Give Yourself Time to Write Better

(Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes)

In our last installment, I told you that the most important trick to writing better is wanting to write better.

If you look back at my introduction, though, you’ll see another major requirement for good writing: resources. I bragged about how much of a difference good user manuals made to the company’s bottom line, but before we could make that difference we had to get access to some valuable resources, including background material from engineers, illustrations and graphics from our marketing department, and experience with the products we were talking about.

The most important resource we needed to improve our writing, though, was time.

Spending Time Improves Quality

My whole case for trying to write better often slams to a screeching halt as soon as I start talking about the time investment.

When I say, “Spending time on your writing will make it better,” so many people are quick to answer, “Well, sure, but what you’re forgetting is that good writing takes up so much time!”

For what it’s worth, we’re both right.

I suppose it’s seen as a Return On Investment thing, and those people who believe they’re just not good writers don’t think it’s worth the time it would take to do some bad writing, then try to fix it, then get feedback on that version, then incorporate the feedback, then polish it a little bit just to make some quality communication.

If they were good writers, it wouldn’t be like that. Right? If they were good writers, they could just jot off something great, with no real time investment, and of course that’s the better way to do it. But they’re not good writers.

I’ve already told you that sentiment is absurd, and this argument is where it becomes clear. Why? Because all the good writing you’ve ever read has gone through the same long, convoluted process. Every document ever written starts out as bad writing. Good documents emerge over the course of multiple drafts, and good writers give themselves enough time in the writing process to dedicate to each of those drafts.

So, yes, good writing always takes time, but it’s always worth it, too. And I don’t have to tell you why. If you’re reading this site, then you already know that content is king. If you’re believing the lie that you’re just not qualified to produce high quality content — or that it’s just not worth the time investment — then you’re holding yourself back. You’re putting yourself at a competitive disadvantage, for no good reason at all.

Spending Time Improves Efficiency

The good news is that, once you’re willing to commit the time to improve your writing quality, the Return On Investment shows up in force. As you move through drafts — especially if you’re getting quality feedback — you can clearly see your message get sharper and more compelling with each revision.

There’s more to it than that, though. When you get in the habit of scheduling all the time you’ll need for multiple revisions and feedback, you’re also allowing yourself time to find and incorporate the other resources I discussed.

Instead of just throwing your thoughts on a topic up on your blog at 11:59, to get something in for the day, you’ll have time to consider your idea and polish it. You’ll have time to do a little research, digging into the background materials and making sure your reasoning is sound. You’ll have time to come up with illustrations to make your post stand out and graphics to clarify the fine details.

If your experience is anything like mine, you’ll find that scheduling your blog posts in advance not only improves the quality of your content, it also makes blogging fun again.

Don’t believe me? Try it. Set up a blog schedule of your own, for at least the next two weeks’ worth of posts. The time investment is minimal (I’m not asking you to write all your drafts now, just some titles). I suspect you’ll immediately feel more in control of your blog, though, and ready to produce some remarkable content.

I know it worked for me. Will it do the same for you? Let us know in the comments.

Aaron Pogue is the creator of Unstressed Syllables, a general writing advice site featuring interesting, useful articles on topics ranging from business to storytelling. His decades of experience in creative and technical writing makes good writing easy for you.