Great Ideas That Can Really Speed Up Your Writing

One of the most important skills for a writer to learn is how to write quickly.

When I get up in the morning, after my first cup of coffee (okay, so maybe it’s my second one), I start reading. I read articles on Medium as I love seeing what has been published since last I looked, and being supportive of other writers is a great way to start the day. It’s also a great source of inspiration and new ideas.

As I do this I take notes and when possible respond based on whatever the article triggered in me. As I’ve mentioned before my responses and comments are a great source of ideas for new articles. I always bookmark articles and copy and paste comments to save for future writing sessions.

While reading this morning, I noticed a number of comments related to how to write more quickly which is a struggle for many of us. The reality these days is that writer’s can’t be successful just by writing. We have to engage with other writers and their work, do a whole lot of reading to see what’s popular and to gain inspiration for our own writing, and market the work we’ve already written.

Some writers also have family responsibilities and/or part time or full time day jobs besides all this. What all this means is that to be successful, we have to learn how to write more quickly.

Yet when we can find ways to write more quickly, it makes it possible to fit all of the things we need to do to become successful into our day without it becoming overwhelming. I’ve gathered together some ideas that I’ve found useful in speeding up my writing process which have also helped me take full advantage of the time I’m in the writing zone.

These are all strategies that I’ve found to be helpful for quicker writing. As with everything these types of strategies are very individual. Some things may resonate for you that don’t for me and vice versa.

Exercise

I’m sure there’s some of you out there that will tune me out right now after reading this subheading but don’t go just yet. I’m not saying you need to do an entire workout. However, I have noticed that when I force myself out of bed and set the timer even for two or three minutes and just do something aerobic — knee lifts, kicks, jumping jacks, I’m partial to the twist — my mind is clearer, I’m more awake and when I sit down to right I’m able to hit the ground running. If feels great when I can manage to finish a post early in the day and ideally before noon. This sometimes even makes it possible to get out a second post the same day,

Sunlight

I put a small table and chair right in the window. This lets me get some sun right after I get up. Sunlight boosts serotonin levels resulting in more positive moods and a calm yet focused mental outlook. It also inhibits melatonin production which can make you continue to feel drowsy in the morning without sun exposure.

I used to keep my blinds closed much of the day and sequester myself in my bedroom to write. I find that sitting in front of the window my mind seems clearer, and my better mood also helps me write faster and stick with an article until I finish it.

Keep a Running List of Topics

One of the best strategies I’ve used for writing faster is to keep a running list of topics readily available. I generate this through reading and whatever else I may come into contact with during the day. I’d say that for me, this has been a key to being able to publish frequently.

I can’t write when I get up and find that reading first thing in the morning is what I need to get started. As I wake up and become more alert, moving towards good writing time, ideas for new work begin to percolate based on what I’m reading. For me this is best time for the generation of new ideas.

Other ideas sometimes come to me during the day based on what people say either to me directly or things I overhear (I don’t make a point of eavesdropping but sometimes people talk way too loudly). The news is another source of story ideas for me so I have a news feed which comes up on my mobile home page whenever I unlock my phone.

The important thing here is to constantly be generating ideas that you can write off of whether you are in a writing mood or not. Find one place to gather all of these ideas together whether it’s an app, a word document or even a physical notebook. At this stage all you need is come up with ideas though sometimes adding thoughts of where to go with the topic happens naturally.

Organize Topics Daily

Each morning, when I feel ready to move from reading posts to my own writing head space, I look at my list of topics and arrange them based on what seems easiest to write, what I have the most material on already, and which topics speak to me that morning. I put the top five on index cards and tape them to the window frame next to where I write.

I don’t always write on one of these as other ideas often come up as I read. But when new ideas don’t seem to spark a fast article or the idea that seems most interesting to me will take time to research, I use the cards as my go to idea for the day. This strategy is especially useful when I’m in a negative head space and am finding it difficult to write at all or to write something that I can finish.

Start a New Article Right Before Bedtime

This may seem like a strange suggesting but it works for me. Once I get up in the morning it’s always like being rebooted. It takes a lot of time for me to become alert and feel motivated to write something new. When I have to figure out what I’m writing from scratch, even when I have a lot of material and topics to choose from, it takes time for me to feel settled and focused enough to decide what to write about. When I just have lists of ideas and topics, wading through them can lead to me feeling overwhelmed and scattered. Often I feel the need to take a break before I’ve really even started my writing day.

When I begin writing an article before I go to bed however, I often wake up with it on my mind. I also have something that my mind has already processed in terms of where the idea is going and I can pick it up quickly and continue writing.

As I’m usually tired when I start the article, what I’ve already written may need to be heavily edited or even rewritten. But having a jumping off place to start from early in my day helps me maintain a higher rate of production than I otherwise would, and a more regular publication schedule.

Find Photos Ahead of Time and Don’t Worry About Perfection

I don’t know about you, but finding the perfect public domain photo to use often makes me crazy. Frequently, I just can’t find a photo that speaks to me. I have been known to spend hours looking for just the right image. Often I have an idea in mind.

While images are definitely important for the article opening, they don’t have to be the perfect one that exactly represents what you see in your head. There are any number of pictures that can be used for a single post. I’ve learned to find one that relates to the overall theme, is clear and uses vivid colors, but am getting better at not making myself nuts over it anymore. Frustration over a photo, slows down your production rate, and means publishing your post later.

The other trick here, which I saw in an article written by Marilyn Wo, is to collect photos before your actual writing time. I have started finding photos for my top ideas when I first come up with the topics. This helps me envision the topic and ideas I have for the post and provides a framework for it when I sit down to write. It’s also a mind trick. I find that when I already have a photo selected it feels like the article is underway even if I haven’t started writing it yet.

Gather Resources As You Make Your List

When you are creating your list of topics try to gather as many resources as you can. This may mean bookmarking an article to refer back to, taking notes perhaps through private notes on Medium (another great suggestion from Marilyn Wo) or another way of taking notes on the article or create a word document with notes and links to the original sources of the ideas.

Copy passages you respond to along with your response and paste them into the document. If you are doing an article that involves research, put a short note on each article you use as to where it will fit into your article. If you’re citing any sources, format them for your reference section ahead of time.

Basically, you want all they information you’ll need for an article collected and in one place before you sit down to write it. This is probably the strategy that has increased my speed the most. Having a list of ideas that also have resources and photos already gathered in one place will make it possible to simply sit and write without the need to stop and look for information you may need.

I find that this is a great activity for those times I’m not quite able to hit the writing zone. While many say publish daily, twice a day if you can manage, for the best results (and if you’ve read my articles you know I don’t feel this is the best thing for every writer), the reality is that we all have times when we aren’t in the frame of mind to write new articles.

This can be frustrating and cause us to doubt whether we have what it takes to succeed in this business. I think that gathering information and planning articles are great things to do at the end of the day when I feel the need to continue being productive but am too tired to put together another well written post.

For those with children and other responsibilities that cause interruptions, working on resources for new articles when you’re most likely to get interrupted can be a good option. While it can be distressing to be interrupted when we’re in the “writing zone” it’s not as big a deal when we’re just gathering resources.

Don’t Worry About Being a Genius

I think writers on Medium and other blogging style platforms often think that their writing must be completely original and groundbreaking. I frequently get bogged down with this, thinking if something has already been discussed there’s no use writing about it again. On these days I struggle with topics, trying to find one that hasn’t been written about much but would seem to be a popular idea and something I have knowledge and/or an opinion about. This is a tough order to fill.

I remind myself that I don’t have to come up with a revolutionary idea as the basis of every post I write. I focus on just presenting what I know, discussing what I think, relating my experiences, or sharing what I have learned about something that others want to know about. Writing it up in my own way provides a bit of uniqueness and creativity that makes it different enough to (hopefully) be interesting to readers. Most readers are looking for either reinforcement of what they already know or new techniques or strategies to achieve a goal, not something earth shattering that rocks their world.

Write First, Edit Later

This is a common strategy for producing a relatively large amount of writing in a relatively short amount of time. Here the advice is to do your best to turn off your internal editor and just write through to the end of your post or until you reach a certain word count. Once you’re done laying down the ideas you can go back and edit or rewrite what you need to in order to create a well structured, logically ordered article.

Some argue that it’s better to not worry much about rewriting before posting, and to just do a quick read through looking for typos and obvious mistakes to be able to publish more frequently. I’m not sure if those who recommend this simply write in a more organized manner so their first draft flows logically or if their posts aren’t as well written as other articles. I’m also not sure if they are able to attract and keep a large readership.

I do know that my writing tends to ramble and be excessively lengthy when I don’t edit well. I also usually start with a general idea and often an end but no idea of how to get from one to the other and not being an outliner this makes the middle part a bit loose. When I read through what I wrote, I usually feel the need to rework, edit out, and reorder parts of it.

“In the end, writing is about quantity. Quality follows quantity, and we all have the power to get more of our writing out there, if we’re willing to learn how to become faster writers.”

— Jeff Goins

Take Away

It’s important to remember that writing fast for the sake of being fast isn’t the goal. Writing fast is what allows you to reach your goal. The faster you write the more you write. The more you write the better you write. The better you write the more readers you will have and this will also likely lead to increased earnings

Don’t worry about how fast others are writing. Compare how fast you are today to how fast you were yesterday. The goal is continued growth. As your writing speed increases, the quality of your writing and publishing frequency will follow, allowing you to move ever closer to achieving your writing goals.

Natalie Frank (Taye Carrol) has had short stories published in Haunted Waters Press, Weirdbook Magazine, Siren’s Call Publications, Lycan Valley Press and Zero Fiction among others. Her poetry has been featured a several anthologies. She is the Managing Editor for novellas and serials at LVP Publications.

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