Conquering deadline writing

Deadline writing is the heart and soul of what we do. Whether it's covering a city council meeting or a Timberwolves game, sending feeds back from an explosion in Granite Falls or reviewing Penumbra's latest performance, a lot of our work is done in great haste and then sent off with no time to think about it or obsess over it or (that great secret of enterprise writing) sleep on it.

How do you write well on deadline? What secrets do you have? I asked some writers in the room and, not surprisingly, their first response was that they have no idea - they just do it. It's instinctive. But after they gave it some thought, they had a wealth of suggestions.

I've broken them into two sections:

• Things to do as you report and write - to help you focus, organize and avoid errors.
• And things to do right before you hit that "send" button - to make sure your story reads as well as if you'd had all the time in the world.

11 things to do while you report and write

1. Get the lede.

"Get it in your head at the scene. During the event you should consider every little step along the way a potential lede. Toward the end, you can settle on the best one, but that idea of constantly looking for a lede helps you appreciate every small step, and often something that you jot down that seems of small import by the end of the day provides just the right element."
- Graydon Royce

"If I'm out of the Capitol and driving back, I'll try mentally to compose the lede and the first few grafs. On a longer trip, if I have my tape recorder, I sometimes dictate to it, then transcribe when I get to my computer. The final result will be different from the tape-recorded version, but the exercise of thinking it through, of organizing first, is helpful and speeds up the process. I started on a p.m. paper, and speed was essential. It often required dictating stories by phone, which also put a premium on quick organization."
- Bob Whereatt

2. Organize as you go:

"Assemble the story in your head even as you're reporting it. Make mental notes to match the jottings in your notebook: an apt quote, the best scene setter, telling details."
- Kevin Duchschere

3. Don't get bogged down.

"If I don't have a solid lede but know in general what I want to say, I'll just move to the nut graphs or the body of the story and go back to the lede later to save time."
- Dick Meryhew

"Some people freeze on deadline. My cure for that: Start typing. The simple act of typing in possible leads or details frees you up. Sometimes writing a bad lead on deadline helps you remember what a good lead looks like, and allows you to jump-start your writing."
- Jim Souhan

4. Report the hell out of it

"If you want to make a dress, you gotta have enough material to make a dress from, as my grandma used to say."
- Jill Burcum

5. Revise as you go

"I read the story as many times as time will allow or I can stand. I do this not only after finishing the story, but also while the story is in progress. when I don't know where to take the story next, I'll scroll up to the top and read from the beginning down to where I left off. Often, this will break the brain-jam.
- Larry Odin

"Keep rewriting your lede."
- Colin Covert

6. Talk it out

"I tell a colleague what I'm writing about. It forces me to distill the main point of the story in a non-journalistic way."
- Maura Lerner

"I have to spit it out of my mouth before my fingers can write it all down. That helps me figure out the most interesting tidbit I have (which is usually the first thing out of my mouth) and organize all the information I have jotted down."
- Chris Graves

7. Outline.

"I make a quick list of the highlights, so I don't miss any. Do a quick outline, to make sure it flows logically without repeating points. (As Ron Meador once advised me, 'You can make as many stops as you want, but only take me once around the park.')"
- Maura Lerner

8. Tell your mom.

"I assume my topic is as interesting as lint from a clothes dryer. In other words, work to make it inviting - either by finding an unexpected perspective, telling fact, or a quick anecdote to lure in the reader. Try, if possible, to write what the other guy isn't. As someone once said, 'Write like you're composing a letter to your parents.'"
- Mike Meyers
(Dane Smith tells his old Uncle Ernie, rather than his mom. But the idea is the same.)

9. Do your homework.

"Write as much A matter as possible first. You don't want the pressure of reading through clips and books during the crunch time of composition."
- Graydon Royce

"Before a game, I try to know as much as possible about the teams and players involved; that way, you can devote more time to the writing and less time to looking things up or asking background questions after the fact. That also gives you a good foundation for quickly writing a story that has depth and insight."
- Rachel Blount

"I don't write anything down that I'm not sure of. I'll stop and fact-check or spell-check or, if I don't, I'll put the unchecked thing in bold so it stands out when I read it through the final time."
- Tony Kennedy

10. Pay attention.

"When I'm writing on deadline, I'm constantly thinking of fresh ways to describe things. I find that under deadline pressure, my senses are sharpened; I'm rapidly soaking up every sight, sound, and smell. As I'm taking it all in, I'm conjuring words in my head, toying with evocative and fun ways to re-create those sensations for readers."
- Rachel Blount

11. The deadline is your friend
"Mostly, I try to allow the deadline to become a de facto editor. I find that when I write on deadline, my stuff sometimes reads better, because I don't spend as much time trying to write the perfect sentence or capture the perfect image. In other words, allow the deadline to force you to be concise, crisp and to write with urgency."
- Jim Souhan

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12 things do before you hit "send"

1. Read aloud.
"I wait until everyone is gone or pretend I'm talking on the phone. When I read aloud, I don't whisper, but read at a conversational level so I can hear myself. If I stumble on a phrase, that usually means it needs some work. Reading aloud also alerts me to overused words, an abundance of ly endings or too many buts - my weaknesses."
- Connie Nelson

"I read the story aloud in my head, if possible, to check the sentence rhythm and length and see how the graphs flow together."
- Mary June Smetanka

2. Search and destroy.
"There are a lot of little things, like checking to see that you don't start a lot of graphs with the same phrase."
-Mike Kaszuba

Or, do a computer search of words you know you tend to overuse. Don't agonizing over it while you're writing; just write. And then seek out the words later and change them.
- L.H.

3. Eliminate acronyms and jargon.
For example, "TIF equals tax increment financing. But those expressions make a story read like a mortgage binder. Use TIF or tax increment financing repeatedly and you're inviting readers to head for the sports page."
- Mike Meyers

4. Strengthen the verbs.
"I'll make a quick run through the thesaurus, to eliminate the use of the same word or words over and over, and to strengthen the verbs."
- Kevin Duchschere

5. Double-check facts.
"I'll check my numbers against the source. It's too easy to mistype numbers."
- Maura Lerner

6. Trim.
"When length is a problem, I'd rather cut out sections -- entire thoughts -- than chisel off the texture and color from the most important parts of the story. Cutting is hard and painful work, but I'd rather do it myself than leave it to someone who doesn't know the story as well as I do."
- Warren Wolfe

7. Reread for flow.
"If I make last-minute changes -- say, swapping one word for another in a paragraph -- I read the two or three grafs above and below the change, so I don't create a clunk or repetition while trying to fix another."
- Catherine Watson

8. Make a printout
Some people find it easier to spot mistakes when they read their story on paper rather than on the screen. If you can, take the printout away from your desk. Go to the lunchroom, or a conference room, or the park, to give yourself a different perspective.
- L.H.

9. Shorten your sentences.
Sometimes when we write fast, we do it the way we talk - all in a rush. Shorter sentences are easier to read, especially if you're dealing with complicated or dry topics, or stories with lots of numbers. So read it through, and then liberally add periods.
- L.H.

10. Convert negatives to positives.
I'm stealing this direcfly from Jack Hart, who explains it well: "As you make the final read, key in on 'not' and 'no.' Then figure out a way to say what is, rather than what isn't. Positive forms are usually more clear and more direct than their negative counterparts. So convert 'the food was not colorful and had no distinctive tastes' to 'the food looked and tasted bland.' Turn 'the decision was not unanimous' to 'the vote was divided.'"

11. Read over your editor's shoulder.
"I QR it over the editor's shoulder. It's amazing what bizarre things I've discovered that I have done to my own copy."
- Randy Furst

12. And, finally, be passionate.
This harkens back to the Michael Gartner advice of last month: "Love what you do." Says Rachel Blount: "Hope this helps! I love deadline writing, by the way."

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