Overcoming Bad Writing Habits
No worries. I’m not about to ask you to enter the confessional and own up to your worst sins. We’re going to talk only about the ones that surface when trying to write important documents: Those sales proposals that could win a big contract. That report that outlines what you’ve accomplished for the quarter. That email that requests and justifies your raise.
What makes the writing task difficult for many people? Like many things, it’s the process.
Identify Your Bad Writing Habits
Review this list of bad habits and see if you might be guilty of any of these. Then determine how you might replace the habit with a different process, plan, or habit.
- Waiting for inspiration rather than approaching the task like any other
- Waiting until you’re under pressure from a deadline
- Interrupting yourself from the task to check email too frequently
- Starting to write before you’ve collected all the necessary information you’ll need
- Writing before thinking
- Starting to draft before you’ve identified your key message
- Starting to draft before you’ve determined the outcome you want from the reader
- Starting over continually, trying to “get it right” the first time
- Trying to write in “bits and spurts” (15 minutes here and 30 minutes there)
- Allowing other people to interrupt you while writing
- Writing when you’re angry or otherwise upset
- Editing and rewriting sentence by sentence as you go rather than after you finish a draft
- Checking a thesaurus to find and use complex words for simple concepts
- Trying to string together long, complex sentences
- Failing to allow a cool-off period before you proofread
- Sending out a document without first editing it or proofreading it
Out with the Old, In with the New
Resolve to break the old habits and replace them with more productive ones. With an appropriate process, you can make your next writing project just a simple matter of thinking well on paper. Quick, clear, and painless. No kidding.
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