Believe it or not, You can Write
Fast
By Richard
Lowe Jr
I wrote, reviewed,
proofread and published 63 of my own books (some under pseudonyms),
12 ghostwritten books, hundreds of blog posts, and the associated
marketing materials for my services and books in less than three
years. Two of those books have become bestsellers on Amazon.
On an average day, I
will write between 5,000 and 10,000 words that are ready to publish
by the end of the day.
That’s an astounding
statistic.
How in the heck could
anyone write so much in such a short time and maintain a high level
of quality?
You must control your
environment so that it’s free of interruptions and is optimum for
your writing. Additionally, you must focus on writing, and separate
writing from editing and proofreading. Most importantly, writing must
be a priority for you, if you want to maintain a high level of speed
and quality.
Let me tell you some of
the techniques that I use to maintain that high-level of speed.
Outline –
Before you begin writing anything, create an outline. This doesn’t
have to be precise, and it can change over time. But by laying out
the chapters or sections in a logical manner, you organize your
thoughts, which makes it easier to write about a subject.
Separate writing
from editing – One of the most destructive ways to write is to
edit while you’re writing. I’ve watched many writers as they type
a few words, a sentence or paragraph, then go back, and edit those,
then re-edit them, and even edit them again. If you want to write
quickly, you must change that habit. What I do is write a section,
chapter or page, then go back and edit the material. At the end of
the day, I’ll go through and proofread everything that I did during
the day.
Eliminate the cell
phone – Turn off your cell phone, and make a pact with yourself
that you won’t look at it while you’re writing. That means no
phone calls, no texting, no nothing. Instead, check your cell phone
and make your calls at predetermined times in the day.
Turn off social
media – Social media such as Facebook, Google plus and
LinkedIn, are one of the biggest time sucks that is ever been
invented. It’s impossible to write quickly if you’re constantly
checking and updating your wall or newsfeed. As with the cell phone,
set aside certain times during the day, and limit the amount of time,
for your social media activities. This applies to email as well.
Control the
environment – I’ve set up what for me is the perfect writing
location. I have an entire room set aside for my writing space, with
a big desk and a comfy chair. I make sure I have good back support,
and keep the room either entirely silent or softly playing some of my
favorite music. In front of me I have a wall filled with butterflies
encased in acrylic, while behind me and to one side are bookshelves
filled with my favorite books. If you want to write fast, make sure
the environment facilitates and enhances your abilities.
Get the best
computer you can – If you’re anything like me, you use a
computer for your writing. Nothing will slow down the speed of
writing more than fighting a computer that is either slow or
unstable. If you’re going to invest in anything for your writing
career, get the best possible computer that you can afford.
Get the best writing
tools – Don’t skimp on your word processor and other writing
tools. You’ll be working with these every day that you are writing,
so it’s important to own an excellent word processor, grammar and
spellchecker, and any other tools that you might need.
Own a good manual of
style, a dictionary, and a thesaurus – Writers use words to
paint images in the minds of their readers. It’s a vital that you
understand the meanings of words, their derivations, synonyms and
antonyms, and how they are used in grammar and style. Whenever you
look up a word, spend the time to read the entire definition
including the derivation and understand it thoroughly. Make sure you
understand the grammar rules of your language and use them properly.
Over time, constantly referring to these essential resources will
improve your speed and the quality of your work.
Attend writing
critique groups – There are almost certainly one or more
writing critique groups within easy driving distance of where you
live. If there isn’t, you can always start one. These are small,
informal groups of writers that help each other to review and
evaluate the quality of their writing. By attending these regularly,
you will find that your writing gets better and better over time.
This will also improve your confidence in your writing skills, which
will help improve your speed.
Separate research
from writing – If there’s any research required to write your
book or article, make sure you do that in advance. Otherwise, you
could find yourself stopping and starting because you must go look up
some fact or verify some data.
Set
goals – Every day, I set a goal for what I’m going to
complete that day. If I miss the goal, I take the time to find out
what happened. What got in the way of the goal? Did I allow something
to interrupt me? Did some emergency come up? If it’s something
that’s correctable, such as I forgot to turn off the cell phone,
then I make a correction. Setting goals allows you to look back and
make determinations about how you can do even more or what got in
your way.
These are just some of
the things that I do every day to ensure that my writing goes quickly
and smoothly.
By controlling your
environment, and following good practices at keeping interruptions
away from you, and using the right tools, you’ll find that, over
time, the speed and quality of your writing will improve
dramatically.
Don’t get discouraged
if you can’t write that fast. The most important thing about being
a writer is to write. If you don’t write in the first place, you’re
not going to go anywhere.
Join
Joey here on the blog on Fridays for interviews, reviews and guest
bloggers. If you'd be interested in doing any of those, you can contact
Joey here.
