There’s been a lot of talk about accountability on All Freelance Writing recently, and that’s important to any aspect of the freelance writing business. I’m bringing you a post today about something very basic, but in that, integral to a freelance writer, and I want you to think about accountability as you read this.
I recently fired a mentee. I said that, until he would invest real time and work in their business, he wouldn’t be receiving my help. I wanted him to be accountable in the way I’m sharing the writing process today, among other things I wanted from him…but the point in mentioning him is saying that I had to stress this again and again:
“Amateur writers are the ones that simply pop off a draft and send it to a client. Professionals organize their work, rewrite for their best work, and proofread for errors.”
Even small, simple projects require at least some outlining and proofreading…it will only take a few more minutes and you’ll be sending a more professional piece of work in, rather than something sloppy. Yes, as professionals, we can “get away” with rushing some things or taking a few short cuts, but if we held ourselves accountable, would we? I think that when someone pays you to perform the core competencies of your business for them, you should provide your best work possible. After all, you should be asking for fair compensation for your work, so how about doing the work you’re being paid for!
Okay, here endeth my rant. Here beginneth the organized writing process post…
The writing process is five steps: prewriting, research, outlining, drafting, and editing. In The Freelance Writer’s Guide to Project Management, I mentioned having contextual to-do lists for these actions. To maintain my writing process workflow, I use folders with each of these contexts labeled and move the project documents from one folder to the next. Because I work with paper, I have a final folder called Data Entry, but as you could easily use this workflow on a computer, you could simply have an Email or WordPress or similar folder for publishing / sending your work to publishing.
However you decide to organize your writing process workflow, you need to have tools to maintain said organization and to keep you productive. I’ll be walking through each of the five steps with you, and providing some free .pdf documents for reference in creating your own or for printing and using.
1. Prewriting
Prewriting includes mindmapping, drawing correlations, and finding informational needs of a market and developing one or more ideas to publish in that market. During the prewriting process, you’ll need to organize ideas so that you can develop an idea to research, write, and edit.
This often involves a great deal of asking questions, reading around, and sketching and scribbling across paper. The best tool to keep this all organized is an idea inventory. I’ve created an idea inventory index and an idea inventory detail page .pdf so that you can print them out and organize your ideas. You may want to use them as a guide to creating a notebook or digital files to organize your ideas.
Tip: In the table column of the idea inventory index that asks if the idea is active or archived, write an “A” for active when you’re working on the idea and haven’t developed a piece from it. When it is completed, write an “r” so that you have “Ar” for archived.
Freebies:
- Idea Inventory Checklist
- Idea Inventory Detail Page
2. Research
All research for freelance writing projects comes from three sources: other written material, observation / surveys / experiments, and your preexisting knowledge and experience. I use a research plan template to figure out exactly what questions I’m seeking the answers to in order to complete a writing project. The classic reporter’s questions / 5 W’s and H serve as a good guide for what you’ll need to research and learn about a topic. Determine what the question would be for each of these topics, such as the “how” question for an article could be “how can Web writers use a keyword density tool to keep from keyword stuffing an article?”and so on. I also add spaces for follow-up questions to those questions, such as “how can you tell you’re article is keyword stuffed?” for that sample question.
I find working with a research plan template helps me to discover all the questions that need to be asked to fully write a draft. After compiling the questions I search for references and take notes from what I already know, numbering each question with a small, circled number above it on my research plan and answering it and adding the corresponding number to my notes.
Tip: Also ask the question, “What’s the point?” to be sure that you’re developing an idea that matters to editors, publishers, clients, and readers. If you can’t answer that question, there’s no reason to work with what you have. Revisit your idea and your questions to be sure you’re looking for something worth finding.
Freebies:
- Research Plan Template
3. Outline
Outlines: best friends to some writers, bane of their existence for others. All an outline needs to do is organize the information you have into something that can become a cohesive draft. Whether you love or love to hate outlines, using my outline template you can quickly and efficiently organize your piece.
Tip: Write notes for your introduction and conclusion last, after you’ve determined the body content of the article, and only touch on important points. Introductions and conclusions are something that will need to be polished throughout the drafting and editing process.
Freebies:
- Outline Template
4. Draft
I like to write one draft, after doing steps one through three, without referring to any of the notes and research and outlining. I like to see what kind of writing will come from this first draft, and it frees me up to get the best turns-of-phrase and unique ideas into a project I know I will organize more thoroughly later.
If you don’t have time to do this, however, simply begin writing from the top of your outline to your bottom. This means writing the introduction and the conclusion last. Which one of those you do first is up to you, but I think writing the introduction immediately upon finishing a draft can add immediate pertinence to the introduction, and writing the conclusion as the very last item in drafting leads to the most cohesive conclusions.
Tip: Unless the project is especially large, try to complete a first draft in a single sitting. If you complete the more extemporaneous first draft I suggest, do write it one sitting to capture the freshest ideas within your mind. If you only do the follow-the-outline draft, try to do it as well to get the most coherent depiction of the ideas in your outline.
5. Edit
The editing stage of the writing process involves rewriting and proofreading. Initially, your editing should focus on the big picture-how well you stuck to your outline. After you’ve gone through this initial phase, look at your writing more in pieces: first a full walk through of the paragraphs, and then of sentences. The do a proofreading to check for spelling errors and grammatical inconsistencies that remain in your work.
Tip: Try to create some space between a draft and editing by waiting-whether it be thirty minutes or three days, and between the stages of editing, so that you’ll have fresher eyes to focus on the material. Being too close to your rough draft could compromise your ability to see errors.
Here’s my spin on the writing process. I hope I’ve given you some tools to make this process more organized, and that I’ve not gone too basic this month in the topic.
Tell me more about your writing process, and how you keep it organized.
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I hate to do it, but I’m going to disagree.
“Amateur writers are the ones that simply pop off a draft and send it to a client. Professionals organize their work, rewrite for their best work, and proofread for errors.”
This statement is not something I agree with. Professional writing is not a black or white activity. There are some types of writing that do require outlines and research, and there are some that don’t–primarily, at least in my experience, in the blogging world. There are certain blogs that I write for that need that quick, spur of the moment spark. That popped off draft of juicy goodness. But then, I’ve also had to meet last minute newspaper deadlines that have required off-the-cuff work.
An amateur is someone who doesn’t get paid–a pro is someone who does. It’s not the process that makes someone a pro–it’s payment and retention. Pros remain pros because they keep their clients and there is no single formula for that.
@Yo, Because of my nature to organize, I find myself outlining everything I write. However, that doesn’t mean I need to use a formal template every time. I know you say it is a “spur of the moment” activity at times, but do you literally begin the work with no though as to where the blog post might go? Do you really not proofread? Not even a teensy bit?
Obviously, some jobs are smaller than others, but I find myself doing a little “research” as in reading the material of others to keep myself from getting stale. I’m not suggesting that I’m rewriting their work, but rather that I look for that most unique idea, which usually means exhausting a lot of other ones and seeing where they lead me.
The draft that I mentioned in the drafting step, the first one I like to do without using my planning materials, that one can be done in lieu of the planning, I’d say, if you need that extemporaneous feel. I understand that.
I’m not trying to invalidate the statement of my blog post or pander to you because you disagreed with me, because I still believe in planning to some degree in most all instances, but I will say that I definitely see where you’re coming from. I just think that giving clients my best work means keeping it organized and giving them something worth their money. To me, that means keeping it organized with a process.
I began to outline my fiction and non-fiction books. I may outline an article if it’s an in depth piece. I’ve been writing and researching forever because I decided to continue my education; I have three degrees. Writing and researching is a “no brainer” for me. Every writer is different.
I agree with “the classic reporter’s questions / 5 W’s and H serve as a good guide for what you’ll need to research and learn about a topic.” Applying this technique will help you create a brilliant piece.
@Jessie, with the exception of proofreading, I really do write certain posts with no planning. Often, I don’t even know what I’m going to write about when I sit down to write them. My beef was with the inflexibility of your quote:
“Amateur writers are the ones that simply pop off a draft and send it to a client. Professionals organize their work, rewrite for their best work, and proofread for errors.”
You can obviously hold whatever view you want and organize your work however you want, but when you’re mentoring you have to be careful not to crush someone’s artistic process in favor of your own. Naturally you want to encourage them to give their best work, but I don’t think you should tell them the black and white way in which that is done–because there isn’t just one way. I think you know that, but it doesn’t seem to come out in this quote.
I also don’t plan most of the articles I write. When you’re writing from experience, you chose the topic in the first place, and you already know what you want to write, there’s no need. You write it, and then you clean it up to make sure it works. That’s not to say others shouldn’t. That’s just how some people write. For very long pieces I might indeed outline. For e-books, books, and a sitewide copywriting project I definitely do. I love outlining and planning, but if I outlined everything I wrote first, I’d never have time left to actually write. :)
@Rebecca, formally outlining larger projects can be helpful, but I tend to do something that takes a 30 sec scribble or less for small projects, like blog posts.
@Yolander, Now I see that I totally missed your point. I can see how rigid that does look now. Surely, an actual professional versus amateur difference is that the professional gets paid. In the situation I was dealing with, I had an overanxious mentee that could only think about money and didn’t want to market or do any of their own writing…they just wanted to outsource everything. I personally don’t outsource my work for a reason many others don’t-I’m marketing my brand-and this particular mentee just wanted to rush through things producing really awful stuff or just hire everything out. I told him to find something else to work with, and gave him a suggested reading list. Anyhow, you’re right in saying that quote seems fairly rigid, I just wanted to say that the easy way out (as in skipping work you need to do) isn’t a very professional manner to run your business.
Not planning isn’t unprofessional, however. If you can extemporaneously do your thing, more power to you! I like to write up that first sparky draft and then work into a slightly more cohesive structure, but sometimes a little proofreading is okay for me as well.
@Jenn, I figured from that sample schedule you shared in the 3 steps for taking your life back post that you were a rigid process writer…guess not! Within my realm of expertise, I still do at minimum a few readings of either classic schools on the thoughts (such as looking over Allen’s GTD when talking about project management) and I’d call that research all the same. I did note in this blog post that I include your own knowledge and expertise as being part of research.
I’m glad so many writers were willing to weigh in on their writing processes-even if you don’t agree with mine so much. The great thing about being a business owner is you can get where you need to however you want if you’ll produce quality results.
Nah. I used to do more outlining and have more structure for all projects, but not so much anymore. For a long piece I like to outline my subheadings and list items and then go in and writer, so it’s more like filling in the blanks. Some projects, like press releases, I have templates for so that helps. But for the quicker articles I do (usually blog posts either for my own blogs or short posts for client blogs), I just sit down and write. A lot of those posts are meant to be conversational in nature, and too much structuring and planning actually can take away from that for me.
@Jenn, That makes sense. I just like to tighten things up a bit after writing them if I just sit down and write. I usually, as I’ve said, knock down just a few points and maybe in less than 30 seconds. Just helps me stay focused!
I use everything you mentioned simply because it helps keep me focused. If I don’t, then it takes me longer to do the project, because I lose my train of thought. I don’t know why that is, but that’s my experience.
@Wendy, I can definitely understand it helping you to stay more focused to follow a process. I do, as well, because I’m looking for a cohesive of a piece as I can get.
I can see where the quoted statement holds some truth: I “pop off” articles all the time, but I never send a “draft” to a client. Even though I know what I’m talking about, I never take for granted that I haven’t made a grammatical or spelling error, or that the sentences and paragraphs flow well. I may not spend a tremendous amount of time on it, but I always proofread and rewrite where necessary.
@LaToya, that is an excellent way of explaining it. I think that a professional should hold themselves accountable for their work, and that means preparing the best copy and content possible. However, if doing this in a quick and simple way means you still get your best work, great. But if the work needs doing, doooooes it. Exactly. Haha. All humor aside (just read Clint’s latest and greatest) I think this is what I was getting at.
Hope that next month’s topic, organized marketing, generates a conversation like this one.
**Also, note to any readers of this blog post that find that the freebies are not working, please give me a moment. I’m updating my Web site and the location of the freebies is moving. Will update when they’re back in action, and sorry for any inconvenience.**
Writing Roundup, March 19 « Uncategorized « Jen's Writing Journey
After tons of backup fun, it turns out I don’t have these files anymore! If you do, please send me an email (info@timemgmtwriter.com) so that I can make them available to AFW readers again.