4. Don’t turn research into an all-day affair
If you’re writing non-fiction on a subject you know nothing about, you’ll have to do research. If you want credibility as a writer, you’ll need to find the most authoritative sources available and extract the most relevant parts from them.
[div class=”ads-right”] [end-div]Every freelance writer eventually gets to know the best places online to find specialized facts, whether they’re about medicine, sports, Greek literature or how to replace the leaf springs on an old car.
Research is a tool to make your writing better. What it is not is something that should take up the bulk of your sit-down time.
It’s all too easy to get caught up in an interesting subject and research it far more than your current project requires.
Keep in mind that you’re trying to be a professional writer, not a professional researcher.
Go online, get what you need and then get off and go back to your text page. If you have made sufficient notes along the way, you’ll have all the facts you need as well as an adequate list of quality sources.
Don’t let the research become an end in itself.