7 Productivity Rules that Help Writers Become Successful

by Eric Lum Writer

Writers only answer to themselves. And therein lies the problem.

It is so very easy to put off work that should be done and find a million other things to do instead. And if that behavior continues over time, then no writing ever gets finished.

Similarly, it is easy to succumb to “writer’s block” – spending hours in front of a blank screen struggling to find the right words. This problem is even worse, because you can’t just up the hours in the hope of getting more done.

So how do you make sure that you actually get stuff done? What are some of the productivity rules that we writers use to actually get our words down and out of the door? Here are some of the methods I use to write between three to four thousand words a day.

Rule 1: Start

Rule one is simple enough. If you’re trying to be a productive writer who writes every day, then you want to start just like other people do – at a specific time. Having a routine like this has been shown to be very effective. So that’s what you do first. Set yourself a starting time - not ‘sometime in the morning’ but ‘nine o’clock in the morning’. And keep to it too. Because every time you start thirty minutes late that means you’ll be doing thirty minutes less work that day.

Do that every day for five days and you’ve just lost two and a half hours. That’s more than a working day a month.

Rule 2: Work towards time, not towards a goal

Most taxi drivers work towards a monetary goal per day. When they’ve made that goal, they’ll call it quits and head home. The thing is, that doesn’t actually make any sense. After all, it means they end up driving less on the more profitable days as they fulfill their goals early. And they put in many more hours on the bad days. It would make much more sense if they turned this around. The more money they’re making, the longer they’d drive, while on the bad days they call it quits earlier. They’d work the same hours but make much more money.

It’s the same with writing. A lot of writers will have a hugely productive morning, feel they’ve written enough and then quit. On bad days, in the meantime, they will feel they have not written enough and keep pushing onward when they have not motivation.

Don’t do that. Instead, write a certain number of hours a day. Perhaps a little more, if it’s going exceptionally well and less when it’s not. You’ll get far more done in same amount of time, over the long run.

The exception, of course, is deadlines. Freelance writers often have those pesky deadlines that they must meet, in order to keep clients happy and on board.

Rule 3: Separate your editing and your writing

When you’re writing, you’re creating. At its best you’re experiencing flow, where you get sucked into what you’re writing. When you’re editing you’re being critical and carefully weighing which turn of phrase works better.

Those are two very different things. As a result, if you edit as you’re writing, then you constantly keep undermining your words and second guessing yourself. That’s not productive. For that reason, try to write the first draft of a section or text first before you head back and start editing it. In that way, you can just let the words flow when you’re writing and then edit them afterwards to make them truly shine.

Stephen Collier, writer, content manager, and blogger at Ghost Professors swears by this process. When he is working on an article for a client, he always lets the text just flow and then goes back for the editing and formatting. He insists that he produces more in less time by using this “rule.” And it is a rule that all students learn during their academic studies.

As Kelly Caldwell, marketer of Pro Custom Writing, adds, “Editing and formatting is something done after a piece is fully written. Nothing stops the flow of thought more than to attempt to edit each sentence or paragraph as it is written.”

Rule 4: Get Some Distance

If you spend too much time with a text then you end up blind. What I mean by that is you can no longer see what’s actually good and what’s not. And you can’t separate out the ideas you wanted to write from the words you’ve written.

This is when you know you need a break. Put the piece aside and work on something else (or go get lunch, do some laundry, take a walk, etc.). When you return to it, your head will much clearer, you will not have the mental “attachment” anymore, and you can be much more objective.

Brittany Truett, content manager for Essaywriting Education, puts it this way: “It doesn’t matter what you are writing, you can get stuck, even on something as basic as a cover letter. Forcing it doesn’t work. Getting away for a bit is the answer.”

My personal strategy is to work on several texts at the same time. When I get stuck on one, I’ll move over to another. It really does work, and it keeps me productive.

Rule 5: Get Some Tools

There are a lot of tools out there that can help you. Some examples include such things as Grammarly, Glorious Essays, and the Hemingway App. That’s really only the tip of the iceberg, however. There are plenty of tools out there to use, depending on the type of writing you do.

As Kathleen Schulte from Papers Board shares, she uses the Hemingway App to simplify her writing, eliminating “fluff” adjectives and adverbs that are not really necessary. Rosa tells it really cleans up the posts she writes.

Don’t be afraid to try any number of tools out. Sure, you won’t think they’re all as great as people make them out to be. And that’s okay. After all, when you do find a tool that clicks, then it will end up boosting your productivity for months and years to come. And that’s well worth the time you invest in those failed experiments.

Rule 6: Read like a Writer

Every time you read a book you’ve got to be aware of the turns of phrases that you really like. Take the time to analyze why you like them. Similarly, if you read something that doesn’t work for you, figure out why it doesn’t. In this way you’re learning from other people’s magic and mistakes and can incorporate them in your own writing.

Mildred Feld, content editor at Flash Essay, is a firm believer in the importance of reading. “Studies show that students who have read a lot during their schooling years are better writers and have much more sophisticated vocabularies by the time they get into college. And as adults, they will have no worries if they have to write in their career positions.”

Perhaps you should even consider starting to read with a highlighter in your hand, so you can mark passages in a book that you really like. In that way, when you want to retrieve them later on it will be a lot easier to do so.

Yes, this does make reading slower. But it makes your writing better. And that’s the goal, no?

Rule 7: Write. A lot.

I’ve met so many people who say ‘I’m a writer’ and then it turns out they haven’t put a word to paper in days (or even weeks or months). I’m sorry to break it to you, but if you’re not writing, you’re not a writer. The best you can say is you’re a dreamer. And that’s nice. But it’s not what you’re after.

So write. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad. Just make sure you do. Writing is a process. And the only way you can get better is by actually going through that process.

It often helps to write outside of your niche too. If you are a fiction writer, for example, write some non-fiction pieces (blog posts, articles, etc.) and submit them for publication to online sources. If you are an academic writer, try writing some fiction or poetry. Getting outside of your “box” can broaden your perspective, and you will see that all writing has certain common elements.

So, if you want to be productive, stop reading articles like this and instead, go write.