Imagine. There’s a gun on your head.
You have to make a choice.
“Time-travel to 26th April, 1984.
Visit Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
And stare at its exploded core.”
OR
“Type out 5 pages on the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster. In 5 days.”
What’s your choice?
My choice?
Chernobyl.
I’d die staring at the Nuclear Core.
But staring a blank screen? Noo!
Wait.
If I’m so afraid of blank-screens, how did I write this? Or how do I blog regularly?
Luckily, I have a system. To write consistently.
Lean-mean writing system
That’s what I’m calling it.
Helped my friends, family, and colleagues.
Follow it.
Never stare at blank screens again.
Step-1: Set up a platform
Unless you’re writing for your own eyes, you will need an online platform. No, don’t use Medium.com
You don’t want a closed-system. Something that lets your writing breathe.
Choose any of the following and commit:
a. LinkedIn
b. Substack
c. WordPress Blog
They are FREE.
Step-2: Papier extension
“out of sight, out of mind.”
We are visual creatures. When you look at a delicious picture of pizza, you crave it. Apply the same rules here. Papier extension converts your New Tabs in Google Chrome to a blank writing space.
Whatever ideas pop up in your mind throughout the day, note them.
Later on, expand them in the same canvas.
I complete my first draft in Papier.
Step-3: Hemingway app
Familiar with Ernest Hemingway’s work?
No? Not an issue.
Apart from being a literary genius, the world knows him as an extreme editor.
HemingwayApp helps you edit like Hemingway. Final draft takes place here.
I aim for Grade-6 reading level. By simplifying sentences. Trimming them slim. No one likes big fat chunk of writing.
Step-4: Buffer
Now, this is optional.
It is like schedule-send in Gmail.
Write today. Send whenever, wherever.
I use it because I publish on more than one platform. I create content in advance. And let Buffer push the content as per the set schedule.
I do not recommend it for beginners. It will slow you down.
Step-5: Publish
Yes, this is a step.
Getting swallowed by doubts is not new. It paralyzes me everytime I’m about to hit publish. But with time, I’ve grown used to it. Attacks are not as intense as before.
Just. Hit. Publish.
No one is going to judge you.
Let me know when your first piece is out!
I want to read it.
Now…time for some tips.
Tips
- Whether it is LinkedIn, Substack or WordPress, keep your publishing platform open on your screen.
All day, everyday.
“Out of sight, out of mind” remember?
- Write as you talk
- Ignore your social media likes/comments etc. You will never win the validation game
More Tips
- Don’t commit to “500 words a day” type of feat. Doesn’t work like that. Write at your current capacity and slowly increase the pace
- Don’t use AI tools for idea generation. Seriously. Capture your own ideas throughout the day. They don’t sound original? That’s okay
What about motivation?
That’s next.
Motivation
Once its fuel is burnt, NASA’s Saturn-V, the most powerful rocket in the world, loses its thrust.
You too, will lose external motivation.
Still, find your own little thrusters.
Mine are Seth Godin’s words:
“When we remove the pre (finding the pen, the paper, the notebook, the software) and the post (finding a way to publish it), it turns out that we write more often, and writing more often leads to writing better.”
The trick is to START NOW.
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