Learning to outline your articles before you write can make your writing easier, more focused and, once you master it, more productive.
Expanding a short outline into your first draft greatly simplifies getting your words into your computer or onto paper.
That's a good thing, particularly if you're writing for a nickel a word or less and need to increase your productivity.
How to develop a quick outline Start by writing down, or at least thinking about, your objective.
After all, if you don't know where you're going, you won't know when you arrived.
You don't have to write your objective down, but it does need to be in the back of your mind while you're outlining.
What you should write down is your topic sentence or, if you're not ready to do that yet, the benefit the reader will receive by taking time to read your work (for example, Read this to learn how outlining can help you write laser-targeted articles).
Open your word processor, turn on "outline" mode and type away.
Under your topic sentence, key a properly ordered list of the steps the reader needs to take to receive the benefit promised by your topic sentence.
When you've generated that list, your outline is finished.
You've not only completed your outline, but also have created a list of the individual paragraphs you will write as well as the core subject of each paragraph's topic sentence.
However, as long as you're sitting at your computer with your word processor open, consider going back to the top and turning the first subtopic into a subtopic sentence, and just keep writing.
Stay in "outline mode" or switch to draft, whichever you like, but don't stop.
You've started writing your article, and you've gone far enough to keep right on going.
When you're finished, go back and write your topic sentence, expand it into an introductory paragraph; and then write your title.
Writing your title based on what you've written in your first and last paragraph will ensure you always pay off the title.
That's all there is to it.
Writing Your First Draft Write as much of your first draft in one session as you can.
Follow the outlineyou've just written.
In fact, turn your outline into your first draft as discussed above.
Force yourself to say what you need to say without worrying about how you say it.
Just keep writing until you've expanded every point in your outline into at least a paragraph.
Don't stop to edit or move copy around.
Just pound the words out.
Beat your way around the bush, slide into your subject sideways; write as many words as it takes to get through the outline.
Don't forget your word limit, but don't let it limit your creativity either.
Write until you're finished and then stop.
If you can't write your entire article in a single session, stop when you must.
With your outline at hand, picking up where you left off won't be a problem.
If your only outline is in your head, make sure you know where you want to go next before you stop.
Stop after a subhead, or make your last sentence a highlighted note to yourself.
When you go back to your writing, read what you've written to get yourself back into the flow of your work.
Then start writing where you left off.
If you need to edit the last paragraph or two to get yourself back into the writing, go ahead, but don't just start editing yesterday's copy or you're liable to end up owning the best half-article you've ever written.
With an outline working for you, you don't have to stop, or even slow down, you just jump to the next paragraph and keep right on writing.
Here's a tip.
You can save even more time by creating your outline before starting your research.
Doing your outline first lets you concentrate on retrieving or reading only the material you need.
Your subtopic heads provide the key words you need to keep your research on track.
These are real benefits you can gain simply by taking a minute or two to develop a quick outline before you start drafting.
Try it.
It works.