Freelance writing for many is a second source of income in addition to their full time job. As a result time dedicated to carving out articles is slim, and in this business time means money, so it is necessary to find a way to maximise your writing potential and construct as many quality articles as possible in the little time you have. Publishing a written article is divided into 3 areas, planning and research beforehand, the actual writing of the article, and finally editing of the draft to ensure it meets publishing standards.
Before you commence writing a first draft it is important to decide on your topic, your title, keywords to be used if any, gather research and facts and form a structure for your article. It is a good idea to have a notebook where you can write all your proposed titles, along with their research, and other interesting facts you have picked up. If there are any interesting words or phrases that may be suitable for your article include them alongside other information. Sometimes the best way to have all your research linked for one article is to draw a spider diagram with the article title in the middle and all the areas you want to consider surrounding this middle box, then as you finish writing on each area you can score it out or tick it. By having all your information to hand you can proceed with your article writing quickly and finish a quality article within a few hours. It is very important this stage is not left out, and when reading an article you can tell immediately if someone has not done enough research or not planned their structure. It is very off putting indeed and will deter you from reading other articles from the same writer.
When you are starting to write your first draft make sure you are in a mood to write and be productive. Perhaps you write better in the morning or just before bedtime, write whenever the words flow best. Make sure you are in a quiet room with no distractions so that you will not be disturbed and you will be able to complete your article as soon as possible. It also helps to set a time limit and say to yourself in 6o minutes that whatever you have got done will have to do. This way you can focus on getting your article completed as soon as possible. Save treats and luxuries for when you have completed your articles in a short space of time. This is another good motivator and helps you complete the task in hand. In order to maximise your productivity take short breaks, go outside and get some fresh air and have a glass of water. In any offline job you are entitled to a break so freelance writing is the same. Long spells without a break may leave your eyes tired and leave you feeling burnt out.
After you have completed a first draft, do a few stretches and then get the article checked for spelling and grammar mistakes. It is important to read through the article slowly and correct any errors. Editing is an essential part of writing and is another stage often skipped so that the writer can get their piece in as quickly as possible. Here again a lack of editing, like a lack preparation will result in poor quality and lower earnings. Depending on the quality of the first draft and length of the article editing can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours.
The key to writing quickly is organisation. Many writers fail to plan and organise their article structure and as a result half way in have to ditch the article due to lack of research and interest. This wastes more time in the long run, so it is much better to spend at least an hour creating a structure and reading around the article topic. The more prepared you are for writing the article the better it will be, and generally quality articles pay much more than sloppy articles, so get organised today to increase your writing productivity.