How I Write

When I was younger and pounding out thousands of published words a week, people often asked me how I wrote fast.

With my inspiration coming from David A Fryxell's "Write Faster, Write Better" combined with ideas from Jeff Bollow and Theodore A Rees Cheney plus 18 years behind-the-keyboard experience, here's my answer:

1. Outline: Everything has a structure and it changes depending on what form of writing it is. This is to make sure I get the bones right.

2. Near-Perfect First Draft: Because I've done Step One, I can write something that hits my target word count and needs little editing when it's finished.

3. Quick-Edit: But I still have a 3-step editing process. First I read through the whole thing to get an impression. Then I reread and make notes on where I need to make changes. Don't get bogged down in this step.

4. Edit: Instead of getting bogged down in Step Three, get bogged down here. This is where you get the words right, fact check and fill in any gaps.

5. Polish: Proofread it, targeting spelling and grammar and the details. When done, read it once more, aloud this time.