Believe it or not, You can Write Fast

By Richard Lowe Jr

The Writing King – https://www.thewritingking.com

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.

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