As the new editor of the Helpful Hints section at NetNacs publication, I struggled picking a topic for my first article. With encouragement and suggestions coming from Jef Peace, content editor of NetNacs, I have chosen the subject "Writing a Successful Article." All writers understand how hard it is to pick a topic or basic theme and have the words start flowing.

Freewriting

Before coming up with ideas for an article, write down as many topics as possible on a sheet of paper or use Notepad. These ideas can be in the form of single words, phrases, storylines, or anything that comes in your head.

Topic Sentence

The topic sentence needs to contain a subject, a verb, and be a complete thought. The opening sentence of an article is what grabs the reader's attention. It is the main idea and should be specific and well-defined. If an article does not contain a good topic sentence, the reader will bypass it no matter how well written it is.

Some writers have the tendency to drift away from their topic and include information which does not belong in a paragraph. Paragraphs need to be uniform when written. Any ideas or sentences that are not related to the topic sentence need to be revised or a new paragraph started.

Subject, Audience, Purpose

First thoughts when beginning a writing assignment are the intended subject, audience, and purpose. Avoid talking about what you don't understand. Pick topics that you can handle, not ones that baffle you. Whenever possible, choose subjects you are familiar with such as:

What do I best?

What inspires me?

What knowledge can I pass onto others?

Answers to the above questions will motivate you to come up with writing ideas. How you approach your chosen subject depends entirely on the intended audience. If you enjoy working in a garden and want to write about it, make sure your readers are interested in gardening. Never pick a subject you know nothing about.

Keeping your purpose in mind will help you decide what to write. Do you want to explain certain things to your readers, entertain them, or just relate a great story? Without a purpose, an audience will not be interested in reading anything you have to say no matter how you approach the chosen subject.

Writing Steps

1. Preplanning
2. Rough Drafting
3. Revising
4. Proofread

Preplanning is thinking about possible subjects, jotting down ideas and arranging these ideas in an outline form. Rough drafting is taking the actual outline form and just start writing in no particular order. Revising is the rewriting of the rough draft in a way the audience can understand it. After all 3 steps are completed, proofread for grammar and spelling errors before writing the final version.

Prepublishing

Nothing is more disheartening than reading a great article which is full of grammar and spelling errors. Before publishing any written work, make sure all errors are fixed either by running it through a spell checker or simply using an old fashioned dictionary. And remember to stick to your topic and basic theme.