JGIOP: Just Get it on Paper

The JGIOP "Just Get it on Paper" Method is a brilliant strategy for writers. The approach helps free one's mind and allows one to be highly creative.
July 20, 2009

JGIOP: Just Get it on Paper

If you’re like most writers, there will a lot of times when you’re stuck on an idea and have a lot of difficulty properly iterating in writing what you are thinking in your head.

It’s an incredibly frustrating feeling when a writer struggles to find the right words, or articulate one’s thoughts in a seamless flow.

When this happens, I remind myself to follow one of my Renegade of Written Word rules, which I call JGIOP and that stands for “Just Get it on Paper.”

When you’re struggling with your writing, forget style, sentence flow and even grammar — just put your thoughts on paper. Rifle off notes and bullet points. Let your mind wander in whatever direction it desires. Follow suit by letting your fingers transcribe your thought processes through your keyboard or from pen to paper. Put any related side-notes in parentheses, but just keep the flow going.

The JGIOP approach helps free your mind and allows yourself to be highly creative.

Writing styles sometimes lead one to develop confining habits, which prohibit the full development of new and original ideas, because the writer is dedicated to maintaining a preferred form and style. As the Renegade of Written Word prefers, JGIOP breaks those confining rules and allows the writer to fully and creatively explore new ideas. Before you know it, you’ll have paragraphs and pages full of your ideas. From that point, you can start to cut and paste things together, finding the flow, and perform the necessary editing to apply your unique writing style to your ideas.

Why don’t you try to utilize JGIOP as a form of a liberating writing exercize? Take an idea you’ve been pondering.  Spend the next 20-30 minutes freely writing whatever comes to you. Forget style, form, structure… just let it flow, and Just Get it on Paper!

As always, comments much appreciated :)

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About the Author

Dave Ursillo is a professional life and career coach, multi-published author, writing teacher, and future mental health counselor. He has coached over 300 professional helpers since 2012, spoken and taught workshops on 4 continents, and turned more than two dozen writers into first-time authors. His words and work have been featured on Creative Live, Psychology Today, Forbes, INC, The Hindustan Times, and beyond.

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