How I Make $60 in 20 Minutes Writing Every Night

Summary

The author describes a personal routine of writing a 600-word article in 20 minutes every night, earning $60 per piece for a platform called NewsBreak.

Abstract

The author shares a unique approach to productivity by dedicating 20 minutes each night to write an article for NewsBreak, a platform that pays a base rate of $60 per article. This routine takes place after the author and her husband get into bed with their laptops, setting a timer to maintain focus. The articles are typically reviews of local establishments in her hometown, and she follows a specific structure to ensure efficiency. While acknowledging the importance of thorough research and editing for other writing projects, the author emphasizes the satisfaction and financial benefit of this nightly writing challenge as a means to capitalize on her nocturnal creativity surge.

Opinions

The author values the sense of accomplishment and the financial rewards of her nightly writing routine.
She believes that this method of writing is more productive than passively watching television.
The author is a seasoned writer, which contributes to her ability to write quickly and efficiently.
She distinguishes between the quick-turnaround articles written at night and the more in-depth pieces she crafts during the day.
The author suggests that small, productive activities can add significant value over time and provide a dopamine rush.
She encourages readers to find opportunities in their own routines for similar quick wins.

It’s a fun challenge that pays enough to turn off the television

Every night after my husband and I get in bed (with our laptops, mind you — don’t judge), I set a timer for twenty minutes and start typing furiously. Sometimes my husband offers me advice on topics and sometimes, I just go for it. Twenty minutes later, I’ve made $60 and I have a little dopamine rush of accomplishment.

At the beginning of this year, we would have simply turned on the television and watched whatever documentary we were currently enjoying. We’d agree on a topic, click the remote, and zone out in a reclined state. But recently, I’ve noticed that I get a little burst of creativity at night. So, I decided to test it out.

I can write a 600-word article, title, image, and all in about 20 minutes. Yes, I’m a fast writer. Why am I a fast writer? Because I have been writing for twenty years. It takes time to become faster. (And yes, I recognize the irony in that statement.) Also, I have developed a very specific structure for my articles that is simple to fill in with ideas. No restructuring or rewriting here.

I recognize that there is absolutely a place for letting ideas simmer, doing research, editing, restructuring, and making an article as bad a$$ as possible. I do that for many of my articles on this platform (like the articles in my Better Humans column, Pragmatic Productivity). However, for my nighttime articles, I write and publish within 20 minutes.

See, I write for a platform called NewsBreak that offers a base pay per article. When articles meet their requirements, the base pay is $60 per article (with pay for views on top of that). I have become well-versed in exactly what they want in their articles, and I have baked that into my fast-article structure.

Every night, I choose one restaurant, store, event, or other location in my hometown to review. (I’m lucky that my hometown is pretty large, so I will probably never run out of things to write about). Setting a timer helps keep me focused and it forces me to write without second-guessing.

Last night, I wrote about a diner that boasted it had the best omelettes in town. I set a timer for 20 minutes and wrote about their omelettes (and their lovely service staff), I found an omelette picture on Unsplash (sometimes I include my own photos as well), and I hit the publish button. Wham, bam, thank you for the $60 ma’am.

Is my diner review going to win a Pulitzer? Nope. Did it give me a quick win and make me some dough to put gas in the SUV? Yep. My in-depth writing happens in the daytime (on days where I have batched writing — my day batching productivity process, by the way, has been life-changing). But I can bang out a local review in 20 minutes at nighttime.

The takeaway

So, what’s the moral of the story? Sometimes we can squeeze in a little extra bit of productivity where we might not have thought we could. But I truly believe that it’s much better than mindlessly flipping on the television.

When you find a quick way to squeeze that extra little bit of value out of each day, I believe it adds up. So, I encourage you to look at your day and find where you can squeeze just one little extra win in. You’ll get a little dopamine hit and you might even just make a little extra dough.