Tips for Writing Your Article

In my last article, I presented my point of view on writing articles, and why we should all try this exercise. Some in the comments seemed willing to write articles as well but felt constrained in their desire. Although I am far from the claim of a great reporter, I will give you some advice.

The Fear of the Blank Sheet of Paper

If you are in front of your computer and you don't know what to write, or what to write on, then stop right now! If you don't have the idea of an article, it's no use. Personally, I write on my reading, personal experience, conversations, other articles, books, information. Ideas can appear at any time! 

Don't rush to write your article. Instead, write your idea down somewhere, on your notebook, or like me on a Google Keep. Let's call this tool the "Idea box". I wouldn't recommend a Microsoft OneNote or Evernote too much, it will take you too long to open and edit it. Once the idea is written, when you have a little time, review this idea of an article, and ask yourself what you would say, what research would you do to complete your reflection. 

Write in your "Idea Box" the key ideas and additional research you have. Feel free to come back to it several times, your writing will be all the more fluid. Once you see your article in your head, it's time to write!

The Choice of the Editing Tool

Already be organized! Choose a text editor with which you feel comfortable, and if possible think about having a solution that synchronizes on the cloud. This can be a text document in your Dropbox directory, or an Office 365 document or Google Docs. As for me, I chose Google Docs, but it remains a matter of taste. Coupled with Google Docs, I also use:

• Grammarly for google docs, which allows me to detect small problems on my text.

• Distraction Free Mode for Google Docs, which allows me to delete all menus, and helps me to stay focused on Text.

• Deepl.com, which is an excellent translation tool. As English is not my mother tongue, it is sometimes difficult for me to find the right expression to translate my thoughts. So I always edit my text in my native language, then have it translated by Deepl.com. Read the generated text again, it is not 100% perfect, even if it is much better than the competitors I have tried.

The Writing

Once you have chosen your text editing solution, copy and paste what you have written into your suggestion box, and start writing! The easiest way to do this is to start with the introduction, or you can start by locating the idea. Then you look at the ideas, the arguments you have found.

You put them in order, then complete the text to explain each underlying idea. You take it up like that iteratively, or you dig deeper and deeper into your ideas. Feel free to come back several times to your text, a little rest allows you to discover big mistakes or shortcomings.

I also advise you to use part titles as I do in this article, this spaces the text and makes it more readable. The reader can link to an idea that will help him/her to understand your text.

Your Article Is Almost Ready

You still have three more small steps to go:

• Choose a title! In fact, and this is unfortunate, clickbait articles work very well to make us click! However, a well-sounding title, which strikes a sensitive chord in your audience, is likely to perform very well! Really spend time choosing your title, it's it that will generate the click! Not the content!

• Choose a TL;DR, or if you don't like it, a very short summary. That's what you see at the bottom of the Dzone titles. In the case of Dzone, just put a TL;DR at the beginning of your text, the editors will know what to do with it!

• Choose the image! This gives relief to your article and will allow your article to appear with an image, rather than nothing at all. To find a royalty-free image to enhance your article, I recommend pixabay.com or

What about you? What would be your advice for writing an article?