It's actually quite easy to write if I know what I'm writing

File this one under 'stating the obvious' section.

The 'write the first thing that comes in your head' method of writing that I traditionally have used for the last two years is actually quite difficult to sustain, if you want to be writing thousands of words every day. Because sometimes it doesn't make sense, doesn't go in the general direction you want to be going, and will easily not work at all. And then there's lots of 'downtime' to think and come up with something else, a long ideation phase. Even then it could go nowhere.

If I make a list of topics I want to write on, adding topics as they come to me, and filling up the substance later, the writing process is quicker. Interestingly enough, when I get really writing and the creative juices are flowing, other unrelated ideas come to me quicker and get written more easily as well. So it's win-win in there.

But perhaps that should be obvious, that it's easy to write something if you know what you're writing on. If you know the topic, you have a general idea of what the substance is going to be. If you know a couple of 'thesis statements' for the piece, the outcome will probably be better, and the piece get written quite fast as well. When the meaty-thinking part of writing has been done, the fill-in-the-blanks work isn't too hard.

That's something I have discovered during this temporarily hiatus, and the strange situation I found myself in over the last three months. An unwillingness to write on a daily basis but a driving need to write and meet the daily quota no matter what else is happening in my life. It's led me to discover how some processes work for me and others don't. 

An important part of the equation I haven't yet brought up is the writing tool involved as well. The blogger editor doesn't offer many grammatical or stylistic suggestions so I barf out the words, aim at the wordcount and am done with it. When I'm using something like word or grammarly and my use of cliches and unnecessary phrases is caught, I'm forced to restructure the sentences. That forces me to actually consider the ideas behind the words and how I want to present. It takes a little longer to write, but it's 'easier' because the cognitive load of organization and 'cleanup' is taken off of me.

I should be generating ideas on the go more often.