Organize your research When you research a subject you will find that there isa lot of material, which cannot be used, in your current project. Use that material for something else- perhaps a related piece on the subject. The piece need not be long, but the extra dollar or two it brings in is more money that you had the day before. Keep organized clippings on all subject areas you write about Keeping your sources close at hand will save you time on searching for the information, and thus enable you to write faster. When you see an interesting article, clip it, and jot down the source.
Many editors prefer short, succinct and entertaining pieces.
So, unless a piece really cries for you to go to town, keep it short. If you are a feature writer and do enormous research for some of your pieces, don t let your hard work go to waste. A few months after publication, take the piece apart, and find out exactly what it was all about. Be creative and use different words to make the same point to a different audience. For example, you let s say you write about small business management.