“The secret to writing well” is just one of the many ideas and tips described in Jack Hart’s A Writer’s Coach: An Editor’s Guide to words that Work.

Authors and business owners looking for tips to improve their productivity and ability to write well under pressure will find hundreds of  helpful examples, ideas, insights, and tips.

Jack Hart was writing coach at the Portland Oregonian. His ideas about writing are both practical and inspirational. His ideas originated in his efforts to help generations of reporters and editors produce great writing under never-ending deadlines.

The following examples emphasize his process-oriented approach to writing.

Secrets and tips for writing well

1. The secret to writing well is in the process, not the finished product.
2. Content problems are almost always process problems.
3. Analyzing and improving process, making it less painful and more efficient, is the surest route to writing improvement.
4. Most accomplished writers follow an efficient roadmap that leads them through projects without a lot of angst.
5. Poor organization will make it devilishly difficult to craft a decent draft.
6. Nothing generates ideas like getting your hands on the keyboard.
7. Writing generates ideas by encouraging the kind of sequential, cause and effect thinking, that leads your mind into new territory.
8. The idea is the foundation for all that follows, and without a clear vision of your objective, you can’t plan your information gathering or organize your material.
9. If the writing is hard for the writer, it’s also likely to be hard for the reader.
10. Failure to organize produces a long list of consequences: missed deadlines, excessively long manuscripts, formalistic writing, slow and unproductive writers.

Jack Hart’s A Writing Coach: An Editor’s Guide to Words that Work is available as an inexpensive paperback, as well as an Amazon Kindle format.

Either way, I highly recommend it and endorse its emphasis on process and habit.