| How many times have you stared at a blank | | | | Step 3: Strengthen your words. If you've created |
| page, deadline looming, and felt the trickles of | | | | your writing plan and then blasted the words onto |
| sweat on your forehead? Or cringed at the | | | | the page, you're already halfway home. Now it's |
| thought of writing a thesis, term paper, business | | | | time to go through what you've written and |
| proposal, or status report? Or dreamt of writing a | | | | strengthen it. How well have you expressed your |
| book, novel or screenplay, but pushed it aside as | | | | idea? Mark up your writing. Some of it will have |
| "too difficult; it would take forever"? | | | | missed the mark completely; other sections will |
| Alright. Enough procrastinating. Let's cut through | | | | be pretty solid. Edit and adjust, and then repeat |
| the waste and nail down the solution, right here, | | | | steps 1 and 2 if necessary. |
| right now. | | | | Step 4: Tweak your writing. This is what most |
| The reason you struggle with writing is simple: | | | | people do at the start. But that's what slows you |
| You think writing is an activity. But it's not. Typing | | | | down. Forget perfection at the start. Wait until |
| is activity. Writing is a process. And the way to | | | | you've created your plan, blasted words onto the |
| write ten times faster than you do right now is | | | | page, and then strengthened those words until |
| this: Find a systematic approach to that process. | | | | your idea is expressed clearly. Now tweak and |
| My approach is the FAST System. It's got four | | | | polish your writing to make it a lightning fast read. |
| simple steps: | | | | Ironically, the more you write fast, the faster |
| Step 1: Focus your idea. All writing is | | | | you'll write. |
| communication, and the first thing to do is capture | | | | Now, writing fast does not mean writing poorly. |
| the essence of the idea you're trying to | | | | Quite the contrary. Writing fast means getting |
| communicate. Brainstorm, map and plan your | | | | your words on the page as quickly and efficiently |
| concept. See the overview. Give yourself a | | | | as possible. If you can talk, you can write -- |
| roadmap. | | | | they're two sides to the same coin. |
| Step 2: Apply your plan. Once you've got your | | | | Both are communication. Think about it. If you |
| writing plan in place, get the words onto the page | | | | know what you're saying, the words come easy. |
| as fast as possible. And I mean lightning fast. | | | | So Focus, Apply, Strengthen and Tweak. You will |
| Don't stop and re-read a word. You know where | | | | be writing ten times FASTer in no time. |
| you're going thanks to the plan, now just get | | | | Guaranteed. |
| words on the page. | | | | |