"I am not good at writing. I have no idea what to write about. I have no time for writing."
Endless excuses. Yet, written words, despite our extensively visual world, are still one of the key ways we communicate. We write emails, blog posts, white papers, case studies, reports, course content, video scenarios …
Did I say "We"? Well, you can say: "In the era of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI), who still writes?" I do, and many other people do as well. Even if we use AI as an assistant, as soon as we want to be authentic and unique, as soon as we want to share our stories, we must write by ourselves.
One of the key issues in writing is that we treat it as a transaction, not a process: We never pick an idea for writing, we face time pressures, we miss deadlines, or we just give up.
So, let's see how we can find joy in writing, with the final goal—that our written "product" informs, teaches, and inspires people who read it. That is the ultimate intention of every writer, from the CEOs writing a letter to their employees to instructional designers writing course content.
When we do not write, we too often blame our inability to write grammatically—instead of blaming our approach, our "process." Let me reiterate: Writing is a process, and when we treat it as such, it can bring great joy! Especially when we see our final product—delivered on time!
Take the first steps & apply the core principles
If you wait, nothing will happen. You will even not know how good (or bad) you are at writing. However, as soon as you start, you will see that you have at least some writing skills, you will figure out that you have something to tell (everyone does!), and as the deadlines approach, you will suddenly notice that you already have some content.
If you base your writing on four core principles, which I have been following in my writing for years, you will be much more successful, and writing will turn out to be much easier. These are the principles:
- Feed your curiosity: You were born curious, and you only need to remind yourself to constantly seek information, listen to ideas, and get inspired by them.
- Document "on the fly": This is key! Whatever you learn and whenever you discover something, document it right away, just as a simple note.
- Enjoy your creativity: You do not need to strictly follow all rules, or templates, sometimes adding a bit creativity will make your writing enjoyable—and probably the readers will find more value.
- Feel happy by helping others: Sharing makes people happy, and envisioning happy people reading your letter, blog, or report, will make your efforts valuable.
But, without enthusiasm, you will rarely achieve your goals. A folk musician from my country, the late Lojze Slak, said: "First your heart has to sing, then your accordion will sing"." The same applies to your writing. When you are passionate about sharing what you know, then your pen (or keyboard) will start writing.
Find inspiration & document everything
Inspiration is key for good writing, even if you are just producing a report. If you have great ideas and know what to express and how to structure it, then you are well on the way.
When talking about inspiration, let your personal experience drive your writing. That is why it is so important to constantly watch, listen, read, do—and always reflect on what you have experienced.
Note your observations as well as reflections. And do not forget—you are documenting everything for yourself as well! One day you will be thankful to yourself.
You have an abundance of media for documenting—from paper notebooks to laptops, smartphones, or paper tablets. The smartphone is always with you, I usually also have a small paper notebook with a pen with me. When you document your observations, ideas, and reflections, always think about:
- What message do you want to convey?
- Who is the target audience for your message?
To optimize your efforts, also think about reusing or repurposing the thoughts that you document. Maybe you learn something while performing some tests, then you put that into a report, you create a blog from it, and later even create a presentation from your written document. Write once; use it several times.
Construct your written product
This stage is the most creative and productive part of your work. Here you gradually build your product—in fact, you assemble and almost complete your work. You produce the core of your blog, your report, document, storyboard ... without even noticing that you are making progress. Suddenly you see your work taking shape!
Whatever you have collected in your "inspiration" phase—ideas, notes, links, comments—consider as a construction site, simply as work in progress.
In this phase, you expand your initial thoughts, add knowledge, link reference materials, ask yourself questions, and enhance content visually. Techniques like brainstorming, research and analysis, and exploration can help you expand your initial thoughts and generate new ideas.
What you need to do is to put your thoughts into a coherent structure, ensuring a smooth flow for yourself and for the reader. You can use anything from mind maps to asking AI to organize the documented thoughts.
In this phase, the goal is to assemble your ideas into a sensible textual structure that flows smoothly.
I always take this phase as the most inspirational and creative one. First, since the ideas get their shape, and second, since I can add the "glue" that finally brings sense to my unstructured thoughts and creates a strong message from them.
And it is in this phase where you can fail—or win.
You fail if you let AI add some generic "glue" to your assembled ideas.
You win when you add authentic content—the "glue" that strengthens your story and conveys your personal experience! With your personal knowledge, tailored to the context, you also add credibility.
Polish your product
The last phase in your writing process is adding a bit of a shine to your product. But first, re-read your work, to be sure that it flows well—and primarily to make sure you are using short and crisp sentences.
You typically will have to trim your writing to improve readability. Most of us tend to create too many words and long sentences. Often, things can be said more clearly in shorter versions.
Shortening sentences and eliminating unnecessary words will make your content more concise and easier to remember. Synonyms can help you avoid repeating words. Simply, use a writing style that is clear and easy to understand.
But do not shorten too much. A friend of mine said: "Why do we produce a hundred pages of report, if the customer then summarizes it into one page with AI?" He forgot that the summary is a summary—and that some people truly need all the details.
In addition to shortening your message, you also want to strengthen it:
- Add some strong words and emotions—you will connect with people better
- Use active voice—it is simply more direct
- Since you are writing it, add as much personal touch as possible
Again, do not over-rely on AI. You have better personal experience than your technology, and you want your writing to be authentic.
The last pass you do in your writing is polishing any visuals, adding captions to figures, emphasizing some words (bold, italic) and quotes—you do all this to make your final piece attractive and easy for the reader to consume.
Publish it
Just before you post and announce your message to the "world," think about how you will categorize your message, and add the necessary tags.
Regarding when to publish, there are different opinions as to the best time, but my general response is: Post it once your writing is complete, and certainly on time if your piece has a deadline, such as a report.
Then you press that famous Publish or Send or Post button.
As I said in the beginning: This is the moment you finally feel the joy I was talking about!
Image credit: kenai.pl