Organized writing sounds simple. Like anything requiring structure and standards, though, implementing it is hard. Young writers are instructed to start writing in an organized manner before improvising, and for good reason. It builds discipline and allows you to work even when the going gets tough (e.g. writer’s block sets in).
1. Preparation
This phase should take more time that your actual writing. A writer with a ready plate, after all, should be able to breeze through the drafting on learned skills alone. This is where you estimate the job, put in the research time, organize your notes and lay down the outline. I know many writers who skip this and they end up taking unnecessarily longer to produce finished pieces.
2. Drafting
Many people mistakenly think this is the only phase to writing. Even the best wordsmiths in the world won’t get away with only doing this all the time. For organized writers, this is the time you look at your outline and begin producing full-blown text out of it. Don’t worry about making mistakes – just write from your plans and let it all hang loose.
3. Editing
Know why you shouldn’t worry about mistakes during the writing phase? Because you’ve got all of the editing phase to busy yourself with that. Here, you go through the work, checking if it stands up to the original idea and whether it communicates it well. Yes, this is also the same phase where you use your favorite writing improvement software.
Organized Doesn’t Mean Perfect
Organized writing doesn’t mean doing things perfectly. In fact, you will likely make many mistakes along the way. What’s important is to learn from those errors and improve your process using them. Eventually, you’ll iron out all the major kinks and you can produce your work more efficiently.
