The Writing Robot
One of my 2020 resolutions was to publish 10 articles. By October, I was up to eight. The Practice inspired me to wonder: could I increase my writing output 10X? Could I write 365 articles a year?
As Seth Godin explains, goals don’t work; habits and systems can. It took a while to create a writing system that worked for me. The secret was to automate non-writing tasks like publishing and email list maintenance. I built a writing robot for myself with nine tools: Day One, Otter.ai, iBooks, Squarespace, Grammarly, Hemmingway Editor, Day One for Apple Watch, Canva, and Streaks.
This morning, 72 of 75 minutes were spent writing. I track my progress with Streaks (image below), which gives me a visual sense of accomplishment. The system, with links to tools I use, is below.
Resolutions don’t work for me; habits and systems do. Since October, I’ve published 50 articles. As Godin says, committing to a new habit might be the single most effective work you do all year.
Content flow is built on Tiago Forte’s PARA note-taking and progressive summarization system in three phases: capturing ideas, finishing articles and staging a new article idea, like this:
I capture 2-3 ideas a day in my Day One writing sandbox folder. It’s important to write these as if I’m shipping the article. It’s a dress rehearsal! Here’s how:
Use Forte Labs PARA digital information organization system to capture ideas throughout the day. I use Day One, but any tool that supports folders, including paper journals, can work.
Transcribe remarkable podcasts and videos with Otter.ai; grab notes with iBooks. Put them all in Day One, organized with PARA.
Dictate article ideas when they pop into my head on bike rides with the Day One Apple Watch app. Transcribe them into Day One as time allows.
Use progressive summarization to develop ideas.
I finish an article each morning. Here’s how:
Block calendar from 7-10 AM every day to write.
Review my drafts that are almost ready and pick one to finish.
Copy it from Squarespace to Grammarly and Hemingway Editor.
Ship it.
Write a summary of the post for Twitter, LinkedIn, Twitter.
Create a cool Instagram post with Canva.
Send email to subscribers via the automation tool in Squarespace.
I stage a new article draft each day. Here’s how:
Scan my PARA notes for a cool idea
Write a draft in Squarespace so I can see what it would look like on the Web.
Write a metaphor and find an inspirational photo or piece of art that exemplifies the article. For non-stock images, send an email to ask permission. I have templates for this email.
Mark it as a draft. If it’s really good, schedule it for this week.
The tools for this system cost about $300 a year. Half of that is Squarespace itself and my URL. My guess is you could use other tools for less than $75 a year. For example, Medium would get the job done and save about $75 a year.
My writing process in the Streaks app.
