How To Write Daily Without Sacrificing Quality.
We want to write, but we do not just write for the sake of writing, do we?
Writing daily is a challenge in itself, and writing daily without sacrificing quality is another planet altogether. When I finally got into the groove of writing daily, I start getting rejected by publications daily.
Life is like a giant puzzle piece that contains mini puzzles in between. Solving one makes us stronger, so we can solve the next tougher one.
Overcoming challenges is one angle of consideration. The constraint of time is another.
Our ability to produce and complete a piece of writing is pegged to the available time we have at our disposal and the willingness to use it for writing vis-à-vis other activities.
And there is a possibility of rejection from publications. Is there a way to write and get published successfully, without encountering the pain of re-writing?
In other words, is there a way to write and publish daily without sacrificing quality?
I think there is, and this is my account based on personal experience.
First, Let Us Define Quality.
Quality is a big word. This is the definition I extracted from dictionary.cambridge.org.
“How good or bad something is.”
“A high standard.”
Realize that both definitions apply at the principle level and are not contextualized. In fact, it is not meant to be contextualized. Good tasting food is one thing to a food junkie and another to a food connoisseur.
I will take the spirit of the second definition for this story and contextualize it to our daily writing.
The Word Quality Is Not Applied In Isolation.
Quality has a blue cheese buddy. Thy name is of.
When we think of quality, we have to think about the quality of something. And that begets the question, quality of what? What are we talking about, exactly?
Here, we can ring-fence the scope of discussion to the quality of writing. If we take the quality of writing as the anchor topic, then expressing ourselves succinctly should not be sacrificed in the face of time.
That is one perspective.
The other perspective is the quality of ideas worth spreading. We write to spread our beliefs, and our beliefs are worthy of an audience as we stand beside best-selling authors.
Do not confuse reader-followers with the quality of writing with ideas. We write better over time, and the reader base takes time to build.
An Experiment For Quality Of Writing.
This is a measure of expressing ourselves clearly while operating within the constraints of time.
I emphasize the time element because that is the luxury that most of us do not have. Full-time employees trying to build a side-income do not have that additional 3 hours a day to write and edit continuously.
Throw a crying baby in the mix, and that evening is thrown into chaos.
We have to work within the limits of time and the limits of our unshakeable focus.
This will require an honest self-assessment. Answer the questions below for the quick-take acid-test.
- For how long can I write without losing focus?
- How many words can I type without wanting to pause for the day?
The first bullet point measures our writing ability against time. The second bullet point measures our writing ability against word count.
At this point, I want to be clear that the word count is important. Expanding word count for the sake of adding more words is not.
Plus, it is a valiant effort. Readers can detect and will drop out before they get to the bottom of your story.
Spare yourself the agony of excessive typing.
What is important here is to ascertain the number of words we can type before adding fillers. This measures the quality of writing in terms of conciseness.
If we can produce 500 words in one sitting, expressing clarity without edits, then we are much better at finding publications that focus on short stories rather than a minimum word-count submission criterion.
Quality Of Ideas Worth Spreading.
Publications can reject our work based on the quality of writing. They cannot reject our work based on the quality of ideas because there is no one barometer to measure it.
An inability to express ourselves inaccurately must not be confused with the merit of the idea to be expressed. One is Planet Mars, and the other is Tyrannosaurus Rex.
As individuals, there are many ideas we want to express. They can be our opinions on current-day politics, a ground-breaking piece of research, or a short story on daily observations.
We have a crazy mind if we think about it.
The question in this segment is: -
How do we assure the quality of our ideas expressed in words, given a time constraint?
My approach is simple. Pick those genres where we can think fast on our feet, especially those we feel emotionally for. It could be personal finance, digital marketing, how to win a debate.
The important consideration here is we can type non-stop about this topic as we have too much to share and say. Excess guarantees non-stop typing.
Excess also guarantees expansion of ideas from 10,000 feet high to the mechanical nuances of operational feasibility. We can tell them why and show them how.
It gives depth to our ideas, given time constraints. Imagine typing away like Joker in Batman.
The Writing, Time, And Quality Triangle.
I have to make a public declaration at this point. I paused at the previous sentence to grab a cup of coffee. That means my focus is currently stapled to a limit of 931 words, headlines inclusive.
That approximates to a 4-minute read if I choose to wrap it up there and then.
And that is the crux of this story. What is the limit of our writing, within time constraints, without sacrificing quality?
My perspectives and litmus tests shared in this story cast light on my thought process, which works for me and is, by no means, the only way to answer the question posed in the story headline.
We have to experiment with what works because we are all unique individuals. In that sense, it would be great if my methods work for you as well.
And do not despair if it does not. We always find our way through life to cope with any triangles we encounter.
Write!
Aldric
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About the Author:
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure.
Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.
Because simplicity adds value.
And with clarity — We grow.
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