Learn how in this writing-process writing workshop
As a writing trainer and coach, I can always tell when a writer has:
- Written a story before organizing it
- Edited a story before writing it
- Failed to edit the story at all
I can tell when a writer writes by typing up her notes and moving them around in Microsoft Word — or when he sits with his nose in his notebook for too long.
“More valuable than any other workshop I’ve ever attended.”
— Nan Johnson, communications director, VCU School of Dentistry
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The writing process is important: The way you write affects how well you write.
Problem is, most of us were taught a lousy writing process.
But in our How to Write Better, Easier & Faster writing workshop, you’ll learn a 6-step writing process that saves you time and effort and helps you find joy in your writing.
Agenda
In this workshop, you will learn how to:
Master the writing process
Learn a 5-step creative process and a 3-step writing process that works with — not against — your brain. Produce dazzling ideas and brighter pieces when you:
- Write while washing the dishes. Find out why taking a walk, a nap or a break is actually a productive part of the creative process.
- Treat writer’s block, procrastination and formulaic thinking. When you understand the writing process, you can end-run some of the common productivity problems writers face. And the more you understand how your brain creates, the more creative you’ll be.
- Avoid “creative incest.” Stop creating communications that are dull replicas of the same thing you did last year — and the year before that. Or worse: dull replicas of your competitors’ dull replicas of dull pieces.
Get ready to write
Typing’s not writing. Thinking is writing.
In this session, you’ll learn how to develop a plan for your story — from coming up with your story angle to mapping out structure. Specifically, you’ll learn how to:
- Get Good at Getting the Goods. “Hog in, sausage out” is certainly true in writing: The better the information and inspiration you gather, the more effective the result. So how do you find the best material for your piece? With our three-step research plan.
- Organize your message. Find out how tools like Post-its, index cards, outlines, boxes — even collage — can help you organize your piece. And steal tips for wrestling your message into shape from pros like William Faulkner, Tom Wolfe and Vladimir Nabokov.
- Edit before you write. Why write a thesis when what you really need is a tweet? Instead, hit your word count the first time, every time. Over the course of my career, this one technique has saved me thousands of hours of overwriting, then cutting.
“Ann’s tips for writing budget and planning are really valuable in terms of having a solid writing process. I love the idea of writing to a word count to avoid overwriting.”
— Beth Moeller; senior project manager, IT communications office; Indiana University
Write your piece
There comes a point in any writing project where you have to follow Ernest Hemingway’s first rule for writers and apply the seat of your pants to the seat of a chair. You have to write.
Only forget that kind of writing where you hunt for the right word; peck it out; shuffle through your notes looking for some lost quote; then head to the vending machines for the third time in 15 minutes, hoping that when you come back you might — just might — think of something to say.
In this session, you’ll learn how to:
- Get your nose out of your notebook. “Writing” doesn’t mean moving notes around in a Word document. It’s not cutting and pasting a PowerPoint deck. It’s not playing grammar police. Once you experience the joys of really writing, you’ll find out how easy it is to knock out a fresh, fast rough draft.
- Write Better, Easier, Faster. Nothing can help you get words on paper faster or give your sentences more power or energy than this approach to writing.
- Let it flow. Experience the joy of what creativity experts call “flow” — when your fingers fly across the keyboard to keep up with all of the great words pouring out of your head.
“SO helpful. I’ve found a new way to think about writing, making it less intimidating.”
— Michelle Petrillo; senior account manager, communications strategy; The SPI Group
Rewrite your piece
Once you write it, you need to make sure it’s written right. In this session, you’ll learn how to:
- Stop wasting so much time fine-tuning. Spend less time obsessing over commas. Plus, research shows that when students write using this approach, they make fewer errors, so there’s less to fix.
- Win the approval process. Suffering from Approval Process Disorder? Struggling with Approvers from Hell? Trying to avoid Death By Tweakage? Leave with best practices for developing an approval process that won’t suck the success from your project.
- Edit beyond proofreading. Get processes, steps and tools for nailing readability, spelling, punctuation and grammar.
How your writing will benefit
Communicators who practice this writing process are:
- Less likely to suffer from writer’s block
- More likely to meet their deadlines
- Unlikely to get stressed out in the process
Use the writing-process steps I’ll teach you in class — in the right order — and you’ll soon be writing better, easier and faster, too.
Formats
Choose from these formats for writing-process courses:
- In-house training programs: Bring Ann in to train your whole team with on-site or online courses.
- Public Master Classes: Build your own persuasive writing skills when you attend one of our writing workshops near you.
- Association workshops: Bring Ann to your conference or chapter for a keynote, breakout session or professional development program.
I’m ready to Write Better, Easier & Faster.
I’d like to:
- Book Ann for an in-house or association workshop.
- Attend How to Write Better, Easier & Faster, Ann’s master class, June 1-29.
- Learn about our corporate communication trainer, Ann Wylie.
“I loved every minute of it and want more! I can officially say my bout of writer’s block has been kicked. I am more self-aware and know I need more time to incubate.”
— Danielle Sabbagh (Nielsen), communications specialist, Kumon North America, Inc.
Questions? Contact Ann.
