I have been a writer for many years and this is how I make a living. And despite what many people think, writing is work. I don’t sit at home every day doing nothing. I’m working, but I don’t work all day.

Every week I write thousands of words on my websites, blogs, emails, freelance work, books, e-books, journals, planning, sketches, research, and more.

So how do I do it?

I have a five step process that I follow. I have been a writer for so long, that I have perfected my processes for each type of writing that I do to make it faster and easier. Writing is like everything we do, as it gets easier with practice, plus we automatically get faster.

My five step process is as follows:

Idea – plan / scheme – research – writing – editing.

Idea. Any writing project starts with an idea. I never like to miss one because they disappear as fast as they appear, so I write each and every one of them, even if I don’t need them right away. It’s great to have a notebook of ideas to browse.

Plan / Scheme. Every writing project (or any project) needs a plan, which is also known as an outline. Even if I don’t have all the information I need, I’ll add notes on what I need to research to complete the project. Which leads to the next step.

Investigate. Once I know exactly what I am going to write, I do any necessary research which can be as simple as finding a suitable quote or looking for how other people approached a particular problem that I am writing about.

To write. This is the fun part. With my outline open by my side, I go through it, write down everything I want to cover, plus add my research notes in the appropriate places. If I am writing fiction, I still use an outline, and sometimes I need to do research to verify the facts.

Edit. This is the final step and should always be done last. I never edit while writing. Even when I think I’m wrong, I keep writing and don’t stop to correct anything. If I can’t spell a word, I misspell it or leave a blank space. I also try to allow at least a couple of days between writing and editing so that I can read it with “fresh eyes.” And I usually find that whenever I thought I was messing up my writing, I wasn’t. He was too close to that at the time.

And that’s my five step process.

The most important thing to remember is that writing will not work alone, no matter how much we like it.

Then you have to apply the butt to the chair and start writing.

Getting started is often the hardest. Doing something is easy. Getting started can be difficult.

But once you get started, you will find that you can write thousands of words every day.

And below is the proper quote I researched for this writing:

“The secret to getting ahead is getting started.”

~ Mark Twain