Using the Writing Process Effectively, Part 7: Writing Smart

Now I've covered the three steps of the writing process: Planning, Drafting, and Quality controlling. Remembering them is easy if you think Pretty Darn Quick (PDQ)—your goal for writing efficiently—and knowing when to use the complete writing process will increase your efficiency. 

Writing at work falls into three levels of complexity: routine, regulated, and reflective.

1. Routine – This writing requires little or no prompting for the writer to compose the message; it is generally brief and a part of the writer’s routine work. Examples of routine writing might be regular reminders, requests, and responses. In routine writing, we generally use just the drafting step of the writing process.

2. Regulated – This writing is more complex and detailed than routine writing; however, the writer can access established templates and retrieve the content from memory or other sources. Examples might be meeting minutes, employee appraisals, and executive summaries. In regulated writing, we don't use the planning step because we already have a plan, but we draft and quality control because our document will reach diverse readers.

3. Reflective – This is the most complex type of writing. It requires a high level of thinking about the purpose, audience, scope, and organization, none of which may be apparent to the writer. Examples might be business analyses, formal proposals, and investigative reports. In reflective writing, we use all the steps of the writing process.

The table below summarizes how we would approach the writing process depending on the level of complexity.

In summary, here are four tips for using the writing process efficiently:

1. If the writing is routine, spend as little time as possible on it.
2. If the writing is regulated, pull out those templates and fill in the blanks.
3. If the writing is reflective, use the complete writing process.
4. To write faster, transform as many Level 3 documents as you can into Level 2 documents.

Using the Writing Process Effectively, Part 6: Quality Controlling

After you have planned and drafted your document, you are ready for step 3, quality controlling, when you protect your REP: Revise, Edit, and Proofread. Depending on the complexity and length of the message, this step may come in three stages, in the following order:

1. Revising for purposefulness, content, organization, and paragraphing. 

2. Editing for respectful tone, clear sentences, concise phrasing, and correct syntax (sentence structure) grammar,  diction (word choice and spelling), mechanics (capitalization and abbreviation), and punctuation. 

3. Proofreading for typos, spacing and font inconsistencies, and other overlooked errors. 

Now you are ready to press send!

Using the Writing Process Effectively, Part 5: Drafting

Assuming you have completed the planning step of the writing process by using idea tags, idea maps, or idea lists, you are now ready to write a rough draft, the second step. I emphasize the word rough because quality is not yet important, as you'll revise, edit, and proofread in the third step, quality control. Three points matter during drafting, as you are seeking to maximize your writing time: speed, uniformity, and volume. Remembering the acronym SUV will be helpful as you plow through your rough draft.

Speed – You do not need to write at a breakneck pace. Steady is the operative word. When it comes to writing, steady is speedy. Just move your fingers to push that cursor forward, paying no attention to organization, sentence structure, grammar, spelling, or punctuation. Get it all down. Do not rewrite until you are through drafting.

Uniformity – You created a plan in step 1 to move easily through the first draft, so stick to it. It might not be a perfect pan, but it's what you've got. 

Volume – I'm a big believer in less is more—but not in the first draft. More is more when drafting to give you a lay of the land when quality-controlling. Leave nothing in your plan behind. 

WORDS ON THE LINE: Sixteenth Anniversary

This post is the 949th and this day the 16th anniversary of WORDS ON THE LINE. Since January 4, 2005, I have posted at least once a week about practical tips, useful resources, and inspirational ideas for developing, experienced, and reluctant writer at work, school, and home.  

In this blog, you can read about books, grammar, punctuation, email tips, active and passive voice, parallel structure, famous writer viewpoints, and much more. If you don't find what you're looking for, feel free to reach me at Phil@PhilVassallo.com.    

Using the Writing Process Effectively, Part 4: Planning with Idea Lists

 The third planning technique, idea listing, is my favorite because it wastes no time. It immediately brings writers to the computer where they will draft and quality control their message. The illustration shows the brainstorming phase in two steps and the organizing phase in three steps. It shows a writer planning a new policy message to all staff of a growing company.

In the brainstorming phase, the writer lists her topic in Step 1: requirement to display new employee ID badge. Step 2 of this phase is what some people would call a brain dump, when the writer lists every idea that pops into her mind about the topic without regard to its merit. You'll notice it is a disorganized mess of repetitive and irrelevant ideas. But the writer is happy with the list because she has plenty to work with in the organizing phase.

The organizing phase requires three additional steps. In Step 3, the writer cuts and pastes similar ideas into groups and gives each group a name, each of which will appear in a separate paragraph. In this case, the topics are purpose, getting, displaying, closing. In Step 4, she adds additional ideas as they occur to her. Notice Question anyone not displaying ID badge (appearing in a different font), is an addition after the brainstorming phase. In Step 5, she deletes ideas that don't fit into her plan, as in the three struck-through items at the bottom right. Now she can efficiently draft around these ideas. 

Do not stress over whether this process seems overly complicated with five steps. It's really two: brainstorming and organizing, and you'll be doing both steps simultaneously and nimbly once you get used to idea listing. 

 

Using the Writing Process Effectively, Part 3: Planning with Idea Maps

The idea map is another useful planning technique for writers wishing to work offline. Similar to mind mapping and concept mapping, the idea map helps writers to lay out ideas before drafting. 

The illustration shows a completed idea map created by a scientist proposing the hiring of two researchers for his lab. During the brainstorming phase, he grabs a sheet of blank paper and a bunch of varied color makers. First, he draws a circle in the middle of a sheet with his topic: "need two researchers." Next, he draws spokes from the circle, one color per spoke, to highlight the supporting points: benefits, problem, causes, recommendations, plan. Then come more sub-points and sub-sub-points within those supporting ones.

For the organizing phase, he structures the points as they will appear in his draft, starting with the ask (1. need two researchers), following the listed numerical and alphabetical order. You can imagine what this writer will be discussing in his proposal by reading the idea map he has created.

Using the Writing Process Effectively, Part 2: Planning with Idea Tags

Many techniques are available for the planning step of the writing process. I focus on three of them in this and the next two posts: idea tags, idea maps, and idea lists. All of them are indispensable in breaking writer's block and generating talking points for your document.

Idea Tags, Step 1: Brainstorming

Idea tagging is an off-screen planning method for those who like to work off the computer or cannot access one. It involves using self-stick notes, one per idea. I strongly recommend using stickies measuring 2" X 1 1/2" (roughly 5.1 cm X 3.8 cm) because as many as 24 can fit on a standard 8 1/2" X 11" (21.6 cm X 27.9 cm) sheet of paper, and many more on a cleared table or desk. This technique is a lot like storyboarding, the old-time Hollywood method of outlining a story in development. While my illustration uses words, you can draw pictures to represent ideas (e.g., a stick figure to signify staff, a house for facility, and a money bag for budget).

In the image above, I am dropping ideas for a report on a seminar I attended. Notice the randomness of the thoughts. I am simply brainstorming without attention to structure or quality. This is the creative step of idea tagging. 

Idea Tags, Step 2: Organizing

Next comes the organizing step, when I get MAD (Move, Add, Delete) about my idea tags. In the next illustration, I have moved the stickies into separate rows, each row representing a paragraph. I have also added ideas, in red ink as I moved the stickies around. And at the bottom, I have deleted ideas that have no place in the report by tearing them up. This is the analytical step of idea tagging.

I may not have every idea in front of me (I've left out cost, location, accommodations, and more), but at least I can start drafting my report based on the plan I've created with these idea tags.