To List or Not to List

I once had a client who earned an enviably lucrative living creating in-depth reports and proposals for a successful international corporation. Then something terrible occurred: he couldn’t write. Simply put, he was blocked. And though he struggled, took the advice of countless colleagues, tried every exercise in every self-help book in every bookstore, the words remained wedged inside.

When he came to my office for help, I asked about his writing process. “Well,” he said, “I gather my information, then start writing.”

“Do you use an outline?” I asked.

He shook his head and confessed that he, like most people in the business world, simply placed fingers to computer keys and got to work. Naturally, I advised him to write a quick list and organize his points before he started writing. That way he’d have a stronger sense of direction and would have an easier time transitioning into the text.

He tried, but returned the next week equally distressed. “When exactly does your block begin?” I asked.

He sighed, sipped from a paper cup of lukewarm coffee, and said, “With the first word. Before that, when I have to gather information or interview people, I’m fine. But I just can’t seem to write.”

“When was your best writing experience?” I asked, hoping to find some clues there.

He thought a moment, sipped his coffee, thought a little more. At last he said, “In college I had a professor who made us outline every idea before we wrote. We even had to use index cards. It was the best writing experience I ever had.”

“Then why did you stop writing that way?”

“I guess because it seemed to take too long. In fact, when I started getting blocked, everyone told me to relax and let the words flow even faster.”

Obviously, the words didn’t flow for him. They jelled and clotted. Even a list didn’t help. Ultimately, my client had to recognize his own process and yield graciously, even willingly, to its demands. He started his process by organizing his material, then wrote his ideas in a detailed stream-of-consciousness type of list, then, finally, wrote. In the end, my client wasn’t the fastest writer in the department. But he did manage to get the kinks out of his own process and write faster than he did in college and, most important, avoid additional blocks.

So, what are the best alternatives to listing? Here are the two most popular ones.

Sometimes, such as when you’re writing a complicated proposal or white paper, the light that listing provides won’t be enough. You’ll need an outline that reveals every point and subpoint along the way. First, though, consider these pros and cons:

Pro: Outlines can help you arrange your points in the most orderly, logical way before you even begin paragraph one.

Pro: Outlines take the tension out of writing by providing a clear, definite direction.

Pro: With outlines, you have more control over your word use because you know precisely when you’ve completed one idea and should move on to another.

Pro: Outlines can cut your writing time by helping you organize your thoughts to the last detail.

Con: By fitting too much information into a mold, outlines can make the writing process mechanical, even boring.

Con: Frequently, especially with reports and research papers, you won’t know exactly what you want to say until you say it.

Con: Outlines can make word use dry because they inhibit creativity.

Con : Outlines can lengthen your writing time because they take so long to create.

Freewriting

Many writing coaches and seminar leaders extol the virtues of freewriting. They reason, if you have something to say, you should say it. That’s all. Don’t plot, plan, or break down your thoughts. “Loosen up,” they say, “and the words will flow like spring rain.”

These writing experts are reacting, in part, to the processing plant of our education, which taught us to plan, plan, plan everything from the opening and the closing lines of each paragraph to the least significant punctuation mark. They’re right, too. Most of us do need to loosen up and forget the constraints our education placed on us. We need to flow. The trouble with flowing, of course, is that you can flow miles away from your main points and never come back. However, if you do feel more comfortable freewriting, go ahead. But — and this is a big but — as you go, take a second or two and list your main thoughts as you write them. Then you’ll have a quick and easy way to track your thoughts when you rewrite.