- If you're tired of how slow your writing is, then making even one of these mistakes could be what's holding you back. And I know because I used to make every single one of them. Number one, starting at the beginning. This might sound strange, but sometimes the worst thing we can do is actually start at the beginning of what we're trying to write. It can really slow us down. So that goes for the first paragraph of an essay, the introduction section of a scientific report, or even the first line of an email. 

I've actually found it best to jump into the middle of my writing and start there. So for example, if I'm writing a scientific report, I start with the methods section because it's the easiest section to write. It's just a matter of fact information and less about creative thoughts. The same goes for an email. I find it easier to write down in the email my actual point of the email, why am I actually sending something. I put that information down first, rather than trying to write, hi, I hope you're well. 

The key here is that you're getting down the key piece of information that you're trying to write about and not worrying about how you should phrase something because you're trying to start at the beginning. 

Number two, trying to write everything. As writers, sometimes we fall into this trap of trying to put absolutely everything into a single sentence or paragraph. So this problem has two sides to it. It makes your writing slower, and it makes it harder for your reader to understand. Just because we want to say something doesn't mean it's important to the reader. Remember, they don't actually know what you ever intended to tell them. They only get to read what you write. So don't think that they're ever missing out on information, because you're going to focus on putting the key pieces of information in your writing and throwing out the junk. 

Number three, editing when writing. Whatever you do, never combine those two tasks together. We want to keep our thoughts flowing so that our writing can keep flowing. So editing when writing is the fastest way to slow down your writing. It really is. 

Number four, not knowing what to write. This is a really common problem, I know. How easy it is to fix will depend on the type of writing that you're doing. For example, in academic writing, it's very easy to fix because all we have to do is more research to tell us what it is that we need to write. Whereas if we're in a creative field and we're trying to write a science fiction novel, it can be harder, and we need to draw in inspiration from other places. So in some ways, we have to do research as well, but it's done in a different way. We try and find inspiration from reading other things or maybe watching movies and even talking with people. 

Those things help us create ideas in our mind that we can then write about. But the last thing that you want to do when you're not sure of what to write is to try and write, because you can't. The best thing to do is to stop writing completely and go and do research. Go and try and find some inspiration for you to then have those thoughts and be able to write.