8M+ Words and 7M+ Views Later — Here are My 26 Best Writing Tips

Conquer writer’s block and transform your writing

The day I penned my first Quora answer, I knew I’d never stop writing.

With 7M+ total views, 28K+ combined followers, and 700+ published pieces, we’ve come a long way since then.

To succeed, you don’t need to be a native English speaker or a literature graduate.

I’m neither.

You only need the will to work — especially when the desired results don’t materialize.

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

― Ernest Hemingway

To help you shortcut the process, here are 26 of my most hard-earned lessons:

1. Never start with a blank draft. Plan and outline your articles beforehand. Have weekly brainstorming sessions.
2. Divorce writing from editing. Rip through the first draft and leave it to “marinate.” Edit it later.
3. Overthinking is your enemy. Leave rewriting and rephrasing for the editing phase. When hesitating, leave a “TK” and resume.
4. The headline or hook matters the most — even the best content will go unseen otherwise. As Ayodeji recommends, write 10 headlines every single day.
5. Kill your darlings — edit ruthlessly. Cut out every word, sentence, and section except the most essential.
6. Copy like a creative — as Wilson Mizner said, “Copy from one, it’s plagiarism; copy from two, it’s research.” Steal ideas and put your own spin on them.
7. Write fast, edit slow. Stunning articles stem from shitty first drafts. As Cherryh said, “It is perfectly okay to write garbage as long as you edit brilliantly.”
8. Writing has only 3 purposes — to educate, inspire, or entertain. Shoot for 1 or more. Legendary writers nail all 3.
9. Don’t expect your first article to go viral — or your 50th. Writing success is slow and then sudden. Stay hopeful and humble.
10. Commit to at least 1 minute of daily writing — 9/10 times; you’ll end up blazing for an hour or more.
11. Make every sentence as short as possible — and as long as necessary.
12. Simplify your writing with Hemingway editor — the easier it’s to read, the better. Aim for Grade 6 or lower.
13. Complete is better than perfect — edit well, but don’t over-butcher and over-analyze your writing.
14. When you can use a simpler word, use it — as long as it doesn’t dilute the message.
15. Read like a writer — dissect every aspect. Hooks, body, structure, phrasing, word choices, and conclusion.
16. Write FOR your readers—nobody cares about journal entries. Ask yourself, “Would I read this as a reader?” Pepper in personal anecdotes only to drive home your points better.
17. Obsessing over the stats will destroy you— instead, focus on bettering your craft as a writer.
18. The best way to get better at writing — is writing. Consistent quantity leads to quality.
19. Ship every piece of work — the one you least expect to go viral will go viral.
20. Don’t wait for “the muse” — inspiration is fickle. Build a solid writing system instead.
21. The more you write, the more you write — build that initial momentum and keep it going.
22. To never run out of ideas, develop a writer’s eye — derive inspiration from every single story, memory, and event of your life.
23. Jot down every single idea you get—or it’ll get lost in the 70,000+ daily thoughts that race through your mind.
24. To write distraction-free, use ColdTurkey writer. Once you set a word or time goal, it turns your computer into a typewriter.
25. View your work as a library — don’t get attached to any one article, tweet, or post. If the library’s growing, you’re growing.
26. If you don’t enjoy writing, don’t write. Writing is a long grind with painfully slow results. Only a passion for mincing words will help you make it.

“The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.”

— William H. Gass

Go brew some alchemy.

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