[ad_1]
It took some time to digest it myself.
Writing a 500-word concise blog is hard, but writing a 5000 words long book is harder. These 3 tips helped me finish my E-book, before I ripped my head out.
When I first started writing my first E-book. I felt as if I wasn’t able to do justice to my art, I could do better. So I became obsessed with editing my first chapter over and over, until it got better. But it never did, it never flowed. I got so frustrated with the process, that I abandoned the very idea of writing a book.
I am sure you have also experienced it atleast once. And so have Daniel Kahneman, author of the best-selling book, “Thinking fast & slow”. Jason Zweig, who worked with Daniel said, nothing amazed me more about Daniel than his ability to explode what he had just done.
He narrated how Daniel once re-did an entire chapter of the book.
“It begins differently, it ends differently, it incorporates anecdotes and evidence you never would have thought of, it draws on research that you’ve never heard of…”
When Jason asked Daniel how he could start over again as if, they had never written a draft before, he said “I have no sunk cost”.
It’s an excellent expression and can be applied to so much more than just writing. Having sunk costs is an indicator of your fear of starting over. The same reason Why so many people remain stuck in jobs they don’t like. But, that’s for another day…
Rule #1 to better your writing, sometimes you need to start over.
But don’t be so obsessed with rule #1 that you begin to throw everything out the window. Editing is important. The way how I write is, first I spew information out on a draft ASAP. Then, I edit it & give it a shape. You may have a different process, but we both agree that real magic happens when you edit your draft. But don’t do it immediately..
Sleep on it.
Suppose you got tunnel visioned while writing something and it cost you, your flow of the blog. If you edit your draft right afterwards, you’re more likely to ignore it.
That’s why, sleep on it. It allows you to clear your mind and approach editing with a fresh perspective. Try it and see for yourself!
Remember the last time you sat down to write a perfect headline? You put some few words down…but then realised it’s not gonna work, so you deleted it?
The hardest part in writing is starting from a blank page, so why go through it again?
You’re not going to randomly put down the best headline in the world. Let your discarded ideas sit, think over them, iterate. Or even if they’re a dead end, just start writing from the next line, but let it sit.
My favourite author, Austin Kleon, draws attention to this detail in his best-selling book, Steal like an artist. He says, “Computers are killing machines for ideas. Because, it’s too easy to press backspace and delete them. Computers are great for editing, but not for idea generation.”
Speaking of Austin Kleon, there’s another tip you could use. If you want to produce great content, consume great content. Because otherwise,
Garbage in, Garbage out
It took me some experimentation and realisations to understand and include these tips to my life. They have made me a better writer.
Ultimately, I did pickup writing my E-book again! And saying adios to my sunk costs, I decided to write the entire chapter again, and guess what? It turned out great :)
About Me
I take care of people’s information diet✨ My free E-book has left hundreds inspired and enveloped in positivity! Check it out here:
You also might wanna read:
[ad_2]
Source link
