Six steps to become a more effective writer

If you want to turn your writing hobby into an income stream, you will need to change your approach to writing. Writers know how much joy it brings them to sit down and lose themselves in a piece. Yet, with so many other things on the to-do list, these moments become few and far between. If you’re not writing regularly, can you really call yourself a writer?

The reason writers don’t write isn’t due to a lack of passion. Some really are too busy or exhausted to make the time to write everyday. Others evade the task because they don’t truly believe their work is quality. Most writers do dedicate some time to writing, but don’t use a methodical approach, meaning they are not effective in reaching their productivity goals.

All successful writers have one thing in common: commitment. From rich bloggers to world renowned novelists, every writer that achieves their goals has commitment, focus, and discipline.

Sounds obvious, doesn't it? After all, no one got anywhere without any practice. But the truth is, so many writers have the dream of earning a living from writing, but are self-sabotaging their chances without even knowing it.

Changing your approach to writing involves shifting your perspective. Writing can no longer fall at the bottom of your to-do list. In order to start realising your potential, you need to stop seeing writing as a hobby, and start seeing it as work.

Whether you’re at the beginning of your writing journey and want to build a great portfolio, you’re trying to finally finish and publish that great story you’ve been working on for a year, or you’re looking to secure your next writing job, these methods will help you to achieve success and become a more effective writer.

Five ways to become a more effective writer today

1. Create a day schedule 

 Whilst home-based working brings benefits, it also introduces new challenges. It's easy to get distracted when there is no division between work and play. Create a strict schedule. This will be a detailed plan of your day including time slots for each activity. It will help you become a more effective writer, and benefit your overall sense of wellbeing by bringing mental clarity.  Factor in time for eating breakfast, tidying your home, socializing, exercising, and leisure. Create realistic time slots for writing. One hour is the minimum required to get your head down and start seeing results. If you don’t have one hour a day, get up an hour earlier. If you’re doing more than your fair share of the domestic tasks, assert that you’re not cooking tonight, because you need time for writing.

2. Prepare a bank of ideas to be written later

  Creative people tend to get waves of inspiration.

When it strikes, jot it down as a short note, and come back to it during you scheduled writing time. 

Create a bank of ideas in a convenient place in your phone or notebook, ideally in a cloud-based note taker that can be accessed on your phone and computer.

When the  writing hour falls upon you, you don’t want to be foraging around your cluttered desktop to remind yourself what the ending of that story was. 

The process of becoming a more effective writer involves streamlining your time and resources to increase productivity. Keeping your ideas, drafts, and completed pieces in an accessible, and tidy place is essential to your success.

3. Make a container for your content to flow into 

Before you start your next project, think about where the piece could feature.

You need to make a destination for your drafts, and complete work. There is nothing more demotivating than seeing the writing you have poured your heart into lying lifelessly in a cluttered storage file. No writer should leave their work to die. Get it out of the graveyard and into the world, before it’s too late. 

In order to complete projects, you need to be able to visualise where they will end up. 

If you want to self-publish you can make an eBook or blog. eBooks don't have to be novels, but can be a collection of articles on a particular topic. 

If you want to go down a more traditional publishing route submit your writing to a magazine or newspaper, or send a manuscript to publishing houses. Before writing for someone else’s publication, pitch your idea in an email, to see if they are interested.  Wait for them to respond and agree to it, with a deadline date, before starting to write. Some editors will make suggestions about a particular angle you could take, or tell you a similar piece they’d really like you to write. 

When creative ideas strike, it can be difficult to resist diving in and writing the piece, but having a clear view of what you are aiming to produce will help you stay focused.  

Releasing your writing from your computer and into the world will give you space in your mind, encouraging creativity to flow.

4. Keep it clean

I don’t mean PG. By all means keep writing erotica, but make sure you lose the chaos on your computer! 

Document folders become cluttered and stressful, putting you off writing.  Make a separate virtual space where you can easily pull up your projects and you will take the frustration out of writing. You could use a memory stick, or cloud storage system. Make sure you back it up. Likewise, during writing time, you only need relevant tabs open on your computer. There is nothing worse than wasting time on the internet. Whilst it’s good to find inspiration and check what people are writing about, do this outside of your scheduled writing time.

5. Create a separate space for finished, high quality work

 After you’ve finished writing your first draft, take some time and space. Start the editing process with fresh eyes. Once you’re happy, format the document, add any images, and self - publish, or send your work to be published. 

If you’ve agreed to provide an article or fiction for someone else’s publication, get ready to receive comments, criticism and feedback so you can re-draft until it's right for them. 

If you’re building a portfolio, select a few of your best pieces and publish them to a separate portfolio website.

6. Set deadlines and achievement goals

Are you in the early stages of your writing career? Do you like writing articles, academic journals, short stories, plays, poems, songs, or a combination? Figuring out what kind of writer you are can take some time. The great thing is, you don’t have to stick to one type of writing. Lots of writers have multiple ‘voices.’ 

If you’re aiming to turn your hobby into an income stream,  find out the easiest ways to start earning as a writer. It’s important to consider your strengths and natural inclination. Whilst you can learn to write effectively in different styles, you don’t want your passion to turn into a chore. Choose a style that you enjoy, and get very good at it. If you’re a fiction writer and want to focus on producing a novel in the next year, you may not earn any income until it’s publication. After it’s published, you still might not earn much. Maybe earning an income from your writing isn’t really your goal. Instead, you just really want to become a better fiction writer, and start by finishing and sharing your stories. You don’t have to aim to earn an income from writing. But, you should still call it work, and commit yourself, otherwise you’ll never realize your potential. 

 Setting objectives will make you more productive and keep you focused on the task at hand. In your ideas bank you could have 10 different projects to start working on. Prioritise according to deadlines. Before beginning your scheduled writing time, refer to your objectives and stay focused.

In summary
If you’re serious about achieving your ambitions as a writer, you need to change your mindset. Every writing project has a journey, from the first draft, through to publication. If you abandon it half way, it will be very sad for both of you. Think of your work as a gift to the world. Until now, has been sitting in a box growing dusty. Send the present today. Someone out there is waiting to receive.