avatarAldric Chen

Summary

The author shares five straightforward strategies to streamline the writing process and increase efficiency.

Abstract

In the article, the author, an experienced writer with over 1,400 articles in three years, divulges personal techniques for enhancing writing speed and reducing time spent on articles. The strategies include avoiding premature starts, ensuring readiness before writing, drafting introductions and conclusions together, establishing a writing rhythm, and trimming unnecessary elements like quotes and citations. These methods are designed to maintain focus, prevent distraction, and improve the overall writing workflow.

Opinions

  • The author believes in the importance of mental readiness before starting to write, emphasizing that it saves time and frustration.
  • Writing with a clear checklist in mind, including a developed storyline and a dominant emotion to evoke, is seen as crucial for efficiency.
  • Bunching the writing of introductions and conclusions helps maintain a focused message throughout the article.
  • Establishing a personal writing rhythm is considered a significant breakthrough by the author, suggesting it enhances the writing process.
  • The author advises against including excessive non-essential elements in writing, especially under time constraints, to keep the writing process lean and focused.

[Stupidly] Simple Strategies I Use to Spend Less Time on My Writing

Yes, no kidding.

Everyone finds their way. Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

I enjoy tapping my time away.

I feel happy doing so. Yes, of course. Like you, I have my down days. With time, I learned to type and forget it. I am a fool. I [just] keep going, and keep going, and keep going.

3 years and 1,400+ articles in, I am proud to share this with you.

I have gotten [a tad] faster at writing online articles.

Want to write faster? This article will help.

1* Avoid the hasty start

I am a simple man.

I hate to waste time.

Whenever my schedule says ‘write’ and I can’t, I know there is a problem. It could be ineffective planning. Or emotions. Or me being uninspired.

So, whenever I am not ready to start typing — I don’t.

It saves me a lot of time.

And this brings me to the next point.

What [exactly] do I mean when I say ready to start?

2* Don’t scratch without an itch

Again, there is nothing highfalutin here.

I know it when I am ready to tap the next 60 minutes away.

I know, because,

  • The raw headline is crystal clear in my head,
  • The storyline is developed and pending word chiseling,
  • I get to evoke one dominant emotion (regret, struggle, annoyance, envy),
  • I have 1 clear message to share,
  • I know my conclusion.

This is my checklist.

And this is not a time-consuming checklist. I am not writing this to brag, but I have enough articles under my belt to arrive at my state of readiness fast.

I can usually tell when I am done with my morning walk.

3* I bunch write my introduction and conclusion

I prevent myself from going out of point.

I learned this the hard way. I realized that no matter how focused I am as a writer, I get distracted. The reason? It takes 40, 45, 60 minutes to finish a draft. Our brains get bored. It wants us to do something else.

Hence, it works against us.

I [tend to] veer off course at the pre-conclusion segment. So, my takeaways can point in a very different direction from the introduction.

(Face palm)

I learned to arrest myself.

No more.

I will write my introduction and conclusion first. The body will take care of itself.

4* Build a rhythm into your writing

Martial artists attack and defend with a rhythm.

Archers breathe with a rhythm.

Speakers have rhythm.

Why shouldn’t you?

This is one of my biggest epiphany in 2023. I learned to write with a rhythm. And I shared this with my favorite pals and gal (Denis Gorbunov, Matt | Financial Imagineer, and Sarina Chiu).

They slapped the ‘crazy nut’ label on me. I laughed. I must have done something right.

But anyway.

This is my rhythm.

  • First, 1 short sentence.
  • Next, a slightly longer sentence.
  • And then multiple sentences, iterating between long and short.
  • This is followed by [multiple] sentences starting with a long and closing with 2 shorts.
  • Close.

I don’t deviate too much from my rhythm.

It allows me to breathe together with my thinking process and typing speed.

I think in bursts. I type in bursts. I breathe in rhythmically.

Take time to find your style, too.

Feel free to copy mine if you want to try it out. No problem. It’s free. Haha.

See the structure of the sentence above?

5* Trim the fats

If you want to write faster, you must trim the fats.

This is what I mean.

  • Quotes,
  • Citations,
  • Hyperlinks,
  • Story cards,
  • Excessive images.

If time is on your side, sure. You should because it shows your effort as an honest writer.

When you are writing under a time constraint? Cut the frills. Trim the fats.

The clock always wins.

Why so?

Because,

  • It takes additional time and effort,
  • It distracts you from your core duty — Writing and completing your draft,
  • And, and, and it breaks your chain of thoughts as you write.

So, don’t.

Writing alone is difficult enough.

Avoid complicating it further. Be nice to yourself. And your fingers. They need a rest, too.

The close

Thank you for reading!

I am a lazy guy.

While I enjoy tapping 60 minutes away, I do not enjoy spending too much time on writing and rewriting. It drains me.

Henceforth, I use these 5 stupidly simple strategies to guide my writing day.

Feel free to use them.

They could be helpful.

I mean… who knows, right?

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Oh, oh, you can buy me a cup of black too! Thank you!

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