UNDRESSING THIS YEAR’S WRITING FASHIONS

Determining this year’s writing fashions is harder than determining what’s hot and what’s not on the runways. The following undresses today’s trends so you can see the naked truth.

It’s true, some people write their documents without once glancing at the paragraph or line they recently finished. But most people feel tempted to press the Pg Up key on their computers and review that difficult passage, that introductory line, or perhaps that entire page. They look, but are assailed with guilt as voices from their most recent writing workshop rage that they should write and write and write and never digress from the word they recently completed.

Reality. Don’t worry, pausing to review portions of your document is more than a guilty pleasure. It helps you follow a train of thought, recapture your writing voice when your energy level wanes or you grow distracted, and gain a sense of achievement.

Spit out the words, contemporary wisdom says. Don’t worry about grammar, person, tense, or even content. Just write and go back later to clean up the mess. This is great news for you, the busy businessperson. So you let the words flow faster than beer on tap. The only trouble — once finished writing, you succumb to the age-old desire to skip rewriting altogether and get the message out, page still messy, inarticulate perhaps, but why should you care? You’re on to another task.

Reality: Like runners, writers must find their own pace. Some people can wildly whip through a document and edit later. But

most need parameters to give their writing direction. A word doesn’t feel right? Find the right one. Tense shifts? Shift it back. Otherwise, you’ll be left with an utterly chaotic mess and your editing, if you choose to do it, will take three times longer than necessary.

For years clients have told me that they know they’re terrible writers because they write slowly, as if speed is somehow connected to quality. Never mind that fast writers are often sloppy writers, or that good writers approach each word with consideration even when creating basic instructions.

Reality: Writing fast only works when you write deliberately — diligently following your list of topics, giving yourself breaks when necessary, and leaving editing time before sending out your document.

You want a cup of tea. Really. The office is cold; your fingers are cold. You ache to feel the warm mug pressed within your palm. Also, you really, really need to go to the bathroom; your bladder is pressing within like an overripe melon. Or perhaps you’re feeling fidgety and just want to walk across the room and stare mindlessly out the window for a few minutes. But no! You heard from some source somewhere that you should write until your letter is finished. So, miserable, you stay rooted to your seat.

Reality: Getting a little distance from your letter or memo can be healthy and rewarding. Besides, you can’t write well when you’re uncomfortable — no one can. So, get a cup of tea, make a call, relax a little even though you still have another paragraph or page to go. Ultimately, you’ll write faster and your documents will be livelier. Just beware: take necessary breaks; don’t create random distractions.