The Writing Process

I’ve been talking a lot lately about my process for writing and working with clients. Why? It gives potential clients a look inside how I operate. That’s usually the first question that comes up when I’m on a discovery call or meeting with a new business.

As a freelance writer, I think it’s incredibly important to stay flexible for your clients. When we get too into the weeds of how we work, it can be difficult to flow seamlessly with the organization we’re working with. Equally important, it can make companies hesitant to work with you.

Likewise, it’s challenging for marketing departments to bring in an outside contractor to support their team. They might have reservations, especially if they’re used to working a certain way and are unsure of how a contractor will mesh with their team.

It’s our job as freelancers, consultants, and contractors to make it easy for the client to work with us. The most important thing you can do is be flexible.

When a client asks what my process looks like, I make sure to emphasize that I’m a pro at integrating with teams and syncing up with their process or publishing schedule. To do that, I keep my writing process simple and painless. Here’s what it looks like.

Review the Client Brief

The first step after solidifying a new client relationship should be reviewing the client’s project brief. Before doing any writing, it’s important to understand the goals for the content you’re creating. If you’re launching a blog, you might need to know:

• Who the target audience is
• What their pain points are
• What we’re trying to get the reader to do at the end of the article

A detailed client brief usually answers all of these questions. Once we understand why we’re writing, it’s easy to move onto the next step.

Draft the Piece

At this stage, you’ll take the first stab at the piece. I’m old school and almost always write the first draft on paper. There’s something about a pen and paper that helps the ideas flow better than the keyboard.

After scribbling it out, I’ll transpose the piece to the computer in a Google doc. That way I’m able to self edit as I type, which usually cuts down on revisions. Once it’s on the computer and I’ve eliminated the risk of spilling coffee all over the only draft, I walk away.

Or as the prolific writing coach John Romaniello says:

Let it sit then cut the shit.

Revise with Fresh Eyes

Ideally, I like to come back to the article or whatever it is that I’m putting together, a day later. Fresh eyes help me work through my writing and polish it off before the client sees it. After a revision or two, it’s ready for the client.

Send It Off

After revisions have been made, I send the piece off to the client. This is usually sent in a Google doc, which makes it easy for clients to complete the final step…

Implement Client Feedback

I always include two rounds of revisions with all of my work. Feedback is important because sometimes clients have additional points they’d like to mention after reading the finished piece. Whether it’s an addition or a language change to better match their tone of voice, I can typically dial it in within two rounds of revisions (if any are needed at all).

The client leaves their comments directly in the Google doc, making it easy to accommodate changes that need to be made.

That’s it.

The piece is done. This process takes anywhere from a few days to a week, unless I’m working on a longer piece of content. In this workflow, the client gets to be hands off until they receive the final deliverable. We don’t need five meetings or a full page of milestone deliverables and dates. It’s simple and straightforward.

What does your writing process look like?