HBR Guide to Better Business Writing - Bryan A. Garner 2013

Write in full—rapidly
Delivering the goods quickly and clearly

Once you’ve written your three main points so that you know where you’re going, you’re in Carpenter mode— ready to put together the ideas you’ve generated and organized. Write as quickly as possible. Your sentences will be shorter than they otherwise would be, your idioms will be more natural, and your draft should start taking shape before you know it. If there’s a painful part of writing, it’s doing the first draft. When you shorten the duration, it’s not as painful.

Time yourself

To prevent premature fussing, write against the clock. (Creative writers call this speed writing. They often use it as an exercise to get juices flowing.) Allow yourself 5 or 10 minutes to draft each section—the opener, the body, and the closer—and set the timer on your computer or phone to keep yourself honest.

Don’t edit as you go

It’s counterproductive to allow the Judge and the Carpenter to work side by side. That’s essentially multitask-ing—you’re just doing two things inefficiently rather than simultaneously. And besides, the editorial part of the brain is simply incompatible with the production part. Who needs a fault-finding critic’s kibitzing when you’re trying to create something new and fresh? You’re best off keeping the Judge away as you produce your first draft. You’ll spend plenty of time editing later.

Don’t wait for inspiration

Inspiration rarely comes when you want it to. After the careful planning you’ve done, you won’t need it anyway. As the management expert Peter Drucker famously said about innovation, good writing takes careful, conscious work, not a “flash of genius.”

If you follow the MACJ process, you’ll inspire your-sef—and minimize your procrastinating. Once the Madman and the Architect have worked, you should be primed to write. Schedule the time when the Carpenter is to begin, and when the appointed time comes, get started.

Begin by writing in support of what you’re most comfortable addressing. When you get stuck, skip to something else. You need to get into a flow. If you’re still struggling when you come back to that problem passage, say out loud (to yourself or to a colleague) what you’re trying to convey. Sometimes speaking will help you find the right words. The point is to get your ideas on paper—knowing that you’ll still have time to elaborate and perfect them at the next stage.

Recap

✵ Write your first draft as quickly as you can.

✵ Don’t get stuck waiting for inspiration. Try giving yourself 5 to 10 minutes for each section when drafting.

✵ Resist the urge to perfect as you write. Saving the editing until the draft is finished will keep the Judge from getting in your way.

✵ Schedule a time for the Carpenter to work—and when that time comes, begin.

✵ If you find yourself stumped, move on to a different section you’re more comfortable with and come back to the problem once you’ve found your flow.