Both processes require action.  Doing both of them at the same time is all but impossible.  You can do that, but the results won’t be good.  I believe that multitasking affects your performance.   Some researches were done to prove that.  If you want to know more, you can check research on human multitasking.  But it doesn’t matter whether you believe in them or not.  We can use logic here.  If you stop each time to check spelling, punctuation, word order, etc. will you be able to preserve ideas you have? In most cases, you’ll forget about what you want to say.

Each process must be done separately.   You must write without caring about mistakes.  If you stop to correct yourself every time, you risk losing your energy on non-productive activities.  You can correct or criticize once you have finished.  But never do both things at the same time even if you think you are good at multitasking.  After all, correction is not the job of a writer.  It is the job of an editor.

The real job of a writer is to come up with ideas not to edit them.  It is like the job of an architect.  Architects design new building, but they don’t build them.  Construction workers do that.  When you write and correct at the same time, you are like an architect who designs and, at the same time, tries to build, which is not his/her real job.

Your main job is to write.  Don’t correct yourself while writing.  Just use your energy to come up with something of value.  Don’t waste it on editing!

I am going to show you how to separate the two processes through a tried-and-tested technique.  This technique will help you write an eBook easily.

As the name suggests, Freewriting is about writing freely.  What does this mean?  You take a pencil and a piece of paper and you write without stopping.   You write without caring about what you write.  Don’t care about grammar, spelling, punctuation or anything else.  Just write anything that comes to your mind about a certain topic.

It is helpful to do some Freewriting exercises before writing your eBook.  Why?  Peter Elbow, one of the best authors and experts in writing theory, talks about freewriting in one of his books.  He said that when you write freely, you do not need to come up with good results, because the aim of freewriting is in the process not in the results.

The process is the fact that you write and you get words on paper.  Many people feel worried and anxious when they start to write.  They worry about grammar, usage, punctuation, etc.  As a result, they cannot come up with something good.  When they write freely, they forget about everything and they focus on getting ideas down.

Freewriting exercises help you learn how to get ideas down.  Through these exercises, you get to discover your own ideas about the topic.  Ideas you didn’t think of the first time.  Why? Because when we write, all we care about is writing a grammatically correct sentence.   When was the last time you wrote something wrong but didn’t stop to correct it? Never, right? We always stop and correct each time we make a mistake.  That’s not what writers do.  When some writers make a mistake, they don’t correct it.  They say “that’s how my body responds to my thoughts”.  You don’t need to say the same thing.  All you have to do is to write without stopping even if you make terrible mistakes. Don’t stop at all.

The only problem you’ll face when writing freely is getting stuck.  Whenever that happens, ask a question and you’ll start writing again.

If you plan to write your eBook now, you can use this freewriting technique to get ideas down and write your eBook easily.  If you don’t plan to write your eBook now, you can train your mind by doing free writing exercises.   You’ll surprise yourself when you do even if you don’t believe you are a good writer.