Five Rules For Rewrites

November 19, 2015 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

Your Great Idea, Take Two!

So you’ve started a writing project and now it’s not working for you. It started with a great idea for an article or piece of content, but now, for one reason or another, you can’t seem to get it done.

While it can be frustrating to feel stuck in the middle of a project with no easy way out, it’s totally normal. Don’t let the writing process get you down.

Rewrites (and complete re-dos) are part of the creative process.

Don’t let them stop you cold. Good writers and content producers keep moving, even if it means temporarily shelving a project that won’t seem to budge.

Stay Busy While You Re-evaluate

Look at the bright side. You probably have other things you could be doing to keep things humming. Maybe you have some ideas that have been on the back burner and you’ve been looking for a good excuse to do them. Well, now is your time. Don’t stop everything!

Find something else to work on for a while when your current project seems to have stalled. This keeps your business or blog moving, and your mind sharp, while allowing you to take a break from the thing that’s causing the most pain.

When you’re stuck, work on something that could help you accomplish your goals in a more straightforward way. Maybe that means a different chapter, an article that’s easier to write, an email campaign, or collaboration you’ve wanted to start.

It won’t do you any good just staring at the same horrid mess, so what else could you be doing that’s productive?

Keep the faith

I’m a big believer in timing and I also believe that there are no mistakes. If a project or piece of content is not ready to be born, there may be a very good reason why it’s not coming together as it should. You may be exasperated that you can’t finish your project, but who knows? The missing piece could be just around the corner.

A little breathing room, and the whole thing may pop right open.

It seems that whenever I have to postpone my plans, there’s always a good reason in the whole scheme of things. Trust that there’s something better in your future…

Maybe a news story will break that validates your article’s thesis. Perhaps you’ll meet just the person who will provide the interview that clinches your theory. Or you’ll stumble across an article or book that connects some wayward points.

Breakthroughs always happen after your darkest hour. That’s why they’re called breakthroughs. Don’t worry. If it’s meant to be, you’ll see the light.

Yes, I know you’ve invested time (and therefore money) in a project that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. You’ll have a better plan next time if you follow the tips here. Meanwhile, think of the re-evaluation period as recovery time from an injury.

Take Your Creative Injury Seriously

When you know you’re in the weeds, you must get out ASAP. The creative process is as demanding as physical work. When you hit a wall, it’s every bit as serious as sustaining an injury to your body. If the creative “injury” is severe, it could mean the end of your career, or at least your morale.

Don’t let this happen. You should immediately stop and evaluate the ruins. Don’t persist through the pain. You’ll only waste more time, and dig yourself deeper into a creative hole. Stop and decide what should be done before you jump back in for the rewrite.

I’m really not joking about this. Have you ever had an injury from sports or a workout? If your shoulder is screaming with pain every time you raise your arm, do you continue to work through it, or do you give it a rest and train on something else? If you’re smart, you stop what’s causing the pain immediately and evaluate your therapeutic options, like heat or ice, rest, etc. Even a tiny injury needs to heal. Otherwise you risk a more serious injury from which it’s harder to rebound.

Take it easy. Admit that there’s something wrong and take a rest.

So what’s the creative writing equivalent to rest, ice, compression, elevation, or heat? We already talked about working on something different in the interim. That helps get your mind off what’s failing without having time to sulk. But after a creative “injury” how do you get back in the saddle and finish the darn thing?

Now that you’ve put some distance between that difficult article and yourself…

Let’s say you’ve decided that you want to continue the work. You’ve reassessed the topic itself, your goals, your motivation and your ability to write it, but you’re still stumped.

The desire to work through the block is strong, so what now? How do you get back to work?

Find a Writer Friend

Sometimes you can sort things out on your own. Other times, you may consider getting a second opinion. Do you know another smart writer or trusted colleague who might take a look and give you some insight? A friendly critic or editorial viewpoint can add great momentum to a stalled project. Writers tend to be lone wolves, so you may have to work at nurturing these relationships with other writers. Once you have them, they’re invaluable!

I have to mention one more thing about his “other” person. Make sure he or she is NICE, not someone who has something to prove, who has an ulterior motive; who likes you too much to be objective; or who gets a little thrill if there should be the slightest whiff of blood in the water when you hit a snag. A clue! If someone always wants to help you, then that person is probably getting pleasure or satisfying some need of her own from seeing you needy or failing; so stay away.

Also, at this point in your re-evaluation of your project, you don’t need a proofreader, meaning someone who is going to change specific words and insert grammatical comments. Instead, you’re looking for a writing partner (or group) who is friendly, dispassionate about your success, and confident enough to be genuinely helpful; who sees the big picture, understands your goals, and can steer you in a more productive direction. Preferably, find someone who knows what you’re going through.

Ask for exactly what you need and what you are NOT looking for, too.

Break the Original

You’re not going to like this, but the awful truth is you can’t really go back and make something that wasn’t working, work. You are going to have to take it apart and put it back together or get rid of entire chunks altogether.

Best case scenario: your writing needs mere rearranging, like living room furniture. Hopefully, all you need to do is move clumps of text in a different order; maybe add some paragraphs to help with transitions or clarification.

Most likely, though, you’ll need to rewrite.

New Style: You may try different styles of writing to get you over your hump. Adapt your project for a different form or genre, like a poem or a short story. I’m not saying you should spend too much time doing this, but a simple interview format or descriptive essay might jog the idea you’re looking for.

New Perspective: You could also rewrite the piece from a different perspective, i.e. in the voice of a beginner, or someone outside your industry, or even a creature from another planet! Ask yourself the questions they would ask and answer them one at a time. Get outside yourself and your opinions.

New Size: Perhaps you can break your original idea into smaller parts. A sprawling project may be more easily contained if you extract one detail and work on that instead of roping an entire herd of ideas together. A painter or photographer often uses an actual frame to “see” a scene, a landscape, or a still life better. Narrowing the boundaries allows him to envision it in context, the way it will appear in the final dimensions within which he normally creates.

Nothing is ever wasted.

Once you decide your work is valuable, or at least the idea you started with is worthy of more effort, don’t lose heart. Yes, you may have to kiss goodbye to a large part of your text or manuscript, but hopefully you’ll have a more focused approach the next go round. Maybe you will eventually decide the project isn’t worth the extra work, but at least you won’t recreate the same disaster.

This is your job as a writer, identifying a story that’s worth telling and eventually finding your way out of the dark, mysterious woods. No one said it was easy. The process can be frustrating, but it’s up to you to sort it out.

Once you do, take a breath, and go back and try again. Any writing worth reading is worth the work you invest.

Five Reasons Your Article Doesn’t Work, And How To Fix It

November 16, 2015 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

Can you write your way out of a lost cause?

How long do you stay stuck before abandoning your work?

Many writers or content creators ask themselves these questions sooner or later. Do you try to salvage a project gone bad? Or should you drop it and work on something “more productive?”

Picture this: you start writing something, an ebook, a blog post, or story. You believe you have a great idea. You dive in, maybe even devote a week or two to the project before it begins to dawn on you… It’s not working.

Very soon, the curtain of gloom falls over the whole thing. You start thinking, “This is never going to work.”

Then self doubt sets in. You begin to wonder what made you think it was a good idea in the first place…

You can’t get the thing to stick together. No matter how many angles you approach it from, it just won’t gel! You even have an outline or a mind map guiding your creative process, but when you put the words down, it falls short. Either it feels hollow, like something’s missing; or your draft is uncontrolled, as if you have a tiger by the tail.

The Problem: Three Common Reasons Writers Want to Quit

Where did the love go? Let me count the ways. These are the most common situations in which I second-guess the quality of my article, and my ability and desire to finish it. Can you relate to any of these?

You decided the project wasn’t needed anymore. You started researching, and discovered that the topic had been covered thoroughly. You can’t see the value in adding your voice to the lexicon of knowledge already out there, and you lost confidence in your ability to add newness or charisma to the subject. Maybe you realize the project is similar to another completed piece of content you already have. Why bother?

You got totally embroiled in it. At the onset, you believed it was an interesting topic you could write about, but then discovered it was a little too personally demanding. Your involvement pulled your life off course, as if you had embarked on a journey that was too long and required more commitment than you were able to give. Maybe your topic was too large; you had trouble breaking it down into do-able chunks, and couldn’t see the finished project in a completed form. No amount of editing could streamline this hot mess. It simply got away from you and you’re ready to cut the cord.

You had a fast start but you lost interest. You’re so bored, you can’t even stand to work on the project. You wonder how you can expect your readers and viewers or listeners to stay with you. Your distaste for the project rears up every time you sit down to your computer. Bleh.

The terrible truth: You’ve already invested a ton of time…

If only it were easier to walk away! The thing that always gets me when I’m feeling any of the above, is the time I’ve invested. Even when you know a blog post (or a scene, or ebook, or an entire chapter of a book) is a lost cause, it’s natural to want to save at least some of your hard work. The words “Kill your darlings!” chants loudly in your mind, but dang, it’s difficult!

Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Throwing In the Towel

What you may want to ask is “Should I cut my losses now and start something new, or am I just quitting?” Neither of those extremes is usually the reality, and neither of those questions is productive! Don’t go there yet.

Before you delete the whole shebang and walk away, or file it under “Ideas” somewhere deep on your hard drive, you need to get some perspective. Here’s my thought process when I get lost in the woods with my writing. Instead of feeling like a loser, and cowering to that voice saying you were never meant to write anything more involved than a grocery list, you need to ask yourself a few specific and constructive questions about your project. (Key word is “constructive!”)

Most of all, beware self sabotage that comes from a) abandoning a perfectly good concept before it’s complete, or b) wasting any more time on a pice of content that’s doomed to fail if you’re not objective.

Putting these ideas down on paper helped me get my arms around what feels like a desperate situation when I’m in it. I ask myself these five questions when I’m stuck in the muck. Maybe they will help you, too.

1. First, ask yourself if the “Good Idea” was legitimately good.

What was it at the outset that made you think so, and what changed?
What was the purpose of the piece in the first place?
Was it a problem you identified that needed solving?
Was it a story you wanted to share about an experience you had, or that your company or customers had?
Was it an enlightening or heartwarming tale, or groundbreaking expose?
What was it about the project that had you excited about it when you started?
Do you still believe in these kernels of inspiration?

Get back to that place where it all began and ask yourself if you still feel it.

2. Whom does it serve? You, or your readers?

Has this ever happened to you? You want to solve a problem, so you assume it’s a problem others need solving, too. (I’d say about half of my good ideas start from problems I’m having in business or in life.) The investigator in you wants to get to the bottom of the issue, so you dig in to find the answers. This, you think, is something you should write about. As long as you’re discovering the truth about fill-in-the-blank, you will share the wealth of information with your readers.

Not so fast! If a topic has easy answers, then you may not be adding to the common good by writing about it. Instead of writing, perhaps you should simply read about it, take stock of the solutions for your own personal use, and then get back to the business of adding value for your readers and clients. Regurgitating information from dozens of well-read articles doesn’t help anyone. There’s no harm in linking to these articles, however, as you write content that includes your personal viewpoint on the issue.

Also, save the more introspective pieces for your journal, or at least until you have enough distance to provide wisdom and perspective. To write about problems too soon just takes you swirling down to that icky place. You need to resolve certain issues before you can be any help to someone else. You’re probably not ready for publication when your feelings are too raw, or if you are currently in the heat of the battle.

3. Do you know enough about the topic to write about it?

If you answer NO to this question, don’t worry, it’s not a deal breaker. Sometimes the best articles come about because you’re curious about a subject and decide to learn about it. (See above.) The question that matters is, are you willing to do the research?

Furthermore, how does your knowledge or interest affect the tone you want to convey? If you know a lot about a subject firsthand, you can write without doing much research. It comes from the heart, like this article did for me, in fact. Sure, you might have to find supporting articles to link to, but the original idea rolls out easily for you.

But if you need to go looking for answers from other experts, then you’re in for a double whammy. Not only must you find resources, but make sense of them, and compile facts and ideas into a cohesive piece of writing. It takes more work and time, but I’ve found so often it’s worth it. If you’re naturally curious by nature, as most writers are, it’s a good fit.

Other times, when you find you’re having trouble writing about something, you need to assess whether your curiosity is enough to keep the fire lit until the very last word. When a project isn’t working, it could be because you just don’t know or care enough about it. Sad but true.

4. Does it fit with your goals?

You get to choose what to write about! That’s the good news. Assuming that you’re not freelancing for businesses and industries you hate; or only writing on assignment for a job, then you do have some leeway on your topics. If you’re writing for your own business or pleasure, or if you’re involved in the content editorial process in any way, then you definitely need to evaluate the purpose of your content piece before you start writing. Your time and resources are an investment, so spend them wisely!

Every business owner has pet projects they want to finish, but the content you are creating for your own business really needs to achieve some end. Either it must draw new readers; teach or entertain your current readers; or it must move your business forward in some way. If your work does none of the above, and you begin to sense that it’s wasting your time, then you’ll find it difficult to stick with it when the going gets rough.

You want to see that your work meets your goals, either professionally or personally. If not, then it’s easy to become resentful of the time and effort it’s taking to finish it.

You’re far more likely to abandon work if you can’t see the point of it. Now that I’m working on a novel (my first attempt after decades of writing nonfiction), I ask myself all the time if the scene helps a character achieve his or her goals or if it has any purpose to move the story forward.

This is the question every business blogger or content creator should ask, too.

In a business, each piece of content should have a distinct purpose. Does this ebook or blog post further your business goals? Does it contribute to the “plot,” or story of your business in any way? If the answer is no, you should probably ditch it. If yes, then find the first thing about it that has meaning. You might even write that down and keep it front and center while you’re writing.

What is the end goal? Don’t lose sight of it. If you have to put a sticky note at the top of your screen to remember it, then do that. Some examples of content goals you might write:

This article, (Title), will attract the ideal client to my website because it solves this initial problem and helps them see that I am the obvious solution to their woes. An appended web form will invite them to learn more.
This ebook will convince a reader that my method of doing (whatever you do) is clearly the way to be successful. They will naturally want to attend my next class or read my next book, and these links will be included in the ebook.

A content calendar or roadmap clarifies topic ideas. If you’re stuck, your mind should be clear on one overarching thing … the health and growth of your business. Every choice you make, including how you spend your writing time, contributes or detracts from your success. If your writing time is wasted, then your business is probably not going to do very well.

When you stumble, stop and ask yourself, if I had to feed this baby (this blog, this business, my readers) one more day to keep it alive and help it thrive, what one thing would I do, write, or post? What is the goal?

Is your article time sensitive? — Hands hold clock with gears. Blue background

5. Is your project time sensitive?

Time is the great equalizer; everyone is working with the same 24 hours. When you’re stressed about time constraints, your heart palpitates every time you look over the cliff of your failing project. Ask yourself these questions to help you decide whether to continue working on that difficult project. Trendy topics can be the most interesting to your readers, so add some weight to your consideration if the content is trending. (In other words, don’t miss out on a hot topic!) If you’ve already put in some good energy on a topic people are currently talking and reading about, then consider giving that last push to the finish.

Ask yourself:

Are you on a deadline?
Is someone else depending on you to finish?
Does completion of this project impede the progress of the next one?
Does your project cover a topic that is trending now, or does it have sticking power for the long term?

Shoot your sights far ahead of where you are today, this week or this month. If you can let the project simmer, even for a few sleeps, then do so!

But if you are on a deadline, or if the topic has a definite shelf life, then you have a decision to make; whether it is better to start over, or if you can work with any original kernels of greatness and restart your engine.

Sometimes you don’t have a choice but to pour it on. It’s the old college effort… just write something you can turn in.

Ok, so your content idea may not seem to be working now. Step back and ask yourself these five questions I shared with you, and don’t lose hope… That great idea you were so gung ho to work on, may only need some tweaking.

The next blog post addresses how to mentally regroup and rewrite your content – if necessary. It’s all part of the content writing process. Don’t give up!

Ever notice how some people always seem to crank out interesting content that appeals to their readers and customers? If you want to write content more easily, head over to the Content Quiz and find out how you can streamline the whole content creation thing. Click the image below to get started.

take the content quiz — Take the content quiz, where bloggers and solopreneurs get insight into their content strategy.

The Squeeze Page: The Difference Between Direct Response And Content-Rich Copy

November 7, 2013 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

A little fun in the field this week. I’ve been playing with an ad campaign for a squeeze page and thought I’d share what I’m doing. A friend and client asked for help on an ad to place in a large national website’s “classified ads” page. Here’s how we’re breaking it down.

Before you write the ad, you need the squeeze page the ad will lead to. A squeeze page is a page made for the purpose of collecting email addresses. In a pure squeeze page you don’t have any other way out (except for the web form where the reader opts in to a list, or the back button in the browser. So the viewer is literally “squeezed” into making a decision. Yes: opt in, or No: close the window or go back where they came from.

I usually write either of two kinds of squeeze page (if possible, I like to test both):

1. Content-rich, written with an open loop.

2. Copy-intense: more persuasive, direct response style writing.

In the first case, I write content, an article on a subject that will make the reader want to learn more.

You can do the same thing by writing an article or making a video explaining something of interest or solving an immediate problem for the reader. But you must keep an open loop. You mustn’t exhaust the subject. That’s very important. You always have to leave something out, something important but that you obviously didn’t get around to talking about. It’s the next part of the subject that needs to be discussed. Maybe you only provide a partial list of possible solutions and then you ask the reader to opt in for a free report that covers the rest of them. For example, “How to command your audience’s attention within 10 seconds of your speech.” Once you tell how, then you offer to show them how to keep their audience’s attention through the rest of the talk. Your reader sees you as an expert on the subject and will (hopefully) opt in to get the rest of your speaking tips.

Another way to use content is to lead the reader to another problem. For instance, now that you have this short term problem taken care of, you’re going to run into this other issue very soon. Again, you are telling your reader, “We’re not quite finished with this. I’d love to tell you more, but this article is getting a little long. Opt in for the rest of the story.” For example, the content of the article could be on finding a good physical therapist who can work with your arthritis. But now you’e going to need to find a way to fit the PT into your schedule. So the free opt in might be “How to fit PT into your work schedule and still stay productive” or “How to warm your boss to the idea you’re taking time off work to go to physical therapy.”

Still another way to use content on a squeeze page would be to cover one subject and then tell the reader there are other complementary topics she might enjoy. Let’s say your article is on “The ten steps leading to a great webinar.” At the end of the article, you would add, “If you enjoyed this article, get “Ten resources for webinar success,” or “Get 30% more leads from your webinar.” Based on the knowledge you just shared about the prep-work for a webinar — hinting at all the benefits of hold a successful one — your reader would opt in for more information from you on the subject.

There are so many ways to use content creatively to entice interest and build your list. You can probably think of many more, once you get started applying these ideas to your own industry.

The second way to encourage someone to opt in is more of a copywriting, direct response-style option.

In this case, you’d include copywriting elements that encourage the reader to take action using testimonials, social proof, security, survival, authority, scarcity, or any of the other powerful influencers on human psyche.

This style works best with a strong voice of authority, or a personal story the author tells about his or her own offer. You can cover a lot of ground this way, and really bring the reader into your mission, your community or tribe. Information providers apply this style of copywriting well because through it, they can be warmly and personally persuasive.

You can write a longer page, or, using bullet points and a short summary of the benefits, keep the page clean and clutter-free. Either style results in the invitation to download or register for the free gift, your opt in offer.

Now for the ad directing the reader to the squeeze page:

The next step is to create a short ad leading someone to the page. For an average PPC ad, let’s just assume you are limited to about the length of a tweet, 140 characters, give or take. A typical Classified ad, Facebook ad, Google Ad or Tweet all have about the same restrictions.

For the first, content-heavy article style of squeeze page, it works best to describe the content of the squeeze page directly.

The opt in at the end actually comes as a surprise benefit of reading the article all the way through. Your reader isn’t really surprised, but if the content is good, entertaining, relevant, and helpful, the reader will probably play along and opt in. This is why it’s important to include compelling content writing with some flair and promise…not just some soulless, dry article. You are laying the groundwork for a small decision to be made. People don’t say “yes or no” to a faceless, boring string of words. People say it to a person, and they say it to themselves. Make sure your content is infused with personality.

So let’s use the example of the webinar: If the article in the content rich squeeze page was “The ten steps leading to a great webinar,” you would reveal the outcome of the squeeze page. “Planning your best webinar yet: how to prepare an event that goes without a hitch.” Or something like “What do all good webinars have in common? What the Pros know about planning for the big event.” Or simply, “Ten steps for hosting your own lead-generating, profitable webinar.”

In the case of the direct response style squeeze page, where the opt in is the actually to download the free report “The ten steps leading to a great webinar,” you would go a different route.

In this case, the opt in is the content. It is the promise you are asking the reader to trust you to provide, if they give you their email address. So you need to go at this from a different angle. Your ad should not promise the “ten steps” directly, but point the reader to an honest discussion about the benefits of holding webinars in general. Like “Why you need to plan a webinar that rocks their client’s world,” “The benefits of an awesome webinar” or “How lead-generating webinars help your grow your network and boost your industry clout.” Then when your reader clicks on the ad and arrives on the page, your copy does the rest. The only obvious action is to find out how to hold a great webinar yourself.

Breaking down the ad and the squeeze page into a natural sequence of events will improve the chance that your reader will opt in. If you’re not sure if that connection is naturally received by a reader, please get an unbiased friend or colleague to walk through the sequence and give you their opinion.

Of course I’m happy to have a look, too. Fresh eyes on your content and copy will help you hone your message and touch the hearts of your best future clients.

Writing Articles: The Clear, Organizational Benefits Of Paper

September 17, 2012 by jennifer mcgahan Leave a Comment

As you write articles, there’s just something about paper that helps you solidify concepts better than a computer monitor.

Paper and pencil are every writer’s first love. During editing, these common writing tools to help your mind process what you write.

I’ll show you exactly how to go “old school” in writing articles in just a minute…

I found a website that sings the praises of paper for retention and concentration, among other critical safety and security issues. I agree that printed words on real tangible paper are easier for me to grasp and absorb than on a brightly lit screen. As businesses, schools and publishing speed toward digital information, the importance of paper is not exactly a cause celebre; most people hardly notice or lament paper’s quiet demotion.

But a return to pen and paper can help you write and edit articles, books, reports. Seeing words on paper allows you to parse and absorb information in a more thoughtful, thorough and calm manner.

I’m in the midst of writing a short eBook that is significantly longer than a typical blog post or email. In order to hone to my concepts, expand and sharpen them, I’ve resorted to an article writing process I haven’t used in awhile.

Since the topic covers more ground than usual, I had to roll out a slightly different method for editing. It works for any article length, so I’m sharing it with you today.

Step #1 is writing without editing yourself. When thoughts are coming fast and furious, the “need for speed” requires typing. In spite of all the typos and sometimes-unintelligible stream of consciousness, the keyboard allows you to get it all down before you face the editing process.

Some writers teach how to write without those voices in your head shouting you down. I won’t go into it here, but I will give you two good resources if you are a new writer daunted by your task:

Daphne Gray Grant, the “Publication Coach,” is an excellent writer who uses mind mapping to create her “outline.” I’ve tried this; it works very well for organizing all your floating ideas and their tangents. She also shares startlingly practical tips for focusing and overcoming writer’s block.

Jeff Goins is another favorite because he gets to the nitty gritty of why you should write at all (“You are a Writer”) and boosts your fortitude to stick with it. Not specifically aimed at copywriters per se, these writers’ tips and blogs are worth your time to read…I do.

The “Cut, Scratch, Tape Method” of article writing

The best way to get started writing your article is to reduce the likelihood of distractions. Close all your other computer applications, set a timer for 10 or 20 minutes, then GO.

When you’ve poured out all your ideas, print it. You don’t even need to worry about grammar or spelling at this point because all you’re doing is laying out ideas. You’re building structure out of large written “chunks.” You’ll neaten it up later.

Here’s where paper serves a very satisfying and tactile purpose for article writing. When you can literally see your ideas in black and white it’s easier to group themes and ideas into a logical order. All you need is a bunch of different colored pencils or highlighters.

When you find a chunk of an idea that would make better sense in a different context, mark the spot. With a red pen, write “#1” in the margin just before the end of the paragraph the inserted section will follow. Then go to the paragraph(s) you want to insert and mark it “#1” in the same red pen toward the top of the paragraph in the margin. (I like to put boxes around sections, too.) Continue doing this, each time switching colors until you’ve parsed the entire article.

You’re going to be cutting the paper between sections, so make sure you don’t make notes in between possible cut lines (between paragraphs).

Next, go ahead and cut it up. Use your colored margin notes to remind you where each paragraph goes.

Then tape it together into one long manuscript.

Now go back to your word processor and make the edits to your document while scrolling through your rolled up article. There’s something very old school clerk-ish about this activity that is immensely satisfying to me. I suspect it’s the never-ending page that enchants. The entire flow of the article comes together right before my eyes. It starts to make sense. Ahh, clarity.

Of course now there’s a new round of editing to do. Double space this new version and print it out.

The reason for the double spacing is to allow for more edits. You may want to insert sentences here and there, delete or replace phrases or questions and comments you’ll address in the second draft. The double spaces make this easy to do. A single spaced document is difficult to edit because there’s no room for notes.

Rinse and repeat. You may have to do the written edits several times, but your layout should be about settled. You may find you need to cut and tape sequential drafts again, but probably not nearly as much as your first draft.

This article writing technique may even encourage you to come up with new articles and blog posts. Editing is a brutal process requiring you to butcher entire sections and pages that were in the original draft. The good news is you don’t have to discard your edits. You can rework them into new articles or create a series of articles that cover a broad topic. Coming up with new content for your email or blog is easy if you save and rewrite your written scraps.

Go ahead and justify your use of extra paper. It’s not a waste. You are a craftsperson and paper is simply one of your tools. Use it well.

Credit: The retro image of the kid reading the comic book was pulled from an interesting website called Paperbecause.com.

Sept 2013 update: The book I was working on as I wrote this post was published Nov. 2012. Pick up the eBook Find Your Ideal Clients: The Secret to Irresistible Free Opt In Offers over on Amazon.