info:writing_with_dash
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By: Philip Vassallo \\ | By: Philip Vassallo \\ | ||
- | Do you write for a living? | + | Do you write for a living? |
- | on deadline in hectic, distracting environments and challenging situations for demanding people requires you to have a plan, the techniques for executing it quickly, the resolve to see it through completion, and the endurance to do it all over again. I have developed the DASH method (Direction, Acceleration, | + | Writing |
- | The DASH Method | + | The DASH Method\\ |
Direction: Hitting the ground running with the end in mind. | Direction: Hitting the ground running with the end in mind. | ||
- | does not begin until your fingers start synchronizing with what’s on your mind. Everything else is wasted time if your intention is to write. | + | Writing |
- | Direction involves: | + | Direction involves:\\ |
- | —Knowing the road ahead | + | —Knowing the road ahead\\ |
- | —Committing an idea to | + | —Committing an idea to Writing \\ |
- | —Devising a document plan | + | —Devising a document plan\\ |
- | —Using idea generators | + | —Using idea generators\\ |
- | Start by answering three big questions: | + | Start by answering three big questions:\\ |
- | —Where am I going? (Demands a purpose statement and a specific audience) | + | —Where am I going? (Demands a purpose statement and a specific audience)\\ |
- | —When must I get there? (Commits you to a deadline) | + | —When must I get there? (Commits you to a deadline)\\ |
- | —How will I get there? | + | —How will I get there? |
What if you don’t have the slightest idea of what to write? | What if you don’t have the slightest idea of what to write? | ||
- | Acceleration: | + | Acceleration: |
Acceleration implies not just speed but also a consistent momentum. You begin drafting, transferring the thoughts from your idea generator onto the screen, getting into a rhythm that keeps you going, moving to the beat of a conversation that seems natural to you, enabling your fingers to move quickly toward the finish line. | Acceleration implies not just speed but also a consistent momentum. You begin drafting, transferring the thoughts from your idea generator onto the screen, getting into a rhythm that keeps you going, moving to the beat of a conversation that seems natural to you, enabling your fingers to move quickly toward the finish line. | ||
- | at work generally falls into three situations: free, formulaic, and fresh. We’re in free mode when simple messages that come to us easily, such as when quick e-mails. | + | Writing |
- | Acceleration involves: | + | Acceleration involves:\\ |
- | —Preferring speed to precision | + | —Preferring speed to precision\\ |
- | —Favoring quantity over quality | + | —Favoring quantity over quality\\ |
- | —Getting into a rhythm | + | —Getting into a Writing |
- | —Maintaining momentum | + | —Maintaining momentum\\ |
- | Strength: Possessing the stamina to get the writing job done. | + | Strength: Possessing the stamina to get the writing job done.\\ |
- | Strength as a writer means having a strong attitude in approaching and a good system when delivering the final product. | + | Strength as a writer means having a strong attitude in approaching and a good system when delivering the final product. |
- | Strength involves: | + | Strength involves:\\ |
- | —Building a writer’s world by addressing your environmental, | + | —Building a writer’s world by addressing your environmental, |
— Employing 5-minute, 10-minute, and 20-minute fixes (depending on the amount of time available) to your drafts. The 5-minute fix covers the highest-level issues—the big idea—that the reader needs addressed. The 10-minute fix covers the structural level, which helps the reader improve the focus on essential supporting points. The 20-minute fix covers the ornamental, style level, the command-of-language issues that keep readers tuned into your ideas. This is the time to review the three big questions and assess your progress. | — Employing 5-minute, 10-minute, and 20-minute fixes (depending on the amount of time available) to your drafts. The 5-minute fix covers the highest-level issues—the big idea—that the reader needs addressed. The 10-minute fix covers the structural level, which helps the reader improve the focus on essential supporting points. The 20-minute fix covers the ornamental, style level, the command-of-language issues that keep readers tuned into your ideas. This is the time to review the three big questions and assess your progress. | ||
- | Health: | + | Health: |
- | Health is what it takes to keep the ball rolling, to maintain a steady flow of productivity. Health is a long-range goal, just as our focus on our own health is for the long term. We must ask what we can do to make fast at work second nature to us so that we can be a key source of credibility, | + | Health is what it takes to keep the ball rolling, to maintain a steady flow of Writing |
- | Health involves: | + | Health involves:\\ |
- | —Keeping your direction, acceleration, | + | —Keeping your direction, acceleration, |
- | —Stoking your creative flames | + | —Stoking your creative flames\\ |
- | —Dealing with yourself and others in meeting deadlines | + | —Dealing with yourself and others in meeting deadlines\\ |
- | To stay healthy as a writer: | + | To stay healthy as a writer:\\ |
- | 1. Develop a thick skin. Everything we write is a reflection of who we are, even if it also represents our organization’s position. People judge us by what we write, presuming to know what we think and how we feel about the positions we take. Too many people take criticism of their as criticism of their intellect, lifestyle, convictions, | + | 1. Develop a thick skin. Everything we write is a reflection of who we are, even if it also represents our organization’s position. People judge us by what we write, presuming to know what we think and how we feel about the positions we take. Too many people take criticism of their Writing |
- | 2. Develop a system for constructive criticism. This word of advice applies to your own as well as your coworkers’. | + | 2. Develop a system for constructive criticism. This word of advice applies to your own Writing |
- | 3. Discover writing time. Get creative. Finding only 10 minutes of extra available time (AWT) a day is equivalent to seizing two full hours per month from regular workdays. | + | 3. Discover writing time. Get creative. Finding only 10 minutes of extra available |
- | 4. Handwrite as little as possible. While I encourage all writers to write the way they prefer, I challenge them to prove to me that they can actually write faster by hand. The computer is there to speed the process—use it. | + | 4. Handwrite as little as possible. While I encourage all writers to write the way they prefer, I challenge them to prove to me that they can actually write faster by hand. The computer is there to speed the Writing |
- | 5. Read writers on writing. There are countless books on this subject. A good start would be the contemporary Writers on : Collected Essays from The New York Times, Volumes I and II (2002–2004). | + | 5. Read writers on writing. There are countless books on this subject. A good start would be the contemporary Writers on Writing |
- | 6. Accept and plan for inevitable emergencies. | + | 6. Accept and plan for inevitable emergencies. |
© 2010 Philip Vassallo. | © 2010 Philip Vassallo. | ||
- | |||
- | About the Author(s) |
info/writing_with_dash.1355781961.txt.gz · Last modified: 2012/12/17 17:06 by tomgee