Four ways to organize your thoughts

I was sure organizing my thoughts in advance will stiffle my creativity and make my writing stiff and uninspired. I was looking for serendipity hence i didn’t have to plan.

I wanted to start creating content for a living and i need to turn out several polished articles every week churning out at least a thousand words per article to earn a keep which is a lot. Writing without an outline takes a long time to finish an article because a creative unfettered mind has a tendency to ramble in a chaotic stream of conciousness that one will then have to go back to and structure in order for it to make sense. It can also lead to over research ending up with thousands of words before getting to a quarter of the intended essay leading to going back, refocusing, trimming down and some times evening starting over. Below are tricks and tips for writing your best.

1. Do some reconnaissance reading. Unless you know your topic inside and out you have to start with some reconnaissance reading. Google and look at what others have written on the topic. Look for new and interesting ways to address the problem. Look for an angle to the issue. When reading, take notes when you see interesting research quotes which can be referenced with links to to your article. Put the information garnered in one place which allows fast writing when the time comes.
2. Write down your objective. Now that an angle has been figured out, its helpful to write down an objective. What is it you want the reader to understand and grasp by the end of the article. Put some thoughts into your objectives and see if you can write it down in one sentence. Everything you write should support an objective. An objective will help you stay focused and prevent drifting off tangents.
3. Create a list of all the main points. It could be a quick brainstorming process
4. Organize revise and eliminate. Revise and organise the list of points. Figure out the structure of your article to see if it will work well as numbered or steps, an article or in standard essay format. Take a look at the points jotted down and put them into logical order. Cross check each point to make sure its relevant to your objective. Eliminate extra points irrelevant to your write up.

Following this few steps will greatly improve and organize your thoughts when writing.