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Most writers waste time by multitasking. When you try to cram the processes of creating, revising, and editing into one step, your efficiency plummets. By focusing on one activity at a time, you can do it quickly and efficiently, then move on to the next step with confidence. Here I present the method of extremes- by allowing yourself periods of unlimited creativity interspersed with aggressive editing, you will express yourself clearly and quickly.

1. Make your point.
Express your main idea in as few words as possible, preferably one or two sentences.

2. Brainstorm.
List your supporting ideas, examples, and data using key words and phrases. Don't worry about evaluating the relative merits; there will be time for that later. Right now, you need to think creatively and not be slowed down with critical thinking.

3. Outline.
Choose which of the ideas from your brainstorm session are essential to your piece and decide how they fit together. Get a rough idea of the order in which they will be discussed.

4. Write a "crash draft".
Forget word count. You've picked your best ideas. Now explain them in the way that seems most natural. You don't have time to nit pick, so ignore sentence structure and word choice. Do the best you can with grammar and spelling but don't think too hard or break out the reference books. This isn't your final draft, so perfecting details is premature.

5. Take a break. You need distance yourself from your work, because things are about to get brutal.

6. Minimize.

Save a copy of your crash draft in case you get overzealous and take out something important.

Look for places where you repeat yourself. If a sentence can go, take it out. Be honest about why you wrote the sentence in the first place. Is it central to the point, or are you trying to "liven up" your writing with humor and anecdotes? Jokes and stories are fine, but only if they fit the tone of your work. Sentences designed to show off your writing acumen need to go; a great vocabulary or a gift for crafting analogies is only an asset if you use it support your ideas.

Is the piece still too long? Maybe you have too many supporting ideas. Taking out a whole section (as in a paragraph or more) is something you may need to consider. Hold off on that for now.

7. Micro-edit.

Again, save a copy of what you have before you start the next step.

Pretend words cost money and look for ways to save. Anytime you can replace a phrase with a single word, do so. Cut any unnecessary modifiers (adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases). Look for the typical culprits like "very", "actually", and "really". Words like those don't add meaning to the word they modify. What does it mean to say someone is "very tall" as opposed to "tall"? Really, I'd say that's actually quite a good example of very unnecessary words. (As is the previous sentence.)

You will be surprised at how much you can trim your work with these small changes.

8. Make the tough cuts.

If your piece still needs to be trimmed because of a word count restriction, you'll need to decide which supporting idea you can live without. Remember, you can always write a similar, longer piece for another venue; your ideas aren't being discarded, just left out of this project.

9. Take a break. You need to get back in the creative mindset.

10. Polish.
Did you say what you needed to say? Does your work reflect your personal "style"? Is it something you will be proud to share? Make any final changes necessary to ensure that your piece "reads well." Now is the time to correct any spelling and grammar errors. A thesaurus can help you with final decisions on word choice.

Learn more about this author, Raven Lebeau.
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