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If you have a full time job, and you've tried writing before, you'll find it's a really time-consuming process. After work, I don't want to jump on the keyboard again and start writing about things related to my job. But I've decided to try and write one article a week, and I've started to develop a system that makes it easy to write.
In this article I'm going to show you my system and how I've organized it so that writing articles is faster and more rewarding.
1. Keep a bank of ideas
I have a bank of ideas in a notion page. When I have an idea for an article I add a title (that later I might change) to this list so that I always have fresh ideas to pick from.
2. Outlines
When I write an article I start first with an outline with stuff I'm going to talk about. Usually to come up with the outline I ask questions about the subject, or I google what people are asking about the subject. When you have questions you basically have the sections of your article, for example, let's say you're writing an article about Frontend Testing with Jest.
"How do I install jest in my React project?" could be a question someone could have. So the first point in my article would be:
"How to install Jest in your React Project"
Sometimes I leave the question as the title of the section since it could help with SEO.
3. Batching tasks
When you sit down to write an outline what you can do is, instead of trying to write an outline and an article in a sitting, try and create 3 or 4 outlines for different articles. That way next time you sit down to write it will be easier.
4. Research when you have the outlines
Once you have the outline, you just have to do the research for the sections you've decided that will go in the article. You don't have to become an expert on the whole topic. Just search and learn about the things you've decided will go in the article.
What I also do is take a lot of notes when I do courses, read docs, learn new things by building them. Usually my notes make their way into articles.
5. Writing
If you have a few titles and outlines, writing 2 or 3 articles in one sitting is usually faster than trying to start from scratch and do the whole process for one article.
Conclusion
Try to batch your tasks and keep a stash of ideas, outlines and notes so that when you sit down to write you're 100% ready and just have to put the words together.
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