“Start writing, no matter what. The water does
not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
– Louis L’Amour
TODAY’S TOPIC IS… BODY WORK
“Just sit down and write? Write WHAT?”
Here’s why this feels so hard… this is the first time you’ve really had to walk through the parts of a project that’s only been explained to you. Doing is when the learning occurs — we need the bodily memory of our muscles moving (and neurons firing) to actually have the skill
What we think planning time for a project is:
- 100% writing (1 hour)
What planning time for a project really is:
- 25% research, interviews, and reading (2.5 hours)
- 50% writing and outlining (5 hours)
- 25% editing and style (2.5 hours)
The only thing we can actually do together is brainstorm things that will help it go faster and feel more natural when you do the hard part yourself, and that’s what I have to share today:
- 1 – Habits to help you get in the mood to write
- 2 – Turning an Outline into a T-F-D
- 3 – Turning T-F-D into a polished draft
HABITS TO HELP YOU GET IN THE MOOD TO WRITE
Create a ritual for your writing
Time, place, music, food, smells — all of these can be triggers that all your brain to get to its writing place more easily
- Cal Newport Deep Questions Podcast
- James Clear Atomic Habits for more about behavior triggers
- Flow state, “Flow” the book
- Long pomodoro: 50-20-50 (2 hours)
- Short pomodoro: 25-10-25 (1 hour)
- For me: Recliner, coffee,
chocolate bar, Brain.FM or my playlist of “Albums for working”
Flip a switch to turn off your “editor” brain
As much as you can, TRY to write a bad draft. If you don’t accept and embrace that the draft will be bad, you’ll hate every word as you think of it and self-edit as you go — ultimately stunting your ability to write. Get it out on the page — get the water flowing out of the faucet — expel the bad stuff so the good stuff can rise, typos and all.
“You cannot edit a blank page.” – Jodi Piccoult
Break the process into phases
Outlines are not just about structure — they also let you get it out on the page in stages so that you don’t feel so overwhelmed at once. Instead of “Write this paper!” it’s…
“Spend 30 minutes adding links to the outline,” then “Spend 30 minutes turning it into full sentences,” etc.
The final stage is to pull it into a draft, then let it rest overnight. Then pull it into a final draft, etc. It’s more like baking a cake, preparing an orchestra for a performance, etc. than “being a writer”
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My process for literally everything (1-6 weeks per piece):
- Create the doc with my preferred headers and font
- Capture all my kick off notes in one place
- Insert the outline format
- Brainstorm 2-3 titles to warm up
- Jot down notes in the intro and conclusion to get a sense of where I am going
- Break the idea into 3-5 sections for the outline body
- Fill out the outline body with notes and stats and links
- Whichever section feels less threatening, turn it into full sentences
- Pull everything into a full draft and assess line breaks and spacing
- Let sit overnight
- Do a final read-through and send to client
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TURNING AN OUTLINE INTO A T-F-D (Terrrrrrrruhble first draft)
Going from outline to written copy is the part of the process that stretches your brain and requires more creativity. Until now, you’ve been looking for facts and populating them into a logical order. Now, you’ll need to pull those facts apart at the seams and sew them to other facts. Now is the art, so here’s how to start:
Elongate the points in your outline and add transitions
Create full sentences and connect ideas to each other in a logical flow. One sentence should lead someone to the next sentence, not repeat information.
And I mean literally… elongate the points IN your outline.
I will often write the first draft IN the outline. Like, literally expanding the outline. That lets me work in sections and keep all the ideas in a clear order or flow. Otherwise you end up having the outline on a lower page, and you’re writing the introduction by looking back and forth.
The real purpose of outlines
The outline function within word processor whos an hierarchy of ideas. Use indentation to show the relationship between ideas so that you can pick and choose how the puzzle pieces fit together.
| WITHOUT HIERARCHYDifficulties in using it: a) patients’ difficulties: Access to data devices…lack of understanding…too complicated…older adults don’t want to share their info in the cloud…device doesn’t work with their computer, no way to send to client (b) client difficulties:Interfaces don’t play well with different systemsPhysicians don’t want to enter data while they talk to patients (?) (is that true?)(could be) Physician resistance might be a key component here. ____________________________________ WITH HIERARCHYThere are many difficulties in using this tool. patients’ difficulties: Access to data devices…lack of understanding…too complicated…older adults don’t want to share their info in the cloud…device doesn’t work with their computer, no way to send to client(b) client difficulties:Interfaces don’t play well with different systemsPhysicians don’t want to enter data while they talk to patients (?) (is that true?)(could be) Physician resistance might be a key component here. |
EXAMPLE OF OUTLINE IN THE MIDST OF BEING FILLED OUT:
Reason No. 3: Institutions need to give students support in the cloud-based, digital environment they need to thrive Across generations, today’s student body is digital and in the cloud.This means that students need access to writing support on their schedule.They don’t always have the option to go to office hours at a certain time, so flexible, cloud based tools are really helpful.That’s where Grammarly features can help students do amazing things on their own schedules. New line Finish this!New line (Find data for this!)[Image] Writing support before and afterBefore – show up at writing lab // After – Log in and work on what you need to work on 4. Coach students to successfully WRITING to with peers and supervisors/managersShare concerns from research about “text speak” with peers and inappropriate communication with managers/supervisorsShare a framework for speaking about this[Image] Writing support before and afterBefore – I speak as myself // After – I write for my audience |
Bring in quotes
Use quotes to add flavor, nuance, or drama to the facts and figures you’ve spoken about, not to repeat yourself.
The answer is A:
“A is the answer, I think,” said Sarah, “Most definitely.” ➡️ “When businesses realize the answer is A, amazing things happen,” said Sarah. “Our clients have seen as much as a 240% increase in sales with that answer in mind.”
10-15% or less of a piece should come from quotes (otherwise it turns into an interview) (J-School with Carol Tice)
Unattributed:
- Sarah explains that amazing things have happened when businesses realize the answer is A.
- “Clients report seeing as much as 240% increase in sales with that answer in mind,” said Sarah.
Typically I avoid quotes in the conclusion, but about 1 in 4 times it can be a very satisfying and fun way to end a piece.
What I’m looking for in a good quote:
- Rich language, strong verbs, descriptive nouns
- Specific examples or descriptions
- Who, Where, What, When, Why
- Reinforce the theme or the idea I’m trying to get across
Look for opportunities to turn text into visuals (white papers and case studies)
- Text Callouts – Highlight or repeat interesting point
- Quote Callouts – Highlight a SME or contributor’s quote
- Data Callouts – Highlight or repeat interesting data
These all combine to break up the reading and make it more visually interesting. It also helps with reading comprehension to have a break that reinforces the topic.
Examples: Take facts and figures (one liners), add quotes that got cut, pull existing graphics or infographics and source it and re-create it.
More ideas:
Using color highlighting to track the different parts of the outline in your draft
SAMPLE WHITE PAPER:
| Text Callouts | Body Copy |
Text Callout15% of you are great | Quite literally. Print it out and read it out loud to yourself. You’ll find a lot of ways to streamline and make it easier to read. Quite literally. Print it out and read it out loud to yourself. You’ll find a lot of ways to streamline and make it easier to read. Quite literally. Print it out and read it out loud to yourself. You’ll find a lot of ways to streamline and make it easier to read.Quite literally. Print it out and read it out loud to yourself. You’ll find a lot of ways to streamline and make it easier to read. Quite literally. Print it out and read it out loud to yourself. You’ll find a lot of ways to streamline and make it easier to read. |
TURNING A T-F-D INTO A POLISHED DRAFT
Once those basic connections are in place, we can return to the outline and pull it out of outline formatting and into long-form formatting. This is where you get to unleash the nerd inside that’s been waiting to make it beautiful. The nerd inside who wants to include puns and deep references and flourishes. You’ll still need to body block that nerd, but they can come to the table a little more now.
Read it to yourself
Quite literally. Print it out and read it out loud to yourself. You’ll find a lot of ways to streamline and make it easier to read. It’s actually kind of cool — because of the way our storytelling abilities developed over time, your ear can pick up on more complicated language structures than your eyes can. It hears things you can’t necessarily read, so it alerts you to problems in comprehension. It’s magic✨ Read Out Loud feature on PDF or Word Doc or have someone else read it to you – record yourself reading it and listen back the next day.
Look at sentence structure, sentence length, and paragraph length
Ctrl+ F conjunctions like “And,” “but,” and “however” to find sentences that are too long
You also want to scan for paragraphs and quotes that are too long. If this sounds too superficial, remember that structure forms meaning. It can be the BEST paragraph in the world… but if someone’s reading it at work online, they’re going to start skimming once they get 2-3 lines in. It’s just human nature. A book in a cozy chair at home on the weekend is a completely different environment.
Double check the introduction and conclusion
Did you say what you said you’d do? Could someone be convinced? Did you not repeat yourself too much? Final logic check to make sure it’s not a “horse by committee”
All of these tips, tricks, patterns seem really overkill but that’s why this is high-paying work — we touch it and mold it into this truly spectacular, meaningful finished product. That’s why the work can be worth $5000 for one assignment.