Create a writing pipeline that takes your ideas from inspiration to publication
Use the Leaders Write pipeline to create a sustainable writing practice
When I ask leaders what their writing process looks like, they often shrug a little sheepishly, like what process?
They tell me they jot down lots of ideas but never actually write them out. Or that they only write when they have an exceptional idea. Or they tell me that they feel overwhelmed when they try to make changes to their own work, but when they ask for feedback, it doesn’t always help.
In other words, they are doing some of the things writers do, but they lack a repeatable process necessary to building a sustainable writing practice. If this sounds familiar, you already know the result. Occasional writing, bursts of writing, or no writing.
So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I give you — ta da! —
The Leaders Write Pipeline
Think of the pipeline as carrying your individual projects from first idea to finished product. And while the pipeline itself is linear, the projects within in it may move back and forth between stages. With very few exceptions, you will want your projects to pass through these stages.
If you’re struggling to get a toehold in your own writing projects, I hope it helps to hear that writing has stages that can be broken down, practiced, and connected into a workflow that keeps your projects moving from ideation to publication. Here’s a quick overview of each stage. I’ll be sharing strategies, tips, and tools for all of these stages in upcoming posts.
1. Capture Ideas
The first stage in the pipeline is creating a backlog of ideas to write about. Capturing ideas to put into the pipeline depends on observing the world, noticing your thoughts, and memorializing them. If you’ve ever woken up unable to remember the idea you had in the middle of the night, you know that ideas are fragile at this stage. Make sure you’re capturing ideas as they happen.
2. First Pass
This phase does not have to begin with writing, but it should move into writing, even if only to sketch out phrases or paragraphs. We’ll be talking about lots of methods for getting past “blank screen freeze.” No need to worry yet about how it sounds or getting the grammar and punctuation right.
3. Iterate and Sculpt
In the iterate and sculpt phase, you begin to flesh out your project, play with organization, and experiment with what to keep and what to leave on the cutting-room floor. This is where you think about the tone you’re going for and the audience you want to speak to. It’s where you start thinking about word choice, sentence structure, and paragraphs.
4. Preview with Others
Previewing your work with others is important, but if you don’t know how to do it well, it can throw sand in the gears and slow you down. I’ll be talk about how to get effective feedback and how to incorporate it. Based on feedback, you may return to the iterate and sculpt phase. Depending on your needs, you may do several rounds of feedback and iteration.
5. Polish
The polish phase deals with all the deets. Proofreading, adding photos, links, metadata, and whatever else is necessary before the fruits of your labor are ready to go out into the world!
6. Publish and Promote
Getting ready to publish is an involved process, whether you are sending a piece of writing for submission or, more likely, getting ready to hit “post.” Checking and adjusting publication settings can be time-consuming, as can broadcasting your newly grown publication. Taking time to plan your strategy for sharing your work is important. I’ll be talking later about what to anticipate during the publication stage.
Ready to start your own Writing Pipeline?
This week I am sharing a usable template for building your own Writing Pipeline, tracking your projects, and beginning to move your work toward fruition! Subscribe to the Leaders Write Executive Community to access this and other great tools and exercises.