Writing FAST - Jeff Bollow 2012

When to re-focus
Decide which way to go
Strengthen

On a day when you’re feeling a lot of self-loathing and pity, you’ll want to put everything in the Re-Focus category.

Don’t.

If you actually did go through the Focus phase, you shouldn’t need to Re-Focus as much as you think. (If you jumped into it — like I did — this is where you learn never to do that again.)

Only Re-Focus when your writing is completely muddled. And I mean completely. You tried. Really, you did. But it just ain’t working. You need to try something else.

You need a whole new brick.

How does it happen? How can you go so far off track?

There are a million reasons. You tried to make it tangible, but this approach didn’t work. Or you came up with better ideas as you wrote. Or stray tangents kept interrupting (and you didn’t put them in your BIN). Or as you look at it now, your writing doesn’t fit the format (novel, screenplay, article, whatever).

Whatever the reason, only chuck out what genuinely needs to be Re-Focused.

Avoid re-starting the whole project from scratch.

If you keep “starting over” every time you write something, you’ll be spinning your wheels and getting nowhere.

Here’s the rule of thumb.

Don’t Re-Focus until you know exactly how you’re going to do it. Take the time to figure out your new approach. And don’t delete the original writing. (Just in case it looks better later.)

In other words, don’t just toss things out because you’re grumpy. When you Re-Focus a section, you’re starting that section from scratch, to make your idea stronger.

Always Re-Focus to Strengthen — never to avoid.