(but you have options!)
Imagine trying to cook a full-course meal in one go—without prepping ingredients, measuring anything, or even turning on the stove first. Overwhelming, right?
The same can be said for writing.
Maybe you know that writing is an awesome and powerful thing, but you also kind of dread it. And maybe you think sitting down in one go and writing as much as you can all at once will lessen the pain… (believe me, I’ve done it!)
But this approach can backfire. It usually makes things harder.
Why?
It’s relying on sheer will to get the project done. In reality, writing takes several interrelated stages. Not planning for those stages, or at minimum not being aware of them, can leave you feeling like you have to hunker down, power through, and hope that words will fly out of your fingers on the keyboard. Not an effective strategy!
You can improve your writing! Understanding the three-stages of writing can help you organize yourself: your process, your time, your energy, and your technique.
These three-stages can be applied to any writing process – from writing a professional email, to writing your newest opus. Each stage will look different depending on the form, but the same overarching stages still apply.
Stage 1 – Information Gathering / Research
What are you writing about? Take time to collect some information to include in your writing.
The type information you collect is going to look different depending on the form of your project. Collecting data that you will publish in a peer-reviewed scientific journal is going to look very different from noticing and documenting personal experiences that will inform your poetry. But ultimately these different approaches are all types of “research.”
Stage 2 – Writing / Analysis
This is the stage most of us associate with writing (aka “sitting down and plunking words into the keyboard”). I like to think of this stage more broadly as “analysis”.
Why?
Writing is analysis. This means you are making sense of the information you’ve gathered and shaping it into your writing project so others will engage with the ideas. Selecting language, or putting words to the information, is one part of the work. But you also need to consider how the ideas will be organized, how the project will be structured so the ideas and material will be received by your reader/audience.
But more than that, this stage takes place beyond sitting at your computer and typing – and this is why I like to think of this stage more broadly as “analysis.” You’ll make connections between ideas in the strangest of places, away from your keyboard. Like in the grocery line, walking your kids to school, making dinner, etc. Suddenly you have an idea, or you see a link! This kind of thinking or processing “counts” as analysis.
When this happens, jot the idea in your notebook, or take a voice note. You can come back to it when you’re sitting at your computer, and the analysis will continue, as you continue to put words to the ideas.
Stage 3 – Feedback
The last stage is feedback. Is this resonating with people? Is it making sense to them? Is it engaging them in the ways that you’re hoping it’s going to engage?
You can act as your own “feedback provider” – meaning that you can step away from your writing, and return to it with fresh eyes. This way you can try to read your draft as someone new would read it (and adapt your writing based on what you are seeing/reading). But for some projects, particularly longer ones, you will likely want to get feedback from another person at different stages of your process.
You want to think carefully about who you ask for feedback. You’ll need someone who can provide good, rich feedback and help your work become stronger. But you also want to think about how they provide that feedback. Lots of people, frankly, aren’t that great at the “how” part. They might know about their own response. But they may not be strong at crafting their thoughts in ways that will help you learn and grow, and that will help you apply those ideas to your project.
Some additional thoughts
Of course, these three stages are not quite so linear in practice. You don’t do all of your research at once, put a little bow around it when the stage is done, and move on to your writing stage.
But even though the process isn’t that neat, it’s still helpful to think about these overarching stages as a reference point. So when you’re in the middle of your writing and you do become overwhelmed or tired, you’ve have a framework to help guide you.
For example, maybe you’ve been working on a particular section for a long time and it’s starting to feel frustrating and overwhelming. You can take a step back, and look at these stages to help orient yourself. You can ask: “Where am I in these three stages?”
Maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed because you feel too close to what you’ve been writing. It would be helpful to revisit the research that you did, and dive into that material again, to see it in a new way.
Or maybe you realize that you don’t have enough information to proceed, and you’re frustrated because you don’t have enough “fuel.” You decide to go back to that research stage to collect more information, do a little bit more digging and exploring.
Or maybe you’re feeling frustrated and tired because you’ve taken your writing as far as you can, but you also know it’s not done. You decide you need some feedback, so that you can return to writing with some different perspectives.
Hopefully this gives you a sense that, while the process isn’t linear, understanding these different stages can help you improve your writing by planning and orienting yourself in the midst of your writing.
Was this useful? You might like my freebie ‘The Writing Roadmap: A Simple 3-Stage Guide to Clarify Your Process’.
Also, check out my YouTube video: Overwhelmed by Writing? Try This Instead!