7 tips to make fundraising writing less difficult

Most of what makes writing difficult is your fault. Sure, plenty of outside forces are working against you, but you create the toughest problems for yourself. (Don’t worry; it’s not just you. We all do it.)

Here are some great ways to be that self-defeating tendency from the Publication Coach Blog, at 7 ways you’re making writing too hard:

1. You’re procrastinating. I do this. I avoid starting projects (especially difficult ones), and then rely on the last-minute urgency to keep me on task. It’s stressful, and it leads to lower quality. Start your projects as early as you can, and break them into manageable chunks.
2. You’re doing too much (or too little) research. You can always use a little bit more outside knowledge. But at some point, more is just more. Learn what you need to learn for each project. And not any more than that.
3. You’re failing to plan. Make sure you know where your project is going before you start writing. Know exactly what the call to action will be. Know what stories you’ll include. Know how long the message will be.
4. You’re editing while you write. Don’t even try to make every sentence exactly right as you go. This is an impossible task, and it makes progress much more difficult. First write, then edit.
5. You’re expecting inspiration to bail you out. Inspiration happens. But not on your schedule. Just start working. Inspiration will come to you.
6. You’re setting goals that are too big. Set realistic reachable goals. That’s how you get any big job done.
7. You’re not doing nearly enough editing. The editing stage usually takes twice as long as the writing stage. Maybe more.