Eve Goodnight / Minimal Choice Writing

From Eve Goodnight:

I wrote this article on Writing Habits to help people like you make progress in the quest to start freelance writing or improve their

writing. You are welcome to share it with anyone you think it would benefit. Please don't change it any way.

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Eve Goodnight / Minimal Choice Writing

I’ve talked about my freelance writing experience and how it

improved my writing. Actually that was the first thing that I

talked about on my blog. But I’m afraid I didn’t properly

convey the excitement I felt over the discoveries that I made.

It’s time to correct that. I am excited about what freelancing

did for my writing abilities! I’m excited about what it can do

for you, too.

Eve Goodnight / Minimal Choice Writing

I’ve always written, well since I could form words anyway. One

thing I always struggled with, besides finding enough time for

writing, was knowing what I should write about. I suffered with

this during my engineering career when faced with a white paper

or article for a technical journal. I felt like anything I had to say

had already been said or was so obvious that nobody would want

to read it. This lead to a lot of angst-filled writing sessions. And I

could never be sure when the article was finished. I always

wanted more polishing time.

Eve Goodnight / Minimal Choice Writing

The problem was even worse when I started blogging and moving

out of the technical writing arena. I stared at blank screens for

longer than I care to admit. I second guessed my topic choices.

When I did manage a feeble start to an article, doubt about my

approach to the topic set in. Writing became really painful and it

took far too long. I suppose it was a kind of stage fright as I didn’t

really have this problem when I was writing strictly for myself.

Eve Goodnight / Minimal Choice Writing

Somehow through this anxiety, I still felt compelled to write. But I

needed to get over my “problem.” The method that I found to

cure my block was so simple. It was freelance writing. It doesn’t

sound right, does it? Writing for hire sounds like pressure and

more anxiety. Stay with me. Freelance writing removed most of

the choices that I needed to make about the article. The topic was

assigned, the word count was specified, the tone of article,

everything was all laid out for me. All I had to do was write! Oh,

and there was a timer staring from the screen at me, counting

down my precious writing minutes, leaving no doubt about when

I was finished. It was truly amazing and liberating. By the end of

the first week, I had nearly cut my article writing times in half.

Eve Goodnight / Minimal Choice Writing

You hear people talk about breaking things down into small

manageable chunks. Freelance writing does that:

Research

Writing

A Little Editing

Submit

Eve Goodnight / Minimal Choice Writing

But it wasn’t just breaking it down that caused the productive

shift. It was minimizing the choices that I had to make about the

content that allowed me to focus and let the words flow. I recently

listened to a podcast by Tim Ferriss. Listen to Episode 6 (don’t

worry, it’s a short one). Tim discusses the concept of Minimal

Choice Lifestyle. He lays out 6 rules for making life simpler and

minimizing decision fatigue. Reducing your decision fatigue

leaves you with more brain power for the things that matter, like

writing. Minimizing choices can generally make you happier.

Eve Goodnight / Minimal Choice Writing

Let’s take a look at how freelance writing stands up to Tim’s rules:

TF’s Rules of Choice Minimal Lifestyle:

Set Rules

Don’t Worry about things out of your control

Don’t postpone decisions

Make reversible decisions fast

Don’t strive for variation

No regrets

WYOC Rules of Choice Minimal Writing:

Only take jobs with clear parameters

Don’t worry about topics & word counts

Look at the timer! Get it done!

Writing is not editing

Stick to topics you know

It’s out of your hands when you hit submit

Eve Goodnight / Minimal Choice Writing

It was so cool to get this validation of the concept! This is exactly

why freelancing works as a writing improvement tool. It takes

decisions off the table and just leaves you with the writing. If you

do it consistently over a period of time, say a month, these

writing methods become habits that spill over into your other

writing.

Eve Goodnight / Minimal Choice Writing

Even if you feel like you’re a pretty decent writer already. I can

(almost) guarantee you’ll improve your research, speed or even

quality if you give freelance writing a try.

Eve Goodnight / Minimal Choice Writing

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