Writing Tip: Collect Information

To begin writing anything, start first with compiling the information you'll need. This is such an obvious step, but one many people overlook. It's much easier to begin your rough draft if you have the facts, the figures, the research at your fingertips.

I recommend to all writing clients to read the information first before beginning to write. Even if you've already read the information; begin again by re-reading.

For example, as a journalist, before I wrote an article, I'd collect vital information: written interviews with interviewees, factual research and previous articles written on the subject. I began writing an article by re-reading all this information. It made the rough draft write itself.

If you don't have any information, if you're writing a personal article about your own expertise, you can still google information on the subject written by other people to help generate ideas.

www.theliteraryexecutive.com

Great leaders read great literature

Are you a writer who has always wanted to write, and in fact, did have luck in writing courses in high school or college, but you haven't written in years?

Does your passion to write and inability to do so cause you more than a little despair? Does your inability to just do it make you deeply upset with yourself?

I think the biggest block to writing is the enormity of it. In our minds, we see a 300-page book with our names on it. How huge is such a prospect! How scary! We think: where do I begin? How long will it take? Do I have years of my life to devote to this?

Can you waste the years you have left NOT devoting yourself to something your soul wants to do?

So, you're staring at a blank page; actually the blank page is in your mind, you haven't even gotten the courage to open Microsoft Word on your computer and really stare at a blank page, because that would be an admission of how stuck you really are.

Where to begin? Anything you focus on will grow. Period. So, focus in any way you can on writing. Read good books. If you're a business executive, don't just read business books. Read good literature; good literature can make you a good leader. The New York Times ran a great article on this last year: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/21/business/21libraries.html

Get a book on writing, even one on writing fiction can help, and sometimes I think can be more inspirational than books on how to write for business. This isn't just about putting technical information on the page; it's about inspiring others with your message. Some good how-to-write fiction books are: Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.

You must begin somewhere. That somewhere can be as simple as reading good literature. http://www.theliteraryexecutive.com/