Writing is easy when you’re a writer, right? Not always true! Even experienced writers struggle sometimes with the Ultimate Transferable Skill. Each writing task – whether it’s an essay, cover letter, resume, article, report, novel, or simple email – presents its own set of challenges. But these are mostly “state of mind,” rather than actual, barriers. In other words, your mind’s just messin’ with you. When this happens, why not just “mess back” with a little counter-intelligence?
Here are a few of the happy owl’s Tactics for Winning Any Writing Battle:
- Organize your thoughts. If you can’t bring yourself to jot down a short outline, spend a few minutes thinking about your task, especially your desired outcome. You owe your reader coherence, at the very least!
- Put perfection aside (for now). You WILL revise this draft, so you might as well give yourself the freedom to make a mistake or two. Free from the burden of perfection, you can allow creativity to step on in and do its thing. You can always fix those typos and commas later.
- Stop worrying about the enormity of the task. Instead, break it down into manageable bits. A little time here, a little tweak there, and before you know it, you’ve made some real progress. Celebrate even the tiniest of victories – and then get back to work!
- Above all, quit “being busy” (and other lame excuses)! Remember: it’s NOT necessary – and usually not even advised – to finish an important writing task in one sitting. But to finish any task, it IS quite necessary to start. So what are you waiting for? Get going!
Every list of writers’ tips I’ve seen emphasizes this same, obvious advice: there’s no time like NOW to get started. So write, write, and write today! You can perfect it tomorrow. Still need a friendly nudge – or a little more high-powered counter-intelligence? Contact Scholar’s Secret anytime!