write

Obtaining the task to write (from an external source or from a self-generated need).
Understanding the problem that led to the task. NOTE: it is not enough simply to understand the task. For example, your first essay in this class is easy to understand – but WHY am I asking you to write such a paper in the first place? That’s a different question altogether.
Organizing information and developing an approach (considering audience, message, impact, structure, outlining, putting the first words on paper).
Creating the first draft. This piece of writing will be writer-focused and probably contain grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. Since it is intended for the writer’s use only, correcting those errors as it is written is a time-wasting mistake.
Revising your initial creation. This is the point that editing is first introduced. The first editing, of course, is by the writer — and it can be (progressively) Quick, Copy, or Substantive (the three levels of editing). The revision can be circulated for others to review, and again one or more of the three levels of editing will be applied. At this point, the paper might be submitted to a professional editor for review (where one or more of the three levels of editing again are applied).
Publishing the final result.
Feedback. Publishing your written words usually results in questions or additional tasking which triggers the cycle to begin again.

NOTE:  The most frequent cause of writer’s block is trying to stop to edit and revise as you write your first draft. That simply is NOT necessary because you are the only reader.  Stop this habit and you will complete ANY piece of writing in HALF the time.
Through step four (writing the draft) your writing is writer-based; after that, it should be reader-based. Revising shouldn’t take very long, and IF it is focused on helping the reader understand, it can turn a marginal; piece of writing into one that wins accolades for its clarity and compelling qualities.
Activity:What  has happened to you in the past–either in the workplace or in the classroom–when you have applied all seven steps AND when you have failed to pay adequate attention to one or more.