Safety Speaker Insights – Writing Tips

Writing Tips From Safety Speaker John Drebinger

Recently I learned some tips on writing from someone who wrote a blog every day for three years. That is the equivalent of writing at least a 600 word article every day. He had some great tips for writing new material which were simple and profound. Also each of them could be used by any safety professional or safety speaker to create a steady stream of safety topics.

Decide

First is a mental decision. You must decide to write on a regular basis. For him it was every day, for me as a safety speaker it is every week. I also go on what I call a writing retreat where I find a spot by a lake, stream, forest, or the ocean. I set up a folding rocking chair take my space pen and yellow pad of paper and begin to write.

Make a List of Topics You Would Like to Write About

I keep a list of ideas for articles that come to mind when I hear clients speaking. I notice safety communication issues and they become a topic. I see something happen and it gives me an idea for an article. Stories in the newspaper, problems or challenges shared by friends and clients are all sources for ideas. I look at the list every couple of days which allows my mind to begin to develop ideas. If I need information ahead of time I will read and do research before I begin writing. This entire process allows your unconscious mind to be developing the ideas ahead of time. When you sit down to write all those ideas which have been brewing in your mind flow forth.

Eliminate Distractions and Interruptions

I also have made a playlist of instrumental music I have on my iPod or iPhone. I prefer to use the iPod because I don’t want my phone with me when I write. Even if it is on airplane mode I don’t want to be interrupted by one of the many distracting apps on the phone. I actually seek out locations where there is no cellular service or WiFi. A key to this entire tip is eliminate distractions and interruptions.

The music, location and pad of paper and pen become a familiar atmosphere to unleash my creativity. The combination repeated over and over allows me to start writing each time a little quicker and easier.

Begin

Now I Put Pen to Paper. Paper? Not your computer? No, I have studied several writers whom I respect and each of them believes there is something that happens when you physically write it out. It also keeps me from editing my writing as I go along. If you choose to use your computer, be sure to avoid making edits or layout changes or decisions during the creative writing phase.

Writing is a creative process and you want to keep the creativity going. Stopping to edit stops the flow of creativity. Your entire focus at this stage is to put words on paper on in your computer. Editing is an entirely different mental process involving analyzation, questioning, and other processes.

Fact Check After Creating

Finally my friend suggested you do your fact checking later. No research while you are writing. Especially if you are at your computer connected to the internet. If you are writing on a technical subject do most of your research first. Take notes and check it all after you are done. While writing sometimes something comes up that I don’t know the numbers for. For instance how many people sustained eye injuries in one year. I would write, “Every year ________ number of people sustain eye injuries.” When I am done writing I can find out the facts.

As with most of these tips the reason for this is to keep the ideas and the writing going. I’m sure you have looked something up on the internet which then led you to another interesting article and an hour later you realize how much time has gone by.

Once you have created your article or safety topic you can then type it into the computer. I find this gives my mind one more time to create and fine tune some ideas I had written down.

I hope you find these ideas helpful in creating your next safety talk or article for your employees.

Solutions For Your Safety Challenges
When you need solutions for your safety challenges give Diane Weiss a call at 209-745-9419 and bring safety speaker John Drebinger to your site to discover injury preventing solutions. You can email her at diane@drebinger.com
Until next week,
I’ll be, “Watching Out For Everyone’s Safety™”
John Drebinger
© 2017 John Drebinger Presentations
Permission to use granted when credited and contact information included. www.drebinger.com +1 209.745.9419