By Katy Snyder, JVA Consulting

Inspired by a great webinar I just watched from Kivi Leroux Miller called How to Write Faster: Tips for Nonprofit Marketers and Fundraisers, I thought I’d share some of JVA’s favorite tips (which have a lot of overlap with Kivi’s suggestions ) for writing quickly without sacrificing quality. As a grantwriter and editor at JVA, I’ve written and edited more documents than I can count. Here are some lessons I’ve learned along the way.

Set internal processes. At JVA, we have multiple processes in place for almost all of our written content, whether it’s for a client or for our own website or newsletter. For us, that usually means at least one content review and an edit. While this may seem like a good way to guarantee a long writing process, we find that it actually can shorten the time from draft to final product, especially when documents are tightly focused (keep reading below to see how we keep documents focused).

Keep it organized. Our main tools for organizing all of our writing—from blogs to newsletters to federal grants to evaluation plans—are calendars, much like Kivi recommends. We use iCal to organize both content reviews and editing so writers, reviewers and editors can manage their time effectively. If you don’t have access to an online calendar, a good old white board or wall calendar will do. Just make sure everyone understands that using it is mandatory.

Do whatever you need to do to be successful. So once you have your writing processes down and your reviews organized, you’ll actually need to write. This is where it is really up to you to find out what works best. Kivi gave a lot of insightful tips in her webinar about finding what works for you, from starting a “tradition” (such as getting a cup of tea or coffee before you settle in, my personal favorite) that signals it’s time to work to setting time parameters for you to help you simulate a deadline if you are a person who works well under pressure. In fact, I am writing this blog with my timer set to 25 minutes, and so far, I think it’s working great. The trick is looking back to times you successfully wrote something great in a short amount of time. What was the common denominator? I know for me it’s a combination of a deadline coupled with a topic that I really care about. Some of my favorite stuff to write about is current events, especially when I know I have to write quickly to keep up with the changing details of the story. Since we all at times have to write things that may not be the most interesting to us, I recommend going back to strategies like setting a writing routine or time limit. While you still might not love the topic you are writing about, at least there is an end in sight.

Keep the end in mind. One of the hardest things for any of us is to write blind. As Kivi says, writing is slow “when you don’t know where you’re headed,” and we find the same to be true at JVA. For that reason, we start first with a checklist that outlines exactly what the client wants and what has been promised. From this checklist, we can then begin to build an outline, especially for longer, more involved pieces, such as federal grants. Our outlines are usually predicated on our “theory of the grant,” which is the overarching theme or argument that we think makes the case for whatever we are writing (e.g., for a grant, our theory might be: “Many people are going hungry while others have a surplus of food. Connecting these two groups can solve the problems of both want and waste”). Basing all of our writing around our theory (or “hook,” as Kivi calls it) ensures that we are clear-sighted about the objective of whatever we are writing. Having clearly focused writing means that two internal review processes mentioned above—content review and editing—are smooth and usually fairly painless, both for the reviewers and the writers, speeding up the process for all involved.

“Keep your hand moving.” Credit for this phrase goes to Natalie Goldberg, author of countless books on writing, and it’s a phrase we use a lot at JVA, likely because many of us are perfectionists. There are times where what is most important is to just get your thoughts down on paper. You can always go back later and polish. Kivi mentioned this in her webinar too, talking about the importance of letting yourself write whatever comes to mind, then editing with as heavy a hand as is needed to concisely convey your point or tailor what you’ve written to the format you need to put it in.

Have any great tips for writing quickly and in large quantities? Leave a comment below to share.