Practical Advice from 3 Famous Writers

And how to use them in your work

Each of us has a unique way of working. Before Covid, I would head out to a cafe or hotel lobby when I wanted to refill my well of ideas. I did my best editing on a picnic table in a park, and when my writing hit a wall, I went to the waterfront to just walk it off. While I missed those habits when Covid struck, I built-in new ones that I found valuable enough to keep doing them today. Here’s what I found to be of most value for me. I hope you find them intriguing enough to try a few and see if they help you, too.

Find inspiration in the commonplace

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.” — ― Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Anything can be turned into an article. I challenge myself to do this all the time by closing my eyes and then writing about the first thing I see when I open them. I once wrote an article for MindCafe using the Alt key for inspiration. I do this by setting a one-minute timer, closing my eyes, and when I open my eyes, I brainstorm ideas for using the first thing I see. I’ll do this now as an example.

The first thing I saw was a window in a building across the street. The curtains were drawn together and tied in the center of the window. I could write an article on:

• The value of creating and protecting personal privacy/space
• The need to create and maintain boundaries
• How to probe for information
• What happens if we let someone see behind the curtain of our lives
• How to draw a curtain across the past and move on

You try it.

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” — John Steinbeck

Write with abandon and edit ruthlessly

“Put down everything that comes into your head and then you’re a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff’s worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.” — Colette

Writing and editing are two very different activities. Writing can be messy and feel slightly insane as we pull together meaning from a mish-mash of ideas, information, and intuition — and it’s supposed to be. It is discovering how our ideas and research can come together to make sense — like sorting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. We look for and organize the edge pieces, the corners, and similar patterns and colors. We see where we have overlapping pieces and move them around. Maybe there are missing pieces, and we go looking for them. Slowly the pieces start coming together cohesively.

Editing, on the other hand, is an analytical assessment of how successful the writing is. It’s zeroing in on what makes sense — or doesn’t. It’s cutting ruthlessly to create razor-sharp clarity, yanking around elements so they flow naturally, and objectively evaluating how our readers will respond. Well-edited writing reads effortlessly.

Both activities are often done in layers. We write, then edit what we have written, and return to the writing. Write, edit, write, edit until the piece is completed. But then we need one more edit to fix any mistakes that have crept in.

Writing and editing are skills we are always learning and never master. The more we exercise these skills, the more facile we become, but always there is more to learn and remember. Here are two resources for improving writing and editing skills.

• Online Writing Laboratory at Purdue University
• Common Errors in English Usage at Washington State University

“It is perfectly okay to write garbage — as long as you edit brilliantly.”— C. J. Cherryh

Feed your productivity by getting organized and staying organized

“Be regular and orderly in your life, so you may be violent and original in your work.” — Gustave Flaubert

If we hope to earn money from our efforts and be thought of as a professional writer, we need to write often and efficiently. Efficiency means that we use our resources in the best way possible. When it comes to writing, our most important resource is our time, so it’s important to create an environment that supports efficiency. One aspect of this is getting and becoming organized.

A survey from Wakefield Research showed, 57% of respondents rated the inability to find needed information among their top 3 challenges. Interact reported that about 20% of our time is wasted searching for and gathering information. That’s one day a week. What could you do with one more day a week? Here are some questions about organization and ideas for becoming more organized and efficient.

• Is your work area neat and organized? If not, begin by creating labeled file folders, using file names you will remember.
• Is your labeling the same across all media — paper, electronic, and email? Having consistency across everything you look at and use saves time when you need to find something. Treat your computer desktop and email inbox as if they were filing cabinets. Create master folders and store related files in these folders.
• Do you use color to get organized? It’s easy to find things when you use green for business, red for deadlines, yellow for ideas, and different colors for your clients and projects.
• Do you have paper clutter hanging around like partygoers who refuse to go home? What about your computer desktop, tablet, and email inbox? Are they cluttered, too? Clutter is anything you have completed — paper, electronic, and email — but have not filed away or trashed. Set time on your calendar each day to tackle it. When you file documents daily, you avoid adding clutter.
• Do you prepare what you need tomorrow before you leave your office? This sets up your day for success, so you can dive in as soon as you sit at your desk.

“Organizing is something you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” — A. A. Milne

Do what works for you

One of the best pieces of advice came from a mentor who also is a brilliant writer and editor, “Learn the rules, listen to the experts, then do what works best for you and the work.” While I’m always interested in discovering what works for other writers, I sometimes find that their systems or processes just won’t work for me. While I may try their advice, I usually need to adapt it to my own writing and editing styles. So, if one of these ideas intrigues you, try it, change it, and morph it into a tool you can use for your business.

“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.” — Maya Angelou

Want more advice from pros? Check out this article by Meaghan Ward.

Thanks for reading, Patricia

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