LawProse Lesson #445: Increasing your productivity as a writer

LawProse Lesson #445: Increasing your productivity as a writer

People who write regularly tend to write well and to enjoy it; people who write infrequently tend to write poorly and to dread it.

So how can you enhance your (ahem) regularity? We recommend seven steps:

  1. Establish one or a few consistent places (writing sites) where you do all your serious writing.
  2. Keep your site clear of distracting clutter—especially attractive nuisances such as magazines, newspapers, and novels.
  3. Schedule a 30-minute daily segment for writing. Think about what you might write in the hours before the time comes (including the night before).
  4. At the appointed time, sit down and write. Commit yourself to that.
  5. Limit interruptions by (a) closing your door, (b) informing the most obvious potential interrupters that you’re taking 30 minutes to write, (c) post your writing schedule on your door, (d) silence all alerts on your phone so that only emergencies can get through, and (e) enlist significant others and colleagues to be gatekeepers who head off disruptions.
  6. Make your writing site comfortable—with a good chair and writing tools that you like.
  7. Ensure quiet at your writing site. Although some like instrumental music—do whatever works—we recommend silence.

With an inward emotional commitment to write—even if it’s just personal letters—you’ll find that all your writing will improve.    

Wait: You say 30 minutes a day is undoable? Come on. You’re a professional writer. You need at least that much ritual in your daily life. And if you can manage 60 or 90, so much the better!

Live seminars this year with Professor Bryan A. Garner: Advanced Legal Writing & Editing

Attend the most popular CLE seminar of all time. More than 215,000 people—including lawyers, judges, law clerks, and paralegals—have benefited since the early 1990s. You'll learn the keys to professional writing and acquire no-nonsense techniques to make your letters, memos, and briefs more powerful.

You'll also learn what doesn't work and why—know-how gathered through Professor Garner's unique experience in training lawyers at the country's top law firms, state and federal courts, government agencies, and Fortune 500 companies.

Professor Garner gives you the keys to make the most of your writing aptitude—in letters, memos, briefs, and more. The seminar covers five essential skills for persuasive writing:

  • framing issues that arrest the readers' attention;
  • cutting wordiness that wastes readers' time;
  • using transitions deftly to make your argument flow;
  • quoting authority more effectively; and
  • tackling your writing projects more efficiently.

He teaches dozens of techniques that make a big difference. Most important, he shows you what doesn't work—and why—and how to cultivate skillfulness.

Register to reserve your spot today.

Have you wanted to bring Professor Garner to teach your group? Contact us at info@lawprose.org for more information about in-house seminars.

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