If you are as pressed for time as I am, writing fast becomes a necessity. When I sit down to write, I’ve got to churn out copy as quickly as I can. How do I make that happen–and how can you do the same? Here are a few tried and true methods I use.
- Lose the Inner Critic. Don’t do any editing, correcting or changing while you write. Consider this a first draft and let it be bad (or good). Whenever the voice of your Inner Critic tells you to go back and fix something, tell it to shut up, take a hike or go find someone else to bother for a while.
- Don’t stop for research. That means no using the Internet, no looking up quotations, no searching for information, no using spellcheck or Dictionary.com. If you find you need a piece of research as you write, leave a blank space with a little note about what belongs in that spot and keep writing. You can come back later and fill in the gap.
- Write fast. Force yourself not to sit and think too long without your fingers moving across the keyboard. Simply write fast. Get as many words done in 30 minutes, for example, as possible.
- Write like you talk. It’s not true that we write like we talk. Grammar dictates that we must sometimes write differently. However, to write fast, simply write as if you were talking to your best friend. Don’t worry about grammar. Write in the first person and address the reader as “you.”
- Use a timed-writing exercise. I sometimes call this “cooking your writing.” Get an egg timer or any type of timer that can be set for short intervals, like 10 or 15 minutes. Set the timer and then write in short bursts. Give yourself a short break in between and then start again. Do this four or five times using the other four tips and you’ll be writing at lightening speed.
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