say and a change of venue when you feel stuck. Don’t feel a need to follow my process. A writer’s process is fluid and personal. Find the gems in what I do that work for you and toss the rest aside.

As always, I’m here if you want to talk about this. Writer’s have so many cool techniques and strategies. I’m really interested in what works for you.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Introducing Power Writing for Everyone

March 6, 2006 by Liz 7 Comments

Last year I served as Editorial Director for a major revision of the textbook program that was the same textbook I learned to write from–Voyages in English, Writing and Grammar (Loyola Press, 2006). The goal of the revision was to return the program to its orignal rigor and to bring it into the light of the 21st century–to help kids understand from the beginning how important communication is to their place in society. We worked with a great team of authors, editors, and designers, and we succeeded.

In the introduction, I wrote these words on behalf of the program.

Our ability to navigate the world is nested within our ability to communicate. Words enable us to share who we are, to tell what we think, and to express what we believe. No, we are not merely what we say, nor are we people on paper. Yet, it has become normal for us to sort each other by first impressions and sound bites.

The working world defines us by our skill sets and judges us by our communications. Our dexterity and speed in accessing information and our accuracy and creativity in sharing it are highly prized. Bits and bytes the words we say and the words we write, delineate our potential to earn a living. The appropriateness and clarity of thos words convey how we fit into the world, how we might contribute, and how we might lead others.
—Liz Strauss, writing for Voyages in English, Loyola Press

When I researched that program I learned that American corporations spend an estimated $3.1 billion a year teaching employees how to write.

Power Writing for Everyone

The success of the post Why Dave Barry and Liz Don’t Get Writer’s Block and the daily visits to other writing posts here has led me to develop a writing series.

Power Writing for Everyone will take readers through the streamlined writing process–the one that works in the real world. I’ll share in detail the how, what, and why each step and how-to bundle things for maximum productivity. The series starts getting ideas and keeps going through to publishing and cross-purposing content.

It’s important because whether you’re a CEO, a crane operator, or a cab driver . . .

In a global economy, speaking and writing are requisite skills for any life plan.
—Liz Strauss, writing for Voyages in English, Loyola Press

My job is to make your job easier and take road blocks out of the way. Power Writing for Everyone is meant to do just that. Let me know if anything is missing.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Don’t Hunt IDEAS — Be an Idea Magnet

March 6, 2006 by Liz Leave a Comment

Ideas Get Things Going

The question that professional writers are asked most is Where do you get your ideas? The answer they always give is Ideas are everywhere.

It’s true that ideas are everywhere, but . . . that’s not much consolation when you look everywhere, and you seem to find nothing.

Yet ideas are the stuff from which quality content is crafted, and quality content is what builds relevance. Relevance draws people to read us, to add to the conversation, and to share our ideas with others. Quality content packed with relevance also leads search engines to show us off in their rankings. So solid ideas are critical to blogs, websites, and all online businesses.

Ideas are what gets the whole process going. But . . .

Sometimes the very idea of getting an idea can be intimidating.

Be an Idea Magnet

Looking for ideas can be a lot like looking for a white shirt in the Mall of America. If you don’t have anything to narrow your search the task can be overwhelming. Too many kinds of white shirts to choose from and soon they all seem to have the same value–none at all. Ideas work in much the same way as that. Without some sort of criteria to sort them you can look all day and not find a single one.

Ideas really are everywhere. The art is in training your mind to see the ideas and pull them in before your thoughts pass by them–to make your mind into an idea magnet of sorts.

Many Ideas At Once

Sometimes I’m asked to write a book of ideas for teaching some skill set or group of strategies. You might be surprised to find out how I go about such tasks. I identify pages of ideas before I start writing. One idea at a time is just too much work and too painful for me. I approach the task as I approach doing dishes. Wash all of the dishes first. Then dry them all.

Attracting Writeable Ideas

When I write for my blogs, I figure if I’m going to find one idea, I might as well find many. That way I’m set for a while. With a pile of ideas, I can switch my brain over to concentrate on the writing and editing–that’s work enough for me.

Whether you’re looking for one idea or many, or trying to find a spin on a topic that’s too big to write about, the process for getting to a solid idea is basically same.

Here’s how to get your brain to open up to 4-5 ideas at once.

1. Gather resources with a yes or no look. (60-90 minutes max)

Limit research time–the more ideas the less time spent per idea.
Use a variety of resources online, magazines, newpapers, and books.
Check only headlines and take only a quick look.
If what you see doesn’t grab you. Move on.
If it catches your interest, print it or tag it to come back to.

It’s important not to read at this point. Just let the headlines soak in. The variety of resources offers a visual change that helps to keep your mind fresh and tends to bring in a wider variety of points of view. You might find yourself seeing connections between one piece and another. That’s good.

2. Read with a highlighter, a pencil, and a pad of paper. (30-60 minutes)

Highlight keywords.
Jot key points in the margin using 3-4 words you might say if you were restating the point to a friend.
If you get article ideas, mark them on the piece that inspired them.
When you notice connections between pieces you’ve chosen write them on the pad of paper.

Do these things quickly to let your mind capture and collect information without filtering it. You’ll start to make further connections to your personal experiences. Note those on the writing pad too. What you’re doing is guided brainstorming. (I made that term up.) Feel free to throw out any resources you know just won’t work.

3. Sort your resources into like piles by topic. (5-15 minutes)

Give each pile a working title.
Add to each pile a bulleted list of events, thoughts, or learnings from your experience that fit with that idea.
Choose the idea that you find most useful to your readers and put the rest in a folder.

Also do this quickly as a “brain dumping” exercise. Write what comes to mind and keep going until you have a list–however long or short—for each pile you made. Now you have some solid ideas. Keep them all, even the ones that seem thin or uninteresting. After a day or so you might find uses for those that you don’t like right now.

The Benefits of Working Out Once a Week

This workout shows results immediately. In just that much time I have ideas I can write about. I do this “workout” about once a week when I’m not under pressure to write something. The workout takes away the rush and tumble of having to push through my feeds with deadlines hanging over me. Even when I want to cover breaking news. I have ideas ready to go if I want to post a quick article before I start researching.

The relief that comes from knowing I have many ideas in the hopper makes writing exponentially easier. When I sit down to write, I can concentrate on what I’m writing about. I know it’s a fully vetted idea that will work, rather than one I have to hope will work out. I can use the time I might have spent looking for an idea and use it to check my work.

Writing’s more fun when your brain is free of that voice that keeps saying, “I need to get this done. I need to get this done. My readers are waiting for me.”

A brain is a writer’s instrument in the same way as a voice is a singer’s instrument. Why shouldn’t writers train just as vocalists do?

Power writing is a very cool thing.

Try it and let me know how it goes. I’m here to help any way that I might.

After all, I’m the nice one. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Why Dave Barry and Liz Don’t Get Writer’s Block

February 27, 2006 by Liz Leave a Comment

We Agree

Dave Barry and I agree.

I believe “writer’s block” is the normal state of writing; that is, you rarely have anything just flow easily from your brain to the keyboard. And if it does, it’s usually pretty bad. Good writing is almost always hard, and what I think sometimes happens is that writers forget how hard it is, or don’t want to do the work anymore, and they call this “writer’s block.” —Dave Barry

When I researched that quote I was staying with a lifelong friend in a boy scout camp that my older brothers had gone to when we were kids. The camp had been turned into a bed and breakfast. Our room was cabin that had once been the poolhouse. I had an article to write before we could break out the wine. So I went through my warm-up to avoid what folks call “writer’s block.”

Preparation: Accessing the Subconscious

To my friend, Nancy, I probably looked like I was in hyperfocus. Actually, I was. I was doing two kinds of things at once. I was preparing a space to work, and I was preparing my brain to write–accessing my subconscious to see what ideas I might have.

What the heck does that mean?

Ever notice that you get ideas when you’re driving . . . or in the shower . . . or doing something other than trying to have one?

I always start my writing with a warm-up that involves some physical activity like ordering my work area, getting my coffee, or taking a walk around the block. Doing that gives the subconscious the room to let those ideas bubble up.

At the cabin I needed a place to work efficiently, so I went through setting up what I think of as an “endangered writing space.” That’s one where writer’s block is not permitted by protected writers species laws.

Checklist for Endangered Writing Spaces

This is the checklist writing spaces I use.

Select the work area. I picked the table where I would write.
Remove all things unnecessary. I got rid of all visual distractions and things that might get in the way.
Check that all tools are there. I didn’t want to stop to find things.
Place favorite healthful, thinking snacks near the computer. Hunger couldn’t tempt me to lose my train of thought.
Test to see there are no discomforts to nag me. I tried a test run in the chair and got a pillow to make it higher.
Lower the cloak of invisibility. I put my headphones on as a sign to myself, and to my friend, that I was no longer in the room. Those headphones meant I would have to physically detach to do something else. I also listen to music when I write..

When my space was ready. So was I.

Fanning the Flame

I didn’t have a whole idea, but I did have a spark. Here’s what I did to fan that spark into a flame. This part went bing, bing, bing, quickly.

I did a brain dump, writing phrases and words on paper before I started.
I picked one big idea from the brain dump and narrowed it to the size of an article.
I visualized article and decided what my main point would be.

THEN

I started in the middle, writing that main point as best I could without stopping.
When cool ideas popped up, I typed them as phrases at the bottom of the page and kept going.
When I got stuck, I looked at those phrases for motivation.
If the phrases didn’t unstick me, I got up, walked outside, looked at the sky for the words I needed, came back in and wrote them down. No other words–talking, reading, listening–interrupted my “break for thinking.” The point was to do something visual, to let the verbal loosen up.
I wrote the snazzy ending and the grabber beginning last.

That’s what I did that night in the cabin to earn several glasses of my favorite white wine from Italy, Ronco Cucco. Boy, I do like that stuff.

Why Dave and Liz Don’t Get Writer’s Block

We just don’t call it “writer’s block.” We call it writing. Staying stuck is not allowed. So like an actor or a musician who once had stage fright, we do writing warm-ups before we step on stage.

The good news is writing warm-ups work like scales for a musician or stretching for an athlete. They keep you at your best game. If you stick to it, warm-ups for writing actually make the writing get easier. Just like an athlete–a skater–you break through that wall and start skating with more speed and grace.

Imagine yourself writing when you no longer worry about writer’s block.

–ME “Liz” Strauss