Many people, writers and professionals, spend the better time of their day writing. The sheer amount of information produced (and possibly discarded) on a daily basis is enough to make you depressed, if you stop writing for a second to think about it.

In addition to all the wild writing going on, we all have our other daily commitments: shopping for groceries, cooking healthy meals, family, and maybe friends too if you don’t want to become a complete hermit.

So any trick to speed up the writing process would be a good one, right? Writing faster means you finish that novel faster, you get your work done before 5 p.m. or you get to simply become more accomplished. Either way, writing faster can benefit anyone who ever picks up a pen or touches a keyboard.

How I learned to write fast

I was forced to type very fast when helping my mother through her divorce. Aside from the fact we were on other sides of the world, and writing hundreds of emails a month, I helped her draft all court related materials. Often, due to health reasons, she would dictate what she wanted to say to me, and I would type it out almost as fast as she would speak. Only sometimes I’d ask her to repeat or slow down. So how did I do it?

• I would often write notes in bullet point form and work them out later
• I would “Throw up on the screen”, as suggested by Alisa at ProBlogger.
• I write fast, and rewrite later. I used to spend a lot of time thinking about the right words, now I insert a note-to-self and get back to it later. Often, when rereading my work, the word will come to be automatically.
• If all fails, just free write for a few minutes to get more ideas going.

As Alisa mentioned in her article as well, it helps to know what you want to say. Clearly you can only write fast if you are not doing any research for ideas at the same time.

Tips for Bloggers and Freelance Writers

The biggest time drain on any writer, whether you are a blogger thinking up 7 articles a week, or a freelancer who needs to make ends meet, is researching topics. Sometimes good ideas strike at the worst possible times, and it is important to write down those ideas in one place (and one place only). Keep a dedicated small notebook in your purse or pocket for article ideas, and whenever you have one on the subway or in line for coffee you can write it down. Whenever you’re sitting at your desk ready to write an article for your blog, or a query to a magazine, take out your notebook and start writing… really fast.

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• How to Start Writing
• How Far Will You Go For Research?
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• Writing a Controversial Blog Post van Pay Off!