There are countless benefits of writing, including the benefit of using writing as a way to improve your thinking and sharpen your mind. On that note, we recommend learning how to write and then practicing writing, as it can benefit you in many areas of life.
Here is the thing: without writing, it is incredibly challenging to freeze your thinking on paper so that you can sharpen it. So, it doesn’t matter whether you are an aspiring author or a blogger or writing content for your website – the following writing practices can help with clear expression of thoughts.
The First Step is Always the Hardest – Just Start Writing
Once you start putting your thoughts into written words, you can see – for instance – where you are using words that aren’t well-defined. You can also spot the areas where you are saying things that don’t need to be said. Writing can also help with everything else.
As a starting point, you can start with writing anything. When we say anything, we mean anything and whatever stream of consciousness you are jotting down. It could be an essay – or – it could be the first chapter of the book that you intend to publish this year.
Speaking of publication, do you know that you can hire ghostwriter services to speed up the writing process and get your book out sooner? You can create the outline and jot down the main idea – even work on a draft – but with a ghostwriter by your side, you will be able to speed up the entire process while focusing on other areas of your life that need your time and attention.
Don’t Overthink – Jot Down Whatever is On Your Mind
Nonetheless, when it comes to using writing as a tool to sharpen your thought process, you should start with writing anything, even if it is a few pages that we are talking about. By doing so, you will get your fingers into the practice – even if it is something as simple as moving a pen along the page.
The goal that you will accomplish through free writing is that you will get to see your thinking on paper, which further accomplishes two things:
It takes the anxieties and worries in your head and puts them down in the freeze frame, which enables you to trap them in the printed form. The second thing that this simple free writing exercise does is that it helps you assess where you are sharp and where you are dull in your thinking.
Never Avoid a Proofreader – Prefer Someone with Legal Training
You do need a proofreader. However, if you can’t find a professional writer or a proofreader because we can not all find professional writers, you can talk to friends who have any type of legal training. You can even hire a lawyer to proofread or a paralegal – you want someone with a law degree.
Why, you may ask. The reason is that if you hire someone with a law degree to assess your writing or to proofread your writing – you will have someone who is exclusively trained to look at language very carefully. The underlying reason is that in a dispute or negotiation – everything comes down to the wording of contracts.
You get the point – to sharpen your thinking, start writing. Once you have jotted down your thoughts on a piece of paper – it is a good idea to get a proofreader. If you cannot get hold of a proofreader, it is in your best interest to get a lawyer or someone with legal training to read your writing.
Revise, Revise, Revise – There Are No Shortcuts to Success
There are a few things that you should keep in mind when it is time to do some revisions. The thing about writing is that it is, in fact, rewriting. You will vomit out your first few pages, and if you were to ask any professional writer, they would tell you that it is perfectly normal for the first few pages to be as bad as you can possibly imagine.
So, despite the bad first drafts, you will want to keep writing as a way to set up the game that makes it winnable. Set yourself a goal to write two pages, which can be your worst two pages – but no matter how worthless you feel the writing to be on those pages – stay consistent and keep writing.
Once you have your two pages of writing, you can approach revision in a few different ways. You can either revise the written work yourself or revise it in three rounds. When doing your first edit, you will do the editing for yourself.
In the first round, you are essentially editing for yourself, your enjoyment, and your satisfaction with what you think is good. In the second round of editing, you will essentially be editing for your readers – or – if you are a blogger, you will be editing for your fans or the people you think will really love your material.
Feedback and Criticism Shape Your Writing for Success
Now, the last round, which is the third round of edit, is for the critics and the people who try to tear apart your content by finding the little niggly points that they can twist. So, editing in three rounds can be a helpful framework for revising.
You should also have some lay people – people who are not writers as a craft – read and highlight anything that is confusing to them. If you want to be successful at what you do, you should always welcome feedback and criticism. People can like what you write, and they can dislike what you write – but they should never be confused about your writing.
This aspect perfectly explains why you should let lay people have a look at your writing and point out the confusing spots. While your writing might not be for everyone, it is essential for it to be clear and without obscurities.
On that note, you can, in the last round of editing, ask people to highlight anything that is unclear or confusing. Also, ask them to point out when their minds are wandering while they are reading your written work. This way, you will know where something is slow and whether you can take it out to improve your expression. Whenever you are in doubt about whether something needs to be removed or not – follow the rule of taking it out when in doubt.
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