From blank page to nod of approval: 7 proven steps to writing quickly
Struggling to get articles, blog posts or announcements written quickly? Work in media or a press office for a few years — or follow these simple steps.
My first 11 years in Corporateland were spent working for a media company. You learn how to deal with short deadlines very quickly. Every day is a deadline. You make the deadline or you fail. It’s as simple as that.
At one subsequent company, I was told that the only way that company delivered projects was by changing the scope or changing the deadline. That doesn’t happen at a media company: you hit the deadline — or you miss it and you’re in trouble.
At another company, I was accosted in the corridor by a frantic colleague who explained that his team needed to be briefed— “urgently” — on a particular subject, following it up with “can you do next Tuesday afternoon?”
That’s not urgent. In my media days, urgent was “can you draft an announcement about X? I’ll be down in 15 minutes to review it…”
Under that kind of pressure, you have to work quickly. Or you sink.
I don’t really have a method but here are 7 tips to help you write faster than you’ve ever done before.
1. Jot down an outline first: a few sentences to give the whole piece a frame, including some reminders to yourself about what to include. For example, for an org announcement, you might write (bulleted): “Intro with summary of the announcement in a sentence. Include timeline. Link to strategy and previous announcement relating to this area. Put in a paragraph for brief career history of XX person coming into the role (get CV/resume from HR). Include a contact at the end if people have questions — ask HR.”
2. Write a first draft based on your bullet points: it doesn’t have to be perfect (in fact, it’s faster if it’s not). Use square brackets where you don’t have details, e.g. “This change will be effective from [date].” or “Joanne worked previously at [career history from CV/resume].” Write it quickly and move onto the next sentence.
3. Finish it: it might sound simple to say this, but complete the first draft before going to step 4. Don’t leave it hanging. (I used to send unfinished drafts to my first boss with “what do you think so far?” and only now realise how much this must have frustrated him.)
4. Review and edit: if you need a quick break before this part, grab a cup of tea or go for a short walk to step away from the screen. Then come back and re-read it, being critical of the sentences and usage/necessity of each word.
5. Share it with a colleague: send it to someone you work with, your boss or a team mate. Don’t be embarrassed to share it. Be vulnerable — and embrace it. We need pace here, so there’s no time to sit on something because you’re not sure whether they’ll like it or not. Hit send and follow up with an IM or a text message to say that it’s in their inbox.
6. Take on board all feedback: I used to hate getting the red pen treatment (or see the butchering of my work via Track Changes) but now I know that it’s there to improve what I’ve written so that I can move quickly to the final version. Don’t like people picking at your work? Get over it and move on.
(One thing I will say is this: if you get feedback from a fellow communication person, whose opinion you respect, take it in. If you seek feedback from a stakeholder, be specific about what you want: I have got into the habit of asking for feedback “on anything factually inaccurate or incorrect,” rather than getting their thoughts on ‘how it should be written.’ Have you seen how they write?!)
7. Give it a final once-over, produce a final version, get approvals and release: if you’re working fast but have the bureaucracy of a large corporation to deal with, you’ve got to move quickly past multiple reviews and edits to get final approvals. Once you’ve got those, it’s time to release it, in whatever form you need to send it.
Speed-writing is about getting something on paper/screen. If you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing — you have to start somewhere.
Start with a plan first: many writers are afraid of the blank sheet of paper or the empty Word document with the blinking caret. To counteract that, start typing the outline of the document. Describe what you’re going to say. Then hit the return key a few times and start the draft using the outline as a guide.
Don’t be afraid of feedback and input. Use it to shape the final product. Sure, some announcements or articles take multiple iterations but in my experience, most of them are simple if you stick to what needs to be included rather than what the CFO wants to put in, what the CEO thinks would be a nice line to include, or what HR feels people should hear.
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