Learn to write in a single draft

Writing is something I typically enjoy…provided I have time to write. In the past, “time to write” has usually meant some open-ended period of time when my plate was mostly clear of other obligations. More recently, time to write often means a 15 minute pomodoro session making incremental progress on some project, the project being done when it’s done. For example, this introductory paragraph is the result of a pomodoro.

There is a third time to write which is becoming more important in my career: writing specific content to an imposed deadline, which is not something I typically considering interesting or entertaining. But it still needs to be done, and any way to lower the stress threshold pays dividends in fun and career enhancement.

What follows are some principles I’ve found to make writing more interesting and effective. I won’t lay claim to any of them, and will provide attribution as best I can recall. There are three key elements:

  1. Collect all necessary information in advance,
  2. Use a predefined template,
  3. Ensure adequate time is available.

Let’s discuss each step in more detail.

Collect information in advance

Much professional writing requires having a large number of facts at hand. In The Minto Pyramid Principle, Minto advocates separating the writing process from the thinking process. Likewise, productivity guru Cal Newport notes that writing can be conducted in phases according to the type of writing. Newport goes even further, recommending separating the information gathering phase from the writing phase. Going further may be warranted. For example:

  1. Information gathering: Collect web sites, videos, and reference books and other material.
  2. Analysis: Actively read or reread the reference material, taking notes, quotes, etc.
  3. Synthesis: Sort and classify the material which was analysed.
  4. Presentation: create the argument. This is where the actual “writing” is accomplished.

The information gathering phase is typically not that cognitively difficult, much less so than the actual writing. Gathering information in advance of writing can often be accomplished in small chunks of time, for example between meetings.

Use predefined templates

Once necessary information is collected, predefined templates can make much shorter work of many writing chores. Here are a number of examples:

  • Job Descriptions: Gather desired outcomes, responsibilities, and competencies from stakeholders, or define them in advance (which could be a second “single draft” experience).
  • Recent Wins: Collect evidence while work is in process, benefits can be written in advance to serve as a visionary statement.
  • SCQA proposals: Collect each S, C, Q, A element before writing the proposal in paragraph form.
  • Book reviews template of various lengths. For example, the Main Learning provides structure for a single paragraph review providing an actionable extracted from reading. The Precis book review template provides a longer, more in-depth structure and several actionables.

Some writing chores benefit from a template even when there is no need to collect information in advance. For example:

  • Brief bios, the need for which always seem to pop up at the most inconvenient times.
  • Key Takeaways from job interviews: synthesizing key takeaways. Can use a template. The key is interviewing appropriately such that key takeaways are easy to extract from the interview notes.

Templates are a key enabler. All of the artifacts above can be templated in advance and the templates used over and over again.

Ensure adequate time available

Writing in a single draft means having enough time to complete all necessary writing and editing in one session. People who practice time management techniques such as Cal Newport’s Time Blocking will quickly accrue an advantage as they will build a record over time of how long specific writing chores take.

Regardless of specific time management practices, ensuring you have an adequately long, uninterrupted single block of time available is critically important. The benefits of this practice include:

  1. The writing is done at the end of the session.
  2. It gets easier with practice.
  3. It get faster with practice.

“Practice” is the key word, putting in the reps pays off.

When something cannot be written in a single draft, it’s useful to put in the work to get a really good first draft complete in a single draft. Something which could be published or presented if necessary, but would still benefit from a final editing pass.

One last thing: Be wary of the “Bingo Card Effect.” It’s not always necessary to fill out every item in a template or checklist. Templates provide guidelines, not rules.