Facebook Pixel
Join our Facebook Community

How to Write Fast

Posted By Darren Rowse 30th of December 2008 Featured Posts, Writing Content 0 Comments

Alisa Bowman from projecthappilyeverafter.com shares some tips on writing fast.

So you haven’t quite monetized your blog. That means you’re still working 8 or so hours in the non-virtual world for that paycheck. You may also have many other time commitments. They are called marriage, parenthood, friendships and Twitter.

With all of these variables vying for the same 24 hours, how do you follow Darren’s advice and blog at least every day?

You have a few choices.

  1. You could stop sleeping.
  2. You could give up the family and friends.
  3. You could learn how to write really fast.

If you’re tempted by option #2, I can’t help you, but I wish you the best of luck with that. If you want to know more about option #3, keep reading.

I first learned how to write fast when I was on deadline as a newspaper reporter. I, at times, had just ten or so minutes to crank out at least 800 words. These days I blog 4 to 5 times a week at projecthappilyeverafter.com, twice a week at Capessa.com and two more times a week at savorthesuccess.com. I also write guest blogs and magazine articles, and I ghost and co-author books.

All told, I’m typing somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 words a week. Yet, I spend only 6 to 7 daily hours in my desk chair. Over the years I’ve developed this 6-step system for writing fast.

Step 1: Know what you want to say before you sit down. As soon as you finish any blog, start thinking about your next one. Think it over as you walk the dog, while washing dishes, or even while staring at the ceiling at 3 a.m. What will it be about? What do you have to say? Go over lines in your head. For instance, at 3 a.m. last night, I heard the line, “Throw up on the screen.” You’ll hear it again, too. Real soon. Promise.

Step 2: Pick the basic format you will use to organize your blog. Most blogs fall into one of the following organizational templates:

  • Q & A – Someone poses a question and then you answer it.
  • Tips: You start with a couple paragraphs of explanation followed by a list of tips. This “how to write fast” blog follows this format, only the “tips” are “steps.”
  • Story: Once upon a time something happened to me, I learned someone from it, and now we’re at the end.
  • List: This might be a list of great websites, great books, or great people to follow on Twitter.
  • Quiz or Test: You pose a series of questions or offer a check off list that allows the reader to figure something out.

There are other formats, too, but the key to writing fast is knowing and perfecting a few. That way you can create them quickly and easily.

Step 3: Throw up on the screen. (Told you.) Start writing and don’t stop until there are no words left in your head. Don’t stop for typos. Don’t stop for grammar. Don’t stop because you lose your train of thought. Insert quick notes as you write, such as CHECK NAME SPELLING, FIND URL, or WHAT IS THE WORD I WANT HERE? I use that last one quite frequently.

Step 4: Read your blog from beginning to end. Fill in holes. Tinker. Replace your all caps notes with real text.

Step 5: Read out loud once or twice. This will help you catch typos, pinpoint really awkward writing, and help you tighten things up.

Step 6: You’re done. Post it.

I just followed these steps for this article. So far I’ve been writing for 10 minutes.

What’s your best advice for speeding up the writing process? Leave a comment.

Alisa Bowman writes about the ups and downs of marriage at projecthappilyeverafter.com. She’s also the relationships editor at Capessa.com. Follow her on Twitter @alisabow.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Kelly says: 12/30/2008 at 4:21 pm

    Another helpful tool is MS One Note. I can write fast on it and cut and past very easily. It can save and organize alot of material and it saves everything with out you doing anything. It is a notebook application for the computer. You can move things around, add side notes, and start new files and sections, I can’t say enough good things about it. . It’s marketed to students but writers would benefit from it more than anybody.

  2. Nice prescriptive guidance.

    I like your formula and the fact it’s based on experience.

    I think mindset is key too — sort of like eye of the tiger. You have to put on your how to kick arse and take names hat.

    I also like to use notepad and incrementally share. I dump quickly into notepad and then iterate as needed. Periodically, I post. if I get stuck, I just write it as an email to myself or a friend and it’s a great way to keep the flow.

  3. i was needing this, i always spend too long writing a post, and the fact that i have only a limited amount of time on my pc everyday its not helping, i’ll probably try following this method and it should get faster, thanks for the great read Alisa and Darren.

  4. Reading a post out loud can make all the difference. You gain a totally new perpective on what you’ve written.

    I use this technique when I teach reading and writing, but hadn’t thought about it in regards to blogging.

    Thanks………………….:)

  5. I am slow slow blogger. 10 minutes post, maybe if it was like a 3 liner.

    I think your 6 steps require someone with some proficiency with transferring their thoughts to word in a somewhat coherent and readable manner.

    For me it just doesn’t work that way and I have been blogging two years. I am self-admittedly not a writer and the process isn’t natural.

    Also, spending all your spare time thinking about an article, doesn’t seem like you are writing the article fast just typing it fast. If it takes an hour or two of thinking for each piece that is all ‘writing’ time IMO.

    The article is still inspiring nonetheless. Thanks

  6. All told, I’m typing somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 words a week. Yet, I spend only 6 to 7 daily hours in my desk chair. Over the years I’ve developed this 6-step system for writing fast.

    No offense intended, but if it takes you 6-7 hours a day — every day — just to get 5000-10000 words per week, I’m not sure you’re in any position to credibly hand out advice . 5000 words per week is only 1000 per day on a five day work week. It should take real significant effort to write that slow if writing is something you do as anything other than a hobby when you’re bored or have some spare time.

    You may actually be in the well-off minority, at least amongst bloggers, to have that kind of production, but not at scale. Quick writing is 5000+ words per day, not per week.

    I know a lot of bloggers don’t have that ability but that doesn’t mean that just because some people appear to be really productive by comparison, that they truly are fast writers.

    They aren’t.

    As for the advice..

    1. You could stop sleeping.

    Don’t ever do this unless you’re up against a deadline. The more tired you are, the slower you write. You may be more productive in the short term since you are writing instead of sleeping, and it may enable you to meet that deadline, but there’s a very real price you’re going to pay. If you’re pushing 20 hours, in all likelihood you’re going to be at least 1/3rd to half as slow as you might normally be when fully rested, if not worse.

    Probably worse.

    2. You could give up the family and friends.

    Probably the best possible advice of the lot. If you’re spending time being social then either writing is a hobby, or you’re not disciplined.

    Moving on to the “serious” tips..

    Know what you want to say before you sit down. As soon as you finish any blog, start thinking about your next one. Think it over as you walk the dog, while washing dishes, or even while staring at the ceiling at 3 a.m.

    While it’s a good idea to leave your mind open to new ideas, it’s generally bad to spend that much time thinking about writing. You’ll be thinking about it literally every moment of the day. You’ll get no psychological relief after you’ve written because you’ll still be working even if you’re doing something else.

    Moreover, because your mind isn’t focused on being creative, chances are any ideas you come up with will be of poor quality and whatever task you’re doing will invariably suffer.

    Keep your mind open, but put some effort into not thinking about writing when you’re doing other things. Your brain needs rest and thinking about something every waking moment of the day is punishing it, not helping it.

    Gotta remember folks, the creative well isn’t infinite.

    Pick the basic format you will use to organize your blog. Most blogs fall into one of the following organizational templates:

    Has nothing to do with writing.

    Start writing and don’t stop until there are no words left in your head. Don’t stop for typos. Don’t stop for grammar. Don’t stop because you lose your train of thought.

    Again, this is probably some of the worst advice that I’ve ever read. Most people will forgo proofreading because they are tired by the time they come to the end of a long writing session, and nothing is more embarrassing than simple typographical errors. If you’re writing for a living, the only thing more important than meeting a deadline (writing quickly) is producing quality on a schedule.

    If your grammar sucks, then spend some quality time working on it and then get back to writing. If your grasp of English is poor, no amount of speed is going to help you — nobody is going to read lengthy material full of errors or something that doesn’t make sense.

    Stop and correct typos and work on your grammar and spelling, that’s part of what being a good writer is. Get the fundamentals right before you throw caution to the wind.

    Don’t write “until there are no words left in your head” either. That’s not writing, it’s rambling. The result will be poorly focused and boring. You want something that’s tight to keep the reader interested, hit all your marks to get your points across without digressing into asides and opinionated cliches, and then you want to get the hell out.

    If you start and then “lose your train of thought”, your mistake happened fifteen minutes ago when you didn’t pay any attention to structure and purpose. It means you ended up going in the wrong direction with no idea how you got there or that you’re even in the wrong place to begin with.

    Worse than writing slowly, you’ve just wasted time writing something of no value at all.

    Insert quick notes as you write, such as CHECK NAME SPELLING, FIND URL, or WHAT IS THE WORD I WANT HERE?

    This is invariably the result of laziness. If you’re writing about someone and don’t even know how to spell their name properly, then it’s also very likely that you don’t even know what you’re talking about. If you want to blog about your breakfast, then by all means shoot from the hip. If you want to inform people, begin by being informed yourself.

    As for synonyms, there are plenty of free thesauruses out there if you feel like your vocabulary is lacking. My advice to you is what they tell novice novelists and there’s no reason it shouldn’t apply equally as well to blogging: trust your instincts and leave well enough alone. If a word doesn’t sound quite right but it is a valid use of the word, then leave it alone and move on.

    Do not go back to change it later.

    What happens is you’ll end up going back to find the most impressive word without giving any thought to how it changes the sentence or tone of the text or even if it’s an improvement, or just a change.

    Your first choice is usually the best choice.

    Read your blog from beginning to end. Fill in holes. Tinker. Replace your all caps notes with real text.

    Another blogging thing, not writing.

    Read out loud once or twice. This will help you catch typos, pinpoint really awkward writing, and help you tighten things up.

    You wouldn’t have to rely on reading it out loud to find typos if you hadn’t left them there to begin with, but on balance reading it out loud will at least give you a better sense of how to structure complex sentences.

    The last thing you want to do is stretch a single sentence across an entire paragraph because you don’t know where to put a simple period. If you can’t speak what is written on the page (or screen) in a single breath, put in a comma or end the darn sentence and start another one.

    And don’t listen to bloggers about writing.

  7. Nice post sir, i really like your tips. Thank you for sharing these tips

  8. I started life as a web developer and so most of my sites consist of pages, that take ages to put together, including the copy. Initially, because of the lack of web dev skill needed to put a blog together, I did not like them, but now I put a blog on almost every website that I develop, this is mainl for SEO reasons because once you have the design of the blog set up you can spend all your time working on the copy and new pages (posts) are a doddle to put together. Now hopefully with some “write faster” tips I can save even more time – thanks very much.

  9. Great tips but at the end of the day, practice makes perfect and the more writing you do, the better and more efficient you will get at it!

    Jon
    http://WoodMarvels.com – Create Unique Memories

  10. I hadn’t really paid attention to how many words I write per hour – after all, wph is not my goal. But Paul William Tenny’s comments prompted me to go back and do a survey. I found that I write about 10 words a minute on average, so he’s right about that part: if it takes you 30-40 hours to write 5,000 words (not counting research time when applicable), you are very slow.

    I understand his objection to the basic format advice, but structure IS important to writing if you are creating HTML pages. I use templates; they do save time. No, it’s “not writing” but we are talking about blogging. Templates save time in blogging.

    I also understand his dislike for “CHECK NAME SPELLING” inserts and in general I agree but sheesh, sometimes my mind just goes stupidly blank on something I do know. Heck, I’ve stopped dead in mid sentence trying to remember my daughter’s middle name; items of lesser value do elude me now and then and I’d rather keep up with the flow than stop to dig that up.

    Nor do I agree that you can’t go back and pick a better word. Yes, yes, usually my first choice IS the right choice but sometimes that “right” word is also on the tip of my tongue refusing to make itself known. Nothing wrong with noting that and coming back at the end, not to be “impressive” but simply to convey the nuance you intended.

    As to “don’t listen to bloggers about writing”, I’d just say that while you might listen to writers about blogging, you need a bit of salt because blogging IS what we are doing – blogging is our goal. Words per minute aren’t our goal, neither column inches nor chapters finished matter to us. Our goal is to add a post or two to our blog. We are NOT “writers”, we are bloggers.

  11. I type quite slowly and been looking for tips and ideas on how to speed up the writing process for me. This post has helped me tremendously to get a grip on my writing, thanks again!

  12. Now if only I could type faster. That is my bottleneck with writing fast. The most I can pull off right now is 40-45 wpm. Does anyone have a suggestion on increasing typing speed when you have already taken a typing class in the past and can’t seem to get any faster?

  13. Natasha L says: 12/30/2008 at 11:48 pm

    Thanks Alisa,
    This is great advice. I have alot of writing to do soon, and will take your advice.
    Natasha

  14. Great article Alisa! For those who doesn´t have English as their mother tongue writing fast and without spelling errors in English is not so easy.Off course you will get better with time, but in the beginning I would recommend guest writing and purchasing articles to get started,

    Personally, I do the research and write a 400 word article in 1 hour.

  15. @StephanMiller practice practice – test yourself regularly. I type 70 wpm, but I have been a transcriptionist for a very long time, long before it was legal for me to be working.

    Great post, I’ve printed it and stuck it in my “idea notebook” that I carry around with me. :) Should help polish me up a bit. Sometimes I can write four posts inside of twenty minutes, sometimes it takes me twenty minutes to write one paragraph. I do find that I need to spend more time thinking about my topics because once I’ve got that usually it’s downhill from there..

  16. Tim Schreiner says: 12/31/2008 at 12:32 am

    Tip #3 my wife summarizes as: Spit up, then clean up. The problem with a lot of blogs is that many forget the second half of the dictum.

  17. This seems to be the time of year for blog self-reflection. Wayne Scheiss had a related post a few weeks ago, http://blog.legalwriting.net/2008/11/19/time-pressure-in-legal-writing.aspx?ref=rss.

  18. This is a really great post. If everyone did this then you wouldnt get those great boring lectures that some people post! Yuk that turns me right off!

    Keep writing, I like it,

    Best wishes,

    Ruth

  19. Thanks for the great tips! I have a really hard time writing fast; I tend to spend way too much time on it and as a result I don’t publish that much content. I’m going to give your suggestions a whirl and see if it helps.

    Thanks again.

  20. Thanks so much for the post! The joys of computers – we have the luxury of being able to go back and edit and find the right words.. that didn’t work so well on a typewriter. Now we can afford to get the ideas out, and refine (a bit) later.

  21. This is great, Darren. Thanks.

    However, writing fast might sacrifice quality. If a blogger wants to really keep up with content, being consistent – setting a number of blog articles per week, can also count

    Happy New Year!

  22. This is a great post.

    Part of determining the speed in which you write can be directly attributed to the type of blog you have.

    Some blogs need wondefully insighful posts. Those take time and the writer should take the time to do it right.

    A blog like mine is half and half. You want the really important content to be solid, but it is ok if some of it isn’t the best because the site is supposed to have lots of different flavors and styles.

    Good post again, I love your guest bloggers.

  23. i like this post. Even i always do some fast posting. But its short. I hope i can done long post with short time.

  24. Great article, great advice.

    Here are a couple of hints I use if I really hit true writer’s block:

    (a) if article (beyond blog) is complex, but basic ideas on post-it stickers, and move them around on a manila folder to find your structure
    (b) write in a simple, plain text editor, with nor formatting just to get the words out
    (c) if you have to get some raw content out … (no, I’m not joking) do your first draft on a typewriter, using abbreviations and no attempt to fix typos. You will be amazed that sometimes words just flow when it is impossible to edit
    (d) when all else fails, write simple draft by hand with pencil or pen … again, use lots of abbreviations or even pictograms. Oddly enough, when you are not using a keyboard, and it “feels” like you are writing a note or letter … the tone of your writing can become more personal.
    (e) To proof and catch typos … print your output (from blog/HTML) to PDF and zoom in. It sometimes makes errors jump off the page, including the many words that slip through spell check.
    (f) “sleep on it” … if you have the grace of time, bang out a rough draft in the evening … don’t even look at it or print it out. Review it in the morning with “fresh eyes.” Amazing what will jump off the page when you do this.

    i only occasionally use these techniques, but all of them work.

  25. Alisa,
    I too enjoyed your post which I read through to the end without pause. It has everything a reader wants: accurate information delivered succinctly. Moreover, it is lively and humorous.
    Regards,
    Caren

  26. This has been one of the best tips/posts I’ve read in a while. Alisa this was awesome and useful, all things I knew but the reminder and having them all in one place was great.

  27. I personally use a similar approach when I write. I have a fulltime job as Tech Director, a wife and kids and lots of work to do every day. The only thing I do differently is I must print out what I write to change it. It seems when its on the screen I tend to skip something because my brain replaces the text for me and I dont see my errors. When I print it and read it out loud, I seem to catch errors better. I know this is not a “green” thing to do but its what works for me right now. I hope to get better at spotting errors on the screen. Overall, I agree your approach works. I was coached to do them in college by friend who was an avid writer and speaker.

  28. Bonnie says: 12/31/2008 at 1:47 pm

    Demian Farnworth: As I see it, Alisa’s recommendations do not have anything to do with quantity vs. quality. They are ways to suppress distractions (especially your “inner editor”), shelve the perfectionistic tendencies that bog down most writers way too early in the process, and get ideas out of your head and onto a screen.

    Paul William Tenny: This blog is about blogging, so I DO want writing advice from experienced bloggers. Writing for the web is not the same as writing for paper.

    And for those critical of Alisa’s word count, I imagine she spends a significant amount of time each day on research, answering email when she restarts that application, etc. I suspect you do, too. Very few of us have all the answers in our heads without at least a little fact checking. I personally wish those who do (or think they do) would quit blogging.

  29. FANTASTIC article. Love it love it love it. My biggest hindrance? Not so much that I can’t write fast (although thanks for the reminder on pre-thinking before writing) – it’s more that I worry worry worry about all the other things I should be reading, doing, learning with regards to marketing and monetizing my blog. I feel like I just can’t keep up! But am holding true to the hope that one day I’ll look back and realize how far I’ve come. And am just starting to get regular comments on my blog ‘Body Incredible’ so I have to assume something is working!
    Enjoying the ride.
    Thanks again for this piece .. see you on Twitter!

  30. The caps note was the best idea. Thank you for that!

  31. I can’t really add anything to this. For those of us who manage multiple blogs, you’ve hit the nail right on the head. I usually select several sources at once then just run from there. Great post :)

  32. Start a blog with other people helps cut down writing commitments… I sometimes use a hand held tape recorder and record my story thoughts for my other blog at A Week In The Life of A Redhead .. where I seem to have actually hit the writers wall these days. To get over this hump i started another blog project with seven other women and find that is helping me write more … why I have no idea.
    Catherine

  33. Some very good ideas here. I usually correct spelling as I go along, but I shall try this format as I so often run out of time!

    Thanks,
    Shane

  34. Should have been titled “How to Write Good Fast” leave “How to Write Well, and Quickly” for someone who understands English.

  35. Great blog, great points!

    Ditto Ruth

    How would the world be if everyone was just like me?

  36. Thanks for the tips Alisa, I tried giving up on the sleeping thing for a while needless to say that did not last that long. So i just try and stick to writing fast. Thanks for the WRITE IN CAPS tip to keep the flow going and just go back to that when I am done. I will try that instead of stopping.

    Thanks again!

  37. @Bonnie, I think you’re missing the point of Alisa’s article. It’s very much about quantity v. quality.

    She wrote and posted in 10 minutes so she can write and post in 10 minutes on other blogs and articles. I don’t care who you are…most of the time you’re going to produce second rate content if you do that all the time. And eventually burnout.

    Don’t get me wrong.

    I highly recommend vomiting on the screen to overcome writer’s block. But I also highly recommend meticulously cleaning up that mess.

    In fact, I beg you to back very far away from everything you write and let it sit. Sit for at least an hour. If not a day. Maybe a week.

    Hemingway was noted for writing a short story, sticking it in a drawer, venturing off to Africa to hunt and returning to edit the short story. He was ruthless with his edits.

    Blogging doesn’t deserve the same kind of treatment. But do something similar. Please.

    Understand this: Alisa’s tip is a stop gap. It’s meant to fill a void when you are strapped by a deadline–not to be followed or lived like a lifestyle.

    My point: If you find yourself constantly strapped, out of ideas, rushing or in crisis mode, something is wrong.

    Writing faster isn’t going to help you.

    You need to re-evaluate your strategy and, if at all possible, put yourself in a position so you aren’t writing fast all the time to publish content.

    Otherwise you’ll burn out the goose who lays the golden eggs.

  38. The article in my view was about writing fast so I agree with it since I used it throughout my life when I had to leverage it. I agree that it can lead to quality issue eventually or perhaps burn out for the writer. But I dont think its bad advice for those that need it and can handle it. The concepts she presents are applicable in many cases and I am not saying to forget quality. It provides a way to get your thoughts down on paper quickly without all the hangs up when someone tries to write anything. Doing it this way at least you get your main points down, review them, revise them then perhaps do the what Hemingway did then publish or if you comfortable with the topic, you can skip the Hemingway approach.

  39. Well, I actually spend hours writing a single article. Your tips might just help me speed up a little bit. Hats off to you if you wrote that article in 10 mins. When I am writing an article, 95% of time is spend in thinking how to go about the topic.

  40. It is a great article and writing fast really help bloggers greatly. By having a blog, there are countless of guest articles, your own blog articles and also article marketing. Everything need new material and you must be able to write fast in order to do complete everything.

    Cheers
    Vincent
    Personal Development Blogger

  41. Hi everyone:

    Regarding the debate about quality vs quantity, I honestly think you can have both. That’s why I read out loud at the end: to find the bad stuff and get it out of there. It’s an important step.

    Some of my best lines come out of me when throwing up on the screen. That step allows me to shut up the part of my brain that says, “Not good enough.” Of course, some of my worst stuff comes out of me during that stage, too. That’s why it’s so important to go back and edit.

    It did occur to me in reading someone’s comment, however, that I am a trained professional writer (I majored in journalism). At one point in my life, I had to memorize the AP Style Manual and the Chicago Manual of Style. If one of your goals is to write more grammatically, I do recommend either or both of those manuals.

    Yes, I do make typos–and these typos do sometimes find their way into my blog. The beauty of blogging? When I see them (or someone else points them out), I can fix them. I can’t fix the one typo here on problogger because I don’t have CMS access, though. :-(

    I, of course, wish I never made a typo or used an incorrect word. I wish none of my jokes went over like lead balloons. I wish everyone loved everything I wrote. Alas, it’s not a perfect world. Whether I write quickly or slowly, I will still have typos (not to mention jokes that no one laughs at). Yet, with feedback–such as the wonderful feedback you are all offering here in the comments–I can get better.

    As for the 6-7 hours I work a day, Bonnie is right. I spend the vast majority of it on the phone, checking email, on Twitter, checking Google analytics, on social bookmarking sites, reading other people’s blogs, and so forth. I also spend some of it eating lunch, going for a run, and, occasionally, napping.

    I thank all of you–even those of you who do not agree with my methods–for your comments here.

  42. Very helpful article, I’m experiencing this now with a lot of projects on the fly. Thank you!

  43. Great article! I was very happy to see an article like this on ProBlogger.net. I have been dealing with the dilemma of trying to find time to devote to my blogs as well.

    As you mentioned in your article, real life has a way of preventing you from devoting as much time as possible to your blogs. My goal this month was to work on the design format of my personal blog, then devote time to developing my business blog. When I first started blogging, I felt very overwhelmed every day. I wanted everything to be so perfect, that I forgot to be ‘me’. I also wanted to make sure that I was keeping abreast of the research and articles out there because I knew I had a lot to learn. All of the information I found was great, but still overwhelming. There was so much information out there that I ended up being confused instead of enlightened. But I turned my confusion and desperation into something better-a blog post about the perils of a new blogger- http://arewethereyet-thejourneyitself.blogspot.com/2008/12/to-blog-or-not-to-blog.html

    I had to regroup and realize that Rome was NOT built in a day. Writing the blog post about my frustrations made me feel so much better; and really increased my confidence. I filed it away as ‘ A lesson learned’.

    Needless to say, being a wife and a mother-along with this little thing we call ‘The Holidays’-has prevented me from accomplishing my goals this month. There is no way to completely stop the rest of the world from spinning, so I guess I will just bite my lip and enjoy the irony of frustration.

    My personal frustration is my brain’s cruel joke of giving me inspiration in the middle of the night. I have quickly learned the importance of sleeping with a pen and a pad next to my bedside. Over the past week, I have graduated to emailing and making notations on my BlackBerry so I don’t lose the thought when it hits me. Last night I did my first “BlackBerry blog”. Although my husband thought that I had completely gone off the deep end, I explained to him the pain and perils of Writer’s Block, along with the importance of feeding creativity when it strikes. Lying in bed with a toothache did not excuse me from having to write. In fact, this toothache has been a blessing-laying in bed all day will definitely make you think. I blog EVERYWHERE!

    I especially like the part of your article where you encouraged us readers to “keep going” even if you hit a stumbling block. I cannot stress how important it is to “write quickly”-even if you have to go back and edit. It has taken me 10 years, and 2 stints of “quitting” writing to learn that the best material comes from the heart and flows freely. Planned scenarios are just not my thing.

    I thank you for sharing. It is especially heartwarming to someone like me who is now at a crossroads trying to re-establish herself as a writer. This gave me just the boost I needed to keep going! We can all learn a lot from each other. With that said…back to the blogspot!

    http://arewethereyet-thejourneyitself.blogspot.com/

  44. @Alisa, Andy Grove, former Intel CEO, wouldn’t let his executives leave the boardroom until someone beat up his idea.

    And that’s the beauty of the blog…your original idea is shaped and honed through the comments.

    Appreciate your boldness. It takes courage to post.

  45. Great post. I am a slow writer. Mostly it is because I allow myself to be distracted and don’t focus in on the task at hand. Your tip to just keep writing, adding notes to go back and fix things later, is a great one.

    As a result of your post I went back and finished an article that I had started earlier but was delaying. Thanks for the push.

    I find that adding a quick list of the points I want to make and then filling them in as I go works really well for me, as well.

  46. I like the seven tips method. I write an 7 tips article, and then, I make an article with each tip. That’s 8 blog post that I an write pretty fast.

  47. I carry a notebook and a voice recorder to remember ideas that I have for posts. Sometimes a couple of words jotted down can provide a 500+ word post.

    I just ordered a netbook from Dell and that thing is so small that i can take it anywhere and type up a post when the inspiration hits.

  48. If you use dragon naturally speaking it is even easier – no need to worry about spelling at least.

  49. Timely post for me! So far my strategy has been to give up sleep so I can almost keep up with my blogs. Right now it takes me at least an hour to write a 200-300 word post. I think I need to try that “throw up on the screen” technique. I find myself stopping to check spelling, adding links, and formatting. Plus, while I do research I tend to get stuck reading other blogs. (Like this one!)

  50. That’s what exactly my roommate told me how to write fast! She was a journalist also, has been writing for more than 15 years. Recently, she wrote 10 ebooks in 10 days!

    So guys, this method really works! I definitely going to use it.

    Thanks for posting.

    Chetz Yusof

A Practical Podcast… to Help You Build a Better Blog

The ProBlogger Podcast

A Practical Podcast…

Close
Open