Category Archives: The Writing Process

Avoid These Common Idea Killers

Posted on February 28, 2008 by loren

The idea-gathering stage is a magical place, full of imagination and inspiration. I haven’t met a writer yet who doesn’t relish the free flowing ease that the term “invention stage” connotes. Invention is fun. This attitude may be partly to … Continue reading →

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Maximize Your Writing’s Efficiency Through Reflection

Posted on February 25, 2008 by loren

So, you have a writing task to complete. You have diligently applied your favorite idea-generating strategies: brainstorming, freewriting, looping, and idea mapping. If your writing task is in a professional context, you may also have notes from meetings with your … Continue reading →

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Getting Your Writing To Flow, Part 5: Tone

Posted on February 14, 2008 by loren

This is part five in a five-part series. The fifth installment in “Getting Your Writing to Flow” (in case you’ve missed them, here are parts one, two, three, and four) focuses on an issue that is at once more global … Continue reading →

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Seek And Destroy Your Writing Style Enemies

Posted on February 14, 2008 by loren

 This is part four in the five-part series “Getting Your Writing To Flow.” The previous entries in this series focused on ways that structure affects flow.  I provided tips for structuring sentences and paragraphs (both a paragraph’s topic/wrap-up sentence and … Continue reading →

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Getting Your Writing To Flow, Part 2: Details

Posted on February 9, 2008 by loren

This is part two of a five-part series. In the previous article, I began a detailed examination of what makes writing flow. The most important thing to understand about flow is that it results from looking at your writing from … Continue reading →

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Don’t Outline — Strategize! Part 2

Posted on February 5, 2008 by loren

In the previous article, I discussed recalibrating the way we as writers think about the planning stage of the writing process. I suggested that we think of it as strategizing, just as a general would plan the strategy for a … Continue reading →

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Don’t Outline — Strategize!

Posted on February 4, 2008 by loren

This is part one of a two-part series. It’s easy to love the early stages of writing in which you’re generating ideas.  The only rule of brainstorming is that all ideas are acceptable:  this means that you can feel legitimately … Continue reading →

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3 New Ways To Get Started Drafting

Posted on January 29, 2008 by loren

One reason I love personal productivity/life development/organization blogs is that they provide some great tips for overcoming procrastination.  The blogosphere is full of them, and they’re great fun to read.  (Check out Leo Babuta’s Top 20 Motivation Hacks – An … Continue reading →

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Drafting Process: The Potter vs. The Sculptor

Posted on January 28, 2008 by loren

What is the difference between a novice writer and an experienced writer? It’s not the ideas, talent or creativity: an inexperienced writer can have a great idea just as a pro can. As I have said before, writing is a … Continue reading →

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