Writing FAST - Jeff Bollow 2012

Quicken and polish in 5 easy steps
Quicken and polish
Tweak

Finally, the Sentence-Level Tweak, and blasting through your Speed Plan. With the ideas and springboards in this chapter, and these five easy steps, you’ll make your work read fast.

1. Touch each word.

As you read through your writing, literally, touch each word with your pen or finger. Check every word. You’ll spot spelling mistakes, and review every thought. Then:

2. Watch like a hawk.

Hunt for grammatical errors. Look for new, more interesting ways to phrase a thought. Notice vague sentences, and paragraphs that stretch on forever. Make notes of ways to fix them. And then, finally:

3. Apply the Speed Plan.

Now that you’ve got detailed notes showing you exactly where to go, it’s time to go there. Rewrite. And when you’re finished, recycle through the Tweak phase again, fine-tuning even more. Until you’ve nailed it. And then:

4. Let go.

This isn’t the end of road, it’s a specific step. And if you don’t do it, you could correct and fix and fiddle forever. If you’ve taken the FAST System step-by-step, your writing’s pretty solid by now. It’s time to:

5. Give it to your reader.

For smaller stuff, you’re probably done. For longer stuff, send it out for objective feedback, and then consider the response. Adjust if needed. When it matches your idea, take a bow. You’ve just written with lightning speed.

Completing a major writing project is the most gratifying experience you can imagine. You started with nothing, and ended up with something that’s really very good.

Always complete projects you start. If you don’t, your self-doubt feeds on itself. As you cycle through the Tweak phase, focus on technical issues. Push to the finish line.