Excellent Tips and Techniques for Accelerating Your Writing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a terse two-page article by Noe Lorona on pages 41 and 42 in the Spring 2025 issue of Army Communicator [professional bulletin] titled Tips and Techniques for Accelerating Your Writing. I found it in the MasterFILE Premier database in the EBSCOhost collection at my friendly local public library. You can download the entire issue here. Noe’s paragraph titles are:

 

Set Writing Targets and Deadlines

Take a Stroll in the Idea Phase

Write First, Edit Later

Leverage AI Tools

Find Your Flow

Embrace Collaboration and Accountability

Overcome Writer’s Block

Iterate and Refine

Final Thoughts

 

Both motivation and urgency are important, as is shown above in my colorized version of his table. Under Set Writing Targets and Deadlines he says that: 

“Deadlines create urgency, which helps overcome procrastination. Without clear goals, writing projects can linger indefinitely. To stay on track, set word count goals by breaking your writing into manageable word count targets per session. Use timers, such as the Pomodoro technique, to write for 25-30 minutes with short breaks to maintain momentum. Commit to a publishing date, even if self-imposed, as having a target completion date adds accountability. Writing with intent makes a difference, so align ideas with the format and audience.”

 And under Take a Stroll in the Idea Phase Noe says:

“Before you start drafting, invest time in generating and refining your ideas. Rushing into writing without a clear direction often leads to disorganized thoughts and multiple rounds of heavy revisions. Do not rush into drafting; instead, stay in the idea phase longer. Use mind mapping to create a visual representation of your ideas and their connections to ensure logical progression. Brainstorm by jotting down all your thoughts, no matter how scattered they may seem, and categorize them later. Backward planning is useful. Begin with the final goal in mind to make it easier to structure the supporting arguments or sections leading up to it. Sticky notes or index cards help by allowing you to write key points down and arrange them physically to sort and prioritize content.”

 

 

Comparing scales for loudness and temperature

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

On November 23, 2023 I blogged about Five recent articles on using analogies and linked to an article by Miguel Balbin, Khatora Opperman and Tulio Rossi at Animate Your Science on November 7, 2022 which is titled How to write effective analogies for communicating research. They explained that:

 

“An analogy is a descriptive comparison of similarities between two or more different things. Using comparisons helps to explain complex and new ideas by linking them to something familiar.”

 

There is an interesting 2025 book by Walter Murch titled SUDDENLY SOMETHING CLICKED: The Languages of Film Editing and Sound Design. Chapter 19 in the section on Sound Design is titled ODE TO SPO: The Road to Apocalypse. On page 225, he has a pair of tables first listing loudness of sounds in decibels and then temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. Most of us are very familiar with temperatures between those for water freezing (32^oF) and boiling (212^oF). Walter notes there is a close alignment between the subjective experiences for loudness and temperature, although this just is a fortuitous coincidence. I have tabulated them side by side, as shown above.

 

His discussion of film editing describes working on the 1974 mystery thriller film The Conversation. It was written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. On page 133 there is an image showing how scenes in it were edited. That is shown more clearly in a two-minute Vimeo video titled Conversation: Restructure first 40 minutes.

 

Hair salons with puns for names

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found three funny articles about hair salons whose names are puns. One is by Jess Zimmermam at Atlas Obscura on September 30, 2015 and titled Hair They Are, the Punniest Salon Names in America. A second is at the Meh.com/Forum on October 23, 2018 and titled Hair places often have some of the worst (read:best) pun-tastic names. The following are all real. What’s your favorite? An undated third at DaySmart salon is The 23 Funniest Hair Salon Names. An alphabetical merged list of them is:

 

Anita Haircut

 

Barberella

Best Little Hair House

Bush Wacker

A Breath of FresHair

 

Clip Art

Combing Attractions

Curl Up and Dye

Cut and Dry

 

Deja Do

Do or Dye

Dye Pretty

 

Family Ahair

Finger Bang

From Hair to Eternity

 

Grateful Dreads

The Grateful Head

 

Hair Force One

Hair Today Dye Tomorrow

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Hair We Go!

Hairitage

Hairport

Hairphernalia

Hairatics Dye for Your Beliefs

Hannah and Her Scissors

 

Jack of All Fades

Jack the Clipper

Julius Scissor

 

Lice Knowing You

Lunatic Fringe

 

The Mane Tamer

Mullet Over

 

Nail Me Good

 

Scissors Palace

Shear Delight

Shear Destiny

Shear Lock Combs

Shear Madness

Shear Perfection

Snip Doggy Dog

Snip Tease

 

The Tortoise and the Hair

Turn Your Head and Coif

The Twisted Scissor

 

A Wild Hair

 

You Are Hair

You’ve Got Nail

 

I got started on this topic by seeing page 44 of the 2026 book by Christopher Duffy titled Humor Me: How laughing more can make you present, creative, connected, and happy. In a section on Looking for Laughs in All the Right Places Chris said:

 

“Once I was traveling through Maine when I passed a hair salon named Hair Force One. It was a pun so hilarious and terrible that it stopped me in my tracks. And then, over the course of the next week, I noticed more and more hair salon puns: State of Mane, Curl Up and Dye, and so many more. To me, Maine is now a state defined by business name puns so excruciating that they come back around to being amazing."

 

The hair salon cartoon was adapted from one at OpenClipArt.

 

 

Watch out for different cultural styles!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a good, brief article by Maria Garaitonandia on pages 26 and 27 in the February 2026 issue of Toastmaster magazine titled Untangling cultural knots and subtitled How to turn misunderstandings into bridges between cultures. Also there is a 32-minute Toastmasters Podcast (on YouTube) with Bo Bennett titled #292 Untangling Cultural Knots to Create Mutual Connection – Maria Garaitonandia.

 

Maria talks about two different cultural types that focus on either relationships or tasks. She begins with an example of Mexican executive Pedro and his American colleague Owen in her second and third paragraphs:

 

“When an urgent matter needed Owen’s sign-off, Pedro hurried to his office, only to find him on the phone. Pedro peeked in, but Owen didn’t acknowledge him, so he walked in and interrupted Owen by signaling with his hand.

 

Taken aback, Owen interrupted his conversation and said to Pedro, ‘Can’t you see I’m on the phone?’ Pedro apologized and tried to explain, but Owen interrupted him and said, ‘When I’m finished, I’ll take care of it,’ and promptly turned his back on Pedro.”

 

Then Maria talks about cultures focused either on relationships or tasks. In cultures focused on relationships (like Brazil, Mexico or in the Middle East) trust and loyalty are the priorities. Communication is contextual and layered. Being attentive and available shows respect. In cultures focused on tasks (like Germany Switzerland or the United States) efficiency and results. Communication is direct, concise, and explicit. Following schedules and procedures shows respect. These differences are summarized above via my PowerPoint table based on her discussion. I think a similar table would have been a useful addition to the article, but could have been left out due to squeezing it into just two pages.

 

Of course, if we were doing a speech that table better would be a build with the following four PowerPoint slides – adding the new information in green and graying out the previous information:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can get writing prompts from The Amazing Story Generator flipbook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On December 15, 2020 I blogged about Using writing prompts to get unstuck. And on November 12, 2022 I blogged about how Writing prompts also can be used for Table Topics questions.

 

There is a useful 2012 spiral-bound flipbook by Jason Sacher titled The Amazing Story Generator: Creates Thousands of Writing Prompts and subtitled Mix-and-match creative writing prompts. As shown above, there are three phrases which can be separately flipped to assemble a single sentence writing prompt. I got a copy from the juvenile section at the main Boise Public Library downtown.

 

The book was discussed in a brief article at CreativTeach on January 14, 2015 titled The Amazing Story Generator: It’s Actually Amazing. And there is a nine-minute YouTube video from N. V. Rivera on March 13, 2020 titled Writing Prompt 11 The Amazing Story Generator.

 

 

Is today the first day of the rest of your life?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doug Savage’s Savage Chickens cartoon for February 5, 2026 titled First has the following dialogue:

 

First Chicken: Today is the first day of the rest of your life!

 

Second Chicken: This second is the first second of the rest of this minute!

 

Second Chicken [continuing]: That’s how ridiculous you sound.

 

Where did that tired proverb come from? The Wikipedia article on Synanon has a section Beginnings saying their founder Charles E. ‘Chuck’ Dederich Sr. coined the phrase. But the 2012 Dictionary of Modern American Proverbs instead says on page 260 (see Google Books) that it first shows up in the January 29, 1968 Helena Montana Independent Record (but likely is older than that):

 

“The colorful fluorescent posters lining the walls of the crowded Student Union theatre bore such messages as….’Today is the first day of the rest of your life’.”

 

Another Wikipedia article attributes that proverb to The Digger Papers.

 

That proverb also is on a sign in a ‘Welcome to Hell’ Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An illustration for “This second is the first second of the rest of this minute!” is shown above based on an OpenClipArt image.

 

 

Brian Jenner raps about what he does as a speechwriter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was looking at a post by David Murray at his Writing Boots blog on February 4, 2026 titled Apparently, it takes diff’rent strokes to move the world of professional speechwriting. He had embedded a two-minute YouTube rap video by Brian Jenner from February 21, 2018 titled The Speechwriter Rap – Brian Jenner – Speechwriter. Text for the first minute is:

 

“I expect you’re here because 

    you’ve got a speech to make

You need to impress, there’s a lot at stake

You’re wondering – what can a speechwriter do?

That’s my job title; I’ll explain to you

On the phone, because that’s the inexpensive way

You tell me in your own words, what you’d like to say

I’ll then quiz you gently about your ideas

The journalist in me will calm all your fears

When’s the event? What’s the setting?

How many guests? Won’t that joke be upsetting?

With a clear understanding, I’ll be ready to go

Whoah! Did we agree on a fee? Oh dear no

Before that’s sorted, nothing begins

In business, we like it, when everyone wins

As a writer, for years I’ve scribbled and spoken

Check out my books, with your next book token

My skill is: I’ve written dozens of speeches

My, my. There’s a lot that experience teaches”

 

On October 19, 2025 I blogged about when Brian Jenner discusses the state of speechwriting.

 

An image of a man typing on a laptop was cropped from one at Wikimedia Commons.