End Your Notes On A Cliffhanger And You Will Always Return.

Get into your drafts now.

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How many times have you wondered what to write? You search your note archive but it is too ‘wordy’, too disorganized and there is no zing to most of the notes you have handy. You want to quickly write and publish but you are lost in a maze of “too much” of nothing (or everything) standing out.

I learned a neat trick when it comes to taking notes that will really improve your challenge.

First thing to do is this:

As much as you can, make your notes in the draft of the platform you usually write on.

What do I mean? You write on Medium?

Yes.

Every time you feel like a note- open to Medium and write it there as a draft complete with a Title (you can always change).

And at this stage, Don’t worry about the Subtitle (yet).

I have many drafts with Titles and “jkhjknlkn” for Subtitle. “jkhjknlkn” is a placeholder of course.

Second thing to do:

Write in the body of the draft, the points that made you want to write that article.

You know- like a grocery list.

Example-

Title: Market

Subtitle: jkhjknlkn”

Body of work:

• Ketchup
• Broccoli
• Potatoes

This is all. This is your note. Do not elaborate as much as you are tempted to.

Call it your cliffhangers. Your mind will keep trying to get you back on your seat to elaborate on them.

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What we do in writing:

• Ketchup: I will have to go to the local supermarket and blah blah blah 2000 words.
• Broccoli: Maybe I will just order in and blah blah blah 1000 words.

Note taking is very important to writing. Notes are the writer’s aids against:

• writer’s block
• What do I write now?
• What did I mean when I noted ‘ketchup’ on my notepad (The title in the draft helps you always remember)
• I write for different platforms, what do I write on Medium now? (Writing in the draft of that platform cures this)

Writing notes in this cliffhanger approach also help:

• Keep your mind sharp on what points you wanted to write and elaborate on.
• With quick jabs to get you out of a block and dive right into writing.

Key Message: Note taking is very important to the writer. It is transformative to the writer’s approach when you can easily get into your draft, be reminded on why a topic matters and already have your important points to quickly elaborate on. If you are in writing for the long haul, continual improvement is key so why not try this approach before you knock it?

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