Getty
Being a writer is fulfilling but challenging at the same time. If you create content for your business or you’re an avid blogger, then creating content can be difficult at times — mainly because it’s essential to generate a lot of content consistently to get benefits.
It’s important to publish fresh and relevant content to boost traffic and keep your subscribers engaged. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, trying to manage different assignments by their deadlines. You will certainly learn to produce good content regularly through trial and error. Practice and the passage of time will also help you find your groove in writing. But there are several things you can do to improve productivity in the meantime.
Let’s explore the ways you can become more productive as a writer.
1. Use the right tools.
Using tools to support your writing can make a significant difference. Here are some suggestions:
• Google Drive: Writing on Google Docs is useful because it autosaves, meaning you never have to lose content. It’s also a great collaborative tool that lets you share your work and make updates in real time. You also edit the content on your mobile phone.
• Grammarly: You can use the free version of Grammarly to catch spelling errors and significant punctuation mistakes. It also has a powerful premium version that helps improve your writing.
• Hemingway App: This is especially useful for writing internet content. The Hemingway App highlights convoluted sentences and suggests changes for easy reading.
• WordPress: Building a blog on WordPress can make it easier to manage your content marketing efforts. You don’t need to know coding to create pages or posts. It has thousands of plugins that can help you build any site you want.
The best tools are those that serve your writing goals. You can find SEO platforms that prompt you to make helpful changes to optimize your content. You can also use software that has templates for writing long novels, research papers and more.
2. Get organized.
Writing is a creative act, and being organized will help you harness your creativity. It’s important to plan your content in advance by creating a content calendar. A content calendar will help you track deadlines for different articles, posts or stories. It will also help you collaborate with your team to make changes and add more details.
Another way to be more organized? Set a time for writing and commit to it. Waiting for inspiration to write often leads to prolonged delays that only feed the problem. Diving into your work can be the spark that brings out your creativity. You can also set a goal to finish a specific number of words every day.
Being organized can give you a frame of reference that compels you to take action. I find that I’m more productive when I have a clear plan to follow.
3. Don’t edit right away.
It’s important to edit your writing before delivering it. However, I’ve found that editing while you write harms more than it helps. Editing requires critical thinking, and you need to reread and check your work. Mental activities like these can block your creative flow, which is why it’s important to write without making any corrections first.
Hold off on criticizing and correcting your work until you’ve made a draft. You can always edit later, which should be its own separate activity. You can edit your work after a break; you can even sleep on what you’ve written and look at it with fresh eyes in the morning. Doing so will help you find problems you might not see otherwise.
Separating the actual writing from the editing allows you to put all your thoughts on paper and removes the mental leash you place on your creativity. The next tip can be used in conjunction with this tip to help you write freely and with ease.
4. Try the pomodoro technique.
The pomodoro technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s. To help your writing, you can use a modified version. The idea is to set a timer and write for 25-minute intervals. You can take a break for five minutes and start over again.
Hearing the timer go off can give you a sense of accomplishment because you’re working while anticipating it ring. You can look back to see what you’ve written over every session, and thus see your work progress.
You’ll feel more motivated to write because there’s a specific time you can stop. Use this technique to increase your focus and attention span.
5. Create a dedicated place for writing.
You can increase your comfort level and creativity by reserving a specific place to write your content. This might be a neatly arranged desk in your home, a quiet cafe nearby or a seat at a coworking space.
Creating a single location for writing creates an association between the place and the act of writing. You’ll create a link between a specific physical space and your creative state, making it easier to produce content when you’re there.
Take control of your productivity.
Being a productive writer is its own reward, but it also earns you goodwill from your readers, clients or employer. You can achieve your personal and professional writing goals when you make the best use of your time. Use these tips to help you become a more productive writer.