It's okay to be an inefficient writer

You don't need to maximize efficiency to be successful

Fountain pen and writing, from Wikimedia Commons

I'll let you in on a secret. I am a luddite when it comes to writing. I don't have bibliographical management tools other than a huge master BibTex document that I began to compile in 2009 or so for my dissertation. I don't use any AI-powered writing software, nor do I intend to do so.

I find writing joyful, like a challenging puzzle that you need to solve anew each time. Why take away the fun using all these tools? Your mileage may vary, and you should use the process that works for you. But I'm here explaining my process just to say that being an inefficient writer is fine. You don't need to optimize if you don't want to.

Here’s my process (it's the same, regardless of the length of the work): I get an idea that I feel is worthwhile. I write down the idea in one or two sentences. Then, some time later or immediately after, I write a very, very early draft just on Google Docs or in MS Word just to get the ideas flowing.

I often begin with a very vague idea of where I end up and I just begin to write. For a book, I have an overall idea of where it's going, but chapter by chapter, the process is much the same. Very often the general direction of the book changes. A disadvantage of discovery writing is that you need to re-write and edit a lot to make it all clear and smooth.

Then once I have an early draft, I put the whole into LaTeX. Now, LaTeX writing is apparently not very efficient. A comparative study concluded that even experienced users suffer some productivity loss. But I use it anyway because it helps me to tag references, and BibTex is the only bibliographical management tool I use. I never got around to using Endnote, though I know how to use it. With BibTex you can also change the style (Chicago, APA etc). I then make more cross-references and continue drafting.

Once I have a reasonable draft in terms of content, I load the whole text into Hemingway editor. This tool simply flags the adverbs, passive sentences and shows me which sentences are too long and complex. It's a very elementary tool , there is much more sophisticated AI out there, but I don't want to use those and I even find the grammar suggestions of MS Word bothersome. I use the Hemingway app to cut adverbs, passive sentences, and overlong sentences. Then, I read my piece aloud (or I ask my spouse to read it aloud to me, even better) and I think and listen about whether it sounds good. I flag where my attention begins to drift, where it sounds incoherent, where the flow seems off. I go through two more drafts, at least one more is another read aloud.

In that advanced drafting process, as the piece is forming and maturing, I read other things, especially poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. I go for a walk in Forest Park. I listen to music. Sometimes these other influences will help me to begin in a more poetic fashion.

For me, beginnings are important. You have to set the voice and tone. If the beginning does not work, the piece cannot get started. For my recent piece on the climate crisis in Aeon (for which I received a lot of positive feedback and kind emails) I had several different beginnings, neither of which worked as well as what it became (at least, to my feeling).

Once I have a good beginning, informed by poetry, music, walks and other such things, and I can feel the voice of the piece in my head, I know the piece is getting close to ready. I give it one, two more reads and I send it to some people to read. Those people get back to me, I make substantive and minor edits, and I do one or two final read alouds. Then, I submit the piece (so I have usually heard or read my work out loud at least four, five times by the time I submit it, and I then do it again to proofread. I'm not a great proofreader).

I love the artisanal, slow, and discovery process of writing. You should not feel pressured to shortcut that process if you don't want to. If AI, or organizational software works for you, that's fine. But you can write a lot (as I do) and still be quite inefficient. I want to make a difference between efficiency and flow. You need to use the tools that maximize the ease and flow of the writing process for you, even if those aren't necessarily the most efficient or time-saving ones. So, for instance, I like LaTeX for early drafts because its fonts look nice and it makes a neatly-formatted text where cross-references and bibliography are easily embedded and can be moved around. And that helps me in the writing process. It doesn't matter that I could do the same, or better, with Endnote or some other software I don't use.

There is already so much written out there, and I don't think I'd be happier, or a better researcher or writer, if I aimed for (more) efficiency. If you like writing your first draft with a fountain pen, if something in that process is alluring to you and eases the flow of ideas, then I would say: go for it!

Also, don't be afraid to change the process if it isn't working for you anymore. I used to write point-by-point outlines that I would fill out, but I have long ago stopped doing that. My writing has definitely changed. It's less analytical, feels more spontaneous and organic. But of course, it might be that someone who discovery-writes now might find that outlining works better for them. Don't be afraid to experiment, but don't subject yourself to the tyranny of efficiency. Just use the tools that work for you.