Do you occasionally suffer from writer’s block? Does the idea of a blank screen create in you a sense of panic and hesitation? Trouble getting started is due, in part, to what I like to call “perfectionist’s disease.” We’re reluctant to commit words to paper (or screen) for fear of not getting it right the first time.

Any professional writer will tell you the secret to overcoming this dilemma is to change your paradigm and remind yourself that the first draft is merely a warm-up exercise. Its only purpose is to put the brain in gear so you can begin the real work: the rewrite.

 I learned that lesson early as a cub reporter for The Florida Times-Union. When I had trouble starting an article, I would write four or five different leads to the story. Usually, toward the end of the exercise, I would discover what it was I truly needed to say.

 Perhaps author Robert Cormier said it best: “The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. You can always do it better, find the exact word, the apt phrase, the leaping simile.”

Assuming you agree with this premise, let me suggest a few tips as you begin the rewriting process:

• Conciseness is next to godliness. As you review your draft, try reading passages without conjunctive words like that, which, and however. If the passage sounds okay without the word, remove it. Also look for unnecessary adjectives. As Mark Twain observed: “As to the adjective, when in doubt, strike it out.”
•  Avoid clichés, jargon, acronyms and the like. They make your writing seem hackneyed and generally serve to annoy the reader.
• Assuming you’re writing on a computer (since you’re reading this on one ;-) take advantage of spellchecker and apps that advise you on grammar. But use common sense and don’t get tripped up on homophones like bear and bare.
• Whenever possible, write in the active voice instead of the passive. And make sure your tenses and pronouns are consistent throughout.
• Does the article have a main point? And is that take-away clear?
• Is the material organized so the reader can follow you from one idea to another? Did you underwrite or overwrite on some of the sub-topics?
• And finally, if at all possible, invite someone you trust (and hopefully, with good editing skills) to read your content. After several read-throughs, even the best of us lose our objectivity. 

I like what author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. had to say about the writing profession: “Our power is patience. We have discovered that writing allows even a stupid person to seem halfway intelligent, if only that person will write the same thought over and over again, improving it just a little bit each time. It is a lot like inflating a blimp with a bicycle pump. Anybody can do it. All it takes is time.”

When Christopher Sholes and his partners invented the first practical mechanical typewriter in 1867, they took great pains to introduce what we today call the qwerty keyboard. The layout was so named for the first six letters that appear to the left in the upper row of keys. Because secretaries were able to type so quickly, there was a tendency to jam the key’s levers. By arranging letters according to their frequency of use, the qwerty keyboard discouraged such jamming.

Today, of course, there are no levers. Our electronic keyboards do not jam; we can type as fast as we want. But the keyboard we’ve continued to use for the last century and a half is designed to actually slow us down. And attempts to introduce more efficient arrangements have met with negative results.

Why is that? Because we are creatures of habit. We are change adverse. Any efforts to try new approaches are met with fierce resistance.

 As I write this, our nation is teetering on the edge of economic collapse. And what are our legislators debating in the halls of Congress? An effort to repeal a law calling for the phasing out of the incandescent light bulb. Invented by Thomas Edison in 1879, the bulb is only 10 percent efficient. The remaining 90 percent of its energy is given off in heat. And yet, many Americans are vehemently opposed to replacing it with the much more efficient fluorescent bulb.

 As you introduce new ideas to your colleagues, be prepared for the inevitable opposition. Be patient. And remember Henry Ford’s observation that airplanes always take off into the wind. That’s what gives them lift and the ability to fly.

Can you hear it? The noise from all that traffic? I’m talking about traffic on the Internet. Consider that during the next 60 seconds:

• Google will handle 694,445 search queries
• More than 1,500 messages will be posted to blogs (excluding this one)
• More than 6,600 images will be posted to Flickr
• More than 600 videos will be posted to YouTube
• People will download more than 13,000 applications to their iPhones
• And more than 168 million e-mails will be sent

A study conducted by the Pew Research Center determined that last year, for the first time ever, more people got their news from the Web than from a physical newspaper. Forty-six percent of Americans said they got their news online at least three times per week, compared with 40 percent who indicated they got their news from newspapers and their companion websites.

So what is your Web presence? And what are you waiting for?