Back in the day when putting bread on my table depended on my ability to write articles quickly, I developed an easy system that I use to this day.
1. Decide on the number of words in your article. For illustration, let’s say you want to write a 500 word article on collecting political campaign buttons.
2. Next, figure out how many sub-topics you want to write about, i.e. Republican, Democrat, Third Party, and value. So you have 4 sub-topics of the main topic: How to collect campaign buttons.
3. Assume you’ll write 75 words in your opening paragraph and 25 words in your closing paragraph (this is an estimate – but close enough). Opening and closing graphs take up 100 of your 500 words.
4. Take the remaining 400 words and divide them equally among your sub-topics. That means each of your topics will get 100 words each. Writing 100 words is a breeze. (This article already has 154 words)
5. Write your article!
Here’s the deal. Once you follow the formula above, you know exactly how many words you need to write about each sub-topic. This will keep you focused and concise–and if you use this technique consistently, writing an article in 15 or 20 minutes will become second nature.
Try this article writing technique next time you’re facing the blank page and let me know how it works for you.
Nice set of tips! I’ve been writing articles on hubpages and I’ll be sure to try these techniques our for my next article.
That’s a very good article thanks I’m only just getting into writing articles and find it tremendously hard, I have never considered doing it that way and breaking it down. Its very similar to the tip I was given at school when you are studying for exams break down what you are learning into small chunks. Its simple but makes a heck of a difference when trying to digest information.
Many thanks
Khaled
Another way to write an 500 word article in about 5 minutes is to use a software like Dragon Speak. All you have to do is talk into the head set and it types what you say. You can write about a good 5 articles or more an hour with it. The program only cost me $50.00 as I got the cheap version but it works with no problems.
Hi Nancy
Thanks for the tips. I’m just starting writing articles too and it is not so easy to constantly write interesting stuff. A nice looking site you’ve got here !
How do you eat an elephant? The same way you’ve described here – one bite at a time. This is very good advice. I’m not sure about the 30 minute thing though, as I’m too much of a perfectionist for my own good!
I’m about to start writing articles and your tips will come in handy. It does seem much easier when you break the article up into subtopics.