How My Writing Now Takes Half The Time
We all need more time.
Hi.
Writing an article of about 500 words used to take me four hours; now it takes two, at the very most. Timing and focus has been a problem for me for a long time of my nearly two years of writing online.
I promise to explain how I now write in half the time.
You Can Write Faster
My writing never used to be like that. I never put a lot of effort into making my writing quality when I started, so it was – as you could expect – a lot faster.
But my fluency had to improve, and I couldn’t cope any longer reading blandness on a white page.
That was when I decided to put more effort into upgrading my writing to, what I felt at the time, was the highest standard out there. But as time went on, my writing began to take longer … hours longer.
The bulk of my time went to web-surfing, mindless searches on Google about the hospitals near me. I know, I know – random. The procrastination turned so awful that when I wrote articles, I ended up wasting four hours every time, just to write a few hundred words. For nearly everyone else, it took about half an hour.
After months of time-wasting I decided I couldn’t keep up with burning time when I had to work three careers – the pressure was too high. I immediately wiped two hours off writing articles, and instead put that into practising other genres and topics to myself.
Guess what? I was able to finish articles in that time. The same quality, same length, same standard – I never had to make any sacrifices, and I got it all done the same. Now I don’t feel as stressed because I’ve got plenty of time to learn more, rather than pretend to ‘work’ when I was doing nothing.
If you want the same – lots more time to write – this is what you do.
Cut however long it normally takes you to write in half. No excuses. You can do the exact same amount. If it usually took me about an hour to write 600 words, I would shorten down that writing session to half an hour, thereabouts. Trust me.
But this isn’t just ‘write for less time’: it’s not as simple as that. Half the time which you spend writing a certain something – whether that be a book, blog, article – will be put into practising.
For example, I write about writing for my articles but I’ve practiced:
- Journalism
- Copywriting
- Fiction
- Poems
Whatever I want at the time, really: because I’m still learning how to improve my writing. (Well, and it’s more fun.)
I’ve lately been reading a book called ‘The 4-Hour Workweek’, and it explains how so much more time than we think is wasted on pointless tasks. I’m not saying writing is pointless, but if it can be shortened down – and, to quote Ferriss, ‘eliminated’ – then why not?
What can be bettered, shall be bettered.
Who knows, perhaps I might cut my time down even more in the near future.
‘But I Won’t Be Able To Write As Much’
I know what you’re thinking: ‘what if I can’t write as much?’ I’m sure you will, at least it’ll be like that for the vast majority.
I can write the same amount of words for my articles as I always have. Look at my articles from a few months ago on Medium if you don’t believe me – there’s practically no difference in length. If skiver me can cut back, you can too.
There’s also these pathetic ‘productivity tips, tactics, guides and strategies’ which say you need breaks every ten seconds of the day. Let me say: you do not need a break every twenty minute because a literal tomato tells you so.
Perhaps a quick breather every couple of hours would help, but certainly not every twenty minutes. When I take more breathers or any kind of break for that matter, the longer it takes me to get into the zone.
Right now I’m writing a fiction book to myself and it’s almost impossible to focus for about half an hour after taking one of those ridiculous breaks. You can do this. If you’re reading this, you’re certainly not idiotic, so don’t let a tomato tell you otherwise.
Just shorten your writing time down.
Keep writing, keep achieving.
Actions:
- Halve your writing time
- Invest the other half into practising whatever you want
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