Sometimes, after typing, re-typing, and editing your text, you feel like you are not getting anywhere. Your text looks and feels like it has been re-written, but you are still not satisfied with your work. To a new writer, this may seem like an indication of poor writing. Writing does not go in a straight line. Sometimes progress is not clear-cut, as there is always some improvement in one way or another in the text. If you feel like your work is not improving, do not force it; rather, be more critical and have a writing schedule which will give you a clear measurement of your work. Here are some strategies to keep you writing:
You may feel like you are not making progress in your writing because sometimes, you are writing based on a gut feeling. This method may give you satisfaction, but it may not be as useful as you would like. Instead of asking yourself if the text is good or not, ask yourself specific questions like did I start directly? Did I stay on topic? Are my verbs active? Is the conclusion solid? These questions will help you to be more critical of your work, and it will be more productive than just having a feeling that your work is good or bad.
If you feel like you are not making progress, instead of writing a full text, narrow down your writing. Try to write a short paragraph and give it a specific task. For example, try to write a short paragraph explaining something, write an opinion paragraph, or try to describe a product with a particular spin. Write your paragraph for five minutes, then edit out all the repetitive words and phrases for five minutes. Finally, spend five minutes editing your verbs and sentence starters. These exercises will help you to continue writing, and it will help you to be more critical of your work. You will see that all you need is a little adjustment in order to improve your writing.
If you feel like you are not improving your writing, you may feel the need to start over and over again. This will not help you to improve your writing because it will not give you enough time to evaluate your work and make the necessary adjustments. You need to spend enough time on a single text and try to make all the necessary adjustments in order to see if it will work or not. For example, if you write a paragraph, and it does not sound right, try to change the first line three times, change the order of the text in the middle of the paragraph, use more specific words instead of general ones, and try to read your paragraph out loud and see where you struggle. All of these methods will help you to evaluate your work and to make the proper adjustments in order to improve your writing.
You may also ask for the opinion of other people in order to improve your writing. However, this method may not be as helpful as you think. Sometimes, if someone likes or dislikes your work, they may not be able to tell you what you did right or wrong. If someone likes your paragraph, they may tell you that it is good, but they may not tell you what makes it good. This will not help you to continue improving your writing because you do not know what exactly you need to repeat in your future writing.
If someone does not like your paragraph, they may tell you that it is bad, but again, they may not tell you what exactly you need to improve. You need someone to tell you that this sentence is wordy, or this transition is not smooth, in order to be able to repeat it or to improve it in your future writing. One way you can receive this kind of feedback is to write a paragraph and compare it with another paragraph you wrote two weeks ago. Try to find one thing that has improved and one thing that you still need to work on. This will help you to evaluate your writing and to know what you need to repeat and what you need to work on.
Last but not least, it is better to write for a short amount of time every day rather than write for a long time every once in a while. This will help you to set a routine for your writing and to know what and how you need to improve your writing every day. A good example is writing a paragraph every day for a week and doing the same type of editing every day. This will help you to know what you need to do every day and to see if it is working for you or not.
