"Writing is easy," said Gene Fowler. "All you do is stare at (the monitor) until little drops of blood form on your forehead." Here are a few suggestions from someone who does it every day that might make it a little easier.

First, research, organize, and outline your material before you start writing. It really helps to know where you're going before you start.

Second, write quickly. Listen to the voice in your head (the one who did all that research) and just take dictation. Don't worry about typos or bad spelling. You'll fix all that later.

Don't try to "think it up". Just get it down. Be clear, not fancy. If you don't know a fact, type (insert fact here) or something similar. Try not to interrupt the flow.

Lower your expectations. Give yourself permission to write a lousy first draft. Even for professional writers, perfect sentences usually do not flow easily. Just try to get your basic ideas down, even if they're awkward and ill-formed at first. Later, you can (and must) go back, edit and rewrite, and rewrite, and rewrite, etc.

And rewrite some more.

BTW, my blog offers writing tips regularly, and there are several articles about aspects of it on my Web site. I'm also working on a series of writing tips. If you'd like a copy when it's ready, send me an email or register at my Web site.

Tom McKay

"Writing is easy," said Gene Fowler. "All you do is stare at (the monitor) until little drops of blood form on your forehead." Here are a few suggestions from someone who does it every day that might make it a little easier.

First, research, organize, and outline your material before you start writing. It really helps to know where you're going before you start.

Second, write quickly. Listen to the voice in your head (the one who did all that research) and just take dictation. Don't worry about typos or bad spelling. You'll fix all that later.

Don't try to "think it up". Just get it down. Be clear, not fancy. If you don't know a fact, type (insert fact here) or something similar. Try not to interrupt the flow.

Lower your expectations. Give yourself permission to write a lousy first draft. Even for professional writers, perfect sentences usually do not flow easily. Just try to get your basic ideas down, even if they're awkward and ill-formed at first. Later, you can (and must) go back, edit and rewrite, and rewrite, and rewrite, etc.

And rewrite some more.

BTW, my blog offers writing tips regularly, and there are several articles about aspects of it on my Web site. I'm also working on a series of writing tips. If you'd like a copy when it's ready, send me an email or register at my Web site.

Tom McKay