How to write faster, better
Date: December 10, 2016
Name: How to write faster, better
Presenter: Daphne Gray-Grant
Time is a factor for entrepreneurs who are creating their own contents; moreover, to write faster with shorter time is a skill all entrepreneurs need to learn. The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) Richmond Chapter invites Daphne Gray-Grant, the Principal at The Publication Coach, to discuss the strategies on writing more efficient and effective. Daphne Gray-Grant will share the “Mindmap” technique to help entrepreneurs develop better ideas. In addition, Daphne Gray-Grant will help entrepreneurs to break some of their negative blockage and habits in business writing.
Daphne Gray-Grant is the Principal at The Publication Coach. She was a former editor for Weyerhaeuser, MacMillan Bloedel and Vancouver Sun for over 20 years. Gray-Grant helped many young entrepreneurs to become more skillful writers and communicators. She is also a keynote speaker for many seminars. She published a book called “8½ Steps to Writing Faster, Better” to help entrepreneurs gain the extra edge in their businesses. In addition, she has the passion to help entrepreneurs to go above and beyond.
Daphne Gray-Grant believes outlining is a way to hate writing process. The left side of the brain uses linear and the right side is creativity. When entrepreneurs write, they use the creativity side, not linear. The problem is many entrepreneurs are good at linear, but they have difficulty to turn to creative side. Only one side drives the other. She encourages entrepreneurs to stop using outlining; instead, they should use mindmap.
“It is not left vs right, it is a metaphor”
Mindmap is a powerful technique that most entrepreneurs underestimate. Entrepreneurs will write a question in the middle of the page. This challenges the brain and it triggers the creativity side. Entrepreneurs can branch out the questions with different ideas. When they start using mindmap, they only put limited information they need to recall. Gray-Grant believes the mistake many entrepreneurs make is write too much information on the mindmap. Mindmap is like finger prints; every mindmap is different.
Gray-Grant lists 7 major rules for mindmap.
- Write down everything
- Include stories
- Do not try too hard to be organized
- Keep writing, and do not stop
- Ask a question in the center of the page
- It is not necessary to finish the mindmap
- You might need more than one mindmap
Ideas on subconscious can be very powerful and only entrepreneurs themselves can control what to do. People listen to story more than facts because people remember stories. It does not matter ideas connect to the right ideas; instead, entrepreneurs should not feel constraint by using the space on the paper. Mindmap can also work with fiction and non-fiction. It helps entrepreneurs know how to begin their stories. For entrepreneurs, mindmap is like brainstorm with themselves. It looks for specific story and not fact. Mindmap helps entrepreneurs go different directions. When entrepreneurs feel the “Aha” moment, they should stop mindmap and start writing. Mindmap inspires entrepreneurs to write.
“Being specific as you can will capture more people and increase interest”
Contents come from many sources. Entrepreneurs need to ask the right questions. Gray-Grant suggests entrepreneurs to ask themselves this question: “How full is your bucket?”. Many entrepreneurs tend to forget to ask questions about feelings. Emotions can lead to interest. Therefore, entrepreneurs should have balance of facts and non-factual questions. Gray-Grant recommends entrepreneurs to paraphrase back to others. This mitigates errors and it makes others feel comfortable. The more comfortable they feel, the more information they can give.
Gray-Grant provides 5 elements on writing good quotes: interesting, brief, quirky, idiosyncratic, and expressed in a different voice. The reasons for paraphrasing are to eliminate boring material, to reduce jargon, to be more succinct, to deal with people they are obligated to interview, and to save quotes for the best of the best. Gray-Grant emphasizes entrepreneurs should not accept quotes by email because written words and spoken words can have different meaning.
It is important to budget time in writing. Entrepreneurs should use reverse engineering method on budgeting their writing time. Gray-Grant suggests the percentage of time spend should be 40% on preparing to write, 20% on writing, and 40% on re-writing and editing. Many entrepreneurs spend too much time on writing; instead, they should spend more time on preparing and editing.
People talk to themselves all the time. Moreover, people have doubts. Doubts come from within and it is up to individuals to overcome doubts. To deal with doubts, Gray-Grant gives 5 tips for entrepreneurs.
- Do not ignore it
- Watch the breathing
- Know that it will pass
- Do the work regardless
- Celebrate all the achievements no matter how small
“The best flower is fertilized by crap”
Many entrepreneurs edit while they write. They tend to go back and edit the previous sentences. This slows down the writing process; instead, Gray-Grant recommends entrepreneurs to edit after the draft.
“Just write without editing”
Entrepreneurs can turn off the monitor because if they cannot see, they cannot edit. Entrepreneurs should consider using Pomodoro technique. This can help entrepreneurs concentrate on finishing one task at a time. They can use a noisy timer. Statically, distraction occupies 10% of the brain. Therefore, if the noise cover that 10%, entrepreneurs can concentrate on writing.
Entrepreneurs can use online applications, such as “writeordie.com” to force themselves to write. When they need to check for reference, they can post a note so they can check later instead of stop the writing process. Entrepreneurs can use dictation application to speed up the writing process as well.
The linear side of the brain can be bossy and the creativity side of the brain can be shy. Gray-Grant believes it is important to not give the creative side of the brain the excuse to leave.
“You can always fix crap, but you cannot fix a blank page”
“It is a first draft, not a bomb”
The best writers are best re-writers. Good writers are made and not born. Entrepreneurs need to spend more time on editing. Gray-Grant illustrates the Venn Diagram. When entrepreneurs edit, they must remember the message and what readers want to read. Entrepreneurs should be careful with jargon words. They need to think about the audience because clarity is the key. They need to tailor the message to the audience.
Entrepreneurs need to determine the readability level on their content. Readability level means how easy to read the content. There is a matrix to measure the readability level. Most newspaper is in grade 6 or 7. If it is easy to read, people will read. Gray-Grant wants entrepreneurs to remember that readability level is not about the content.
Entrepreneurs can use http://buff.ly/28UYT0h to measure the readability level. The key is to look at the average number of words per sentence. The ideal words should be 14-18 words per sentence. Entrepreneurs can also use Ernest Hemingway application for readability level. The key in this application is to identify passive voice. Ideally, Gray-Grant suggests entrepreneurs to aim for grade 7-9 on their content. It should never be higher than grade 10. The grade levels are arbitrary. The grade level is measured by word length, sentence length, paragraph length and the amount of passive voice. Long sentence is harder to write than short sentence. It is easier to make grammatical mistakes. It is hard to read and it is hard to make interesting. Entrepreneurs can shorten the sentence by eliminating “and”, “which”, “that”, and the semicolon. They can also take words ending in “tion” back to root. Entrepreneurs can mix long sentence with short sentence to make the content interesting. Moreover, they can use bullets and lists as well.
Passive voice is not recommended for content because passive voice hides the actor of the sentence. Most readers are visual; passive voice can confuse readers because it is hard for them to visual the image.
In conventional writing, people learned paragraph is mandatory. However, Gray-Grant believes paragraphing is arbitrary. In fact, paragraphing is just easy to read.
Gray-Grant provides 10 tips to help entrepreneurs on proofing. Entrepreneurs should allow time to pass. Let it sit and come back later. They should proof on paper instead on the monitor because it is easier to spot mistakes on paper. The monitor light can make entrepreneurs’ eyes tired. This reduces their concentration on proofing. Entrepreneurs should use distinctive typeface and put the font in 20 points. They need to recheck the names and the dates because statistically, the most common errors in printed materials are names and dates. Sometimes the obvious can be a mistake. The bigger it is, the more likely people will miss it because of assumption. Entrepreneurs should use a ruler because it allows them to break the “scanning” habit. They can start proofing at the end. It forces them not to rely on the chronology of the story. Entrepreneurs should ask themselves what they may have omitted and have their own list of things to check. Lastly, entrepreneurs should read it out loud to catch hidden mistakes. Human speaks slower than reading. The slower it gets, the easier to catch errors.