Happy National Grammar Day to you! I wish I had invented this day, but at least I can make you aware of the celebration.

Not enough excitement for you? How about National Words Matter Week?

While painting what seemed like miles of baseboard and trim in my condo, it occurred to me that a painting project is like a writing project: Both involve a process.

Painting process:

1. Preliminaries: deciding to paint; then assembling tools and equipment (paint, brushes, tape, newspapers, sandpaper); then taping and preparing the surface for the paint
2. Painting quickly and efficiently (laying on that first layer of paint with the knowledge that I will come back and touch it up) 
3. Stepping back to look at the painted product, now dry, in a different light to see if I missed any spots
4. Touching up whatever I missed, sometimes repainting a whole section
5. Final touch-up and cleanup (removing tape and newspapers, scraping any stray paint, cleaning myself and my tools)

Writing process:

1. Prewriting: deciding to write, brainstorming my ideas, outlining a coherent path through my often-chaotic brainstorming
2. Drafting: letting my ideas flow onto paper without censoring or stopping to revise or rewrite
3. Stepping back to look at the written product to see what I might have missed or what I should change (I often ask others for their opinions at this stage.)
4. Revising my writing to improve it, sometimes rewriting a whole section
5. Editing and proofreading what I hope is the final product

No painter would consider skipping preliminary steps in the painting process, yet many writers plow right into drafting without enough planning and preparation. When I write, as when I paint, I find that time spent on planning and preparing makes the project flow more smoothly.

To extend the metaphor:

• My painting project could have been overwhelming, like writing a large document can be. To avoid "painter's block," I divided the project into manageable chunks. I painted all the trim and doors in a different room each weekend. Likewise, I divide large documents into sections and tackle them a section at a time. When I divide the work into chunks, I am more likely to do the divided work. Think of the writing process as project management for your document.
• I don't like to paint, but I like to have painted; likewise, I don't like to write, but I like to have written.