 by Lyn Lomasi, Staff Writer
In addition to having a full time work at home position, I also do freelance writing, run several websites, and more almost full time as well. Plus, I’m a busy mom who has lots of little human people and fur kids to dole out attention and time to every day. This means that my days are extremely busy. I keep it all well-maintained and organized by being a bit unorganized – okay, I’m very unorganized most of the time. My days are very unpredictable. I choose my own hours in the work at home position I hold. However, I choose them based on when the best times to work are according to the workload and other factors. When it comes to work, that particular position comes before any other tasks, so everything else has to be worked around that. But doesn’t that require organization? Well, in a sense it does. But, not really. Let me explain. I don’t have time to sit and write out a bunch of elaborate plans. Work is always staring me in the face at every turn and much of it comes without advance notification. I have to be able to just jump into my work when it’s there. “Normal” organizational strategies would take up the time I need to get all of my daily tasks done. So, how do I know what to prioritize? Everything has to be an almost instant decision-making process. I never know what’s going to happen at any given second in a day. I might have a client with a rush order, a technical issue to monitor at one website, countless reports at another, a sick kid, and a million other things. Sitting down to create lists and plans would take away from the time needed to get these things handled. Therefore, I get everything done by making the quick executive decision on which things need to get done in each moment. This strategy has worked for years and always keeps me on top of everything. Although there are days when I have more work than I can handle, most of the time, the best thing I can do is to not have a pre-written plan or order for tasks. This may sound like my days are crazy – and they are. However, they’d be even crazier if I had to write plans. They’d have to be changed so often that I’d have to spend even more time rewriting them all day long when I could be working on my daily tasks instead. Staying organized by being what most would call unorganized has been working for me for years. However, everyone works differently. Therefore, if you try my strategy, keep in mind that it may or may not work for you. What’s your usual strategy? Is it similar or different from mine and how’s it working for you? *Photo Credit: Lyn Lomasi **I originally published this on Bubblews.com (no longer published there).
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 Image © Lyn Lomasi; All Rights Reserved Need a simple way to speed up your writing that you can use each and every time? I did too. That's why I invented my own outline or template, modeled after the style I use most frequently. If you write for several venues, you may need a different basic outline for each.
Design your outline. Think about what you will need within all or most of your submissions and design an inclusive outline. Because I most often write informative how-to-type articles for Yahoo! Contributor Network and my own venues, I only needed to design one outline. I use it every time, unless I have a special assignment that requires a different style. For YCN, my outline needed a title, byline, introduction, 5 steps, and a section at the end linking to three related pieces. Because I only write for myself when I'm not writing for YCN, I can use that same format for everything, unless I am doing a quick tip or that outline style won't work for the piece. Each time you have an article idea, fill in what you can before writing. This has been even more of a life saver than my outline itself. I fill in the title and each point before I start writing. I generally will go through and do this with all my planned articles for each day before beginning to write. Sometimes an article will start flowing while I'm in the middle of this process because once the main points are filled in, it's very simple to complete the process. So I'll stop and finish that article. Once you try it, I can almost guarantee that you will never write an article the 'regular' way again. Below is a sample outline, followed by that same sample filled in with info needed to begin an article. Sample outline: Title by Lyn Lomasi intro Tip sentence. text Tip sentence. text Tip sentence. text Tip sentence. text Tip sentence. text More from Lyn: link link link (As you can see in the above outline, each area that needs bold or italic text is pre-formatted that way to keep it easy.) Sample outline 2: Guide to writing for the web by Lyn Lomasi intro Gear your text toward people and search. text Gain an audience with niche specialties. text Keep your audience by being truthful. text Use personal experience to gain trust. text Publish often and be consistent. text More from Lyn: link link link (As you can see in this second outline sample, it will be very easy for me to write and fill in the rest of the details because I have my main points. They just need to be explained.) |
Staff Authors
Lyn Lomasi & Richard Rowell are life & business partners. Owners of Brand Shamans & the Write W.A.V.E. Media network, we are your brand healing, soul healing, & content superheroes to the rescue!
Running our network of websites, tackling deadlines single-handedly, and coaching fellow writers, brands, & entrepreneurs to be thought leaders is our top priority. While rescuing civilians from boring content and brands, we conquer the world, living the RV life and managing our Intent-sive Nature with our awesomely crazy family while recounting The Nova Skye Story, along with Kymani’s Travels. We also strive to one day cuddle with lions and giraffes. Until then, we’ll settle for furry rescue kitties and doggies. We support many causes via our business ventures, such as homelessness, support for trans youth, equality, helping starving artists, and more! A portion of all proceeds from Intent-sive Nature goes toward helping homeless pets in local shelters. Hire Lyn & Rich! Ask Lyn Stalk Us On Social Media! Highly Recommended
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Photos used under Creative Commons from daniel_iversen, quinn.anya, Tambako the Jaguar, tranchristopher5, hitsnooze, Mads Boedker, mortsan, simbiosc, One Way Stock, Cory M. Grenier