Write faster!
Learning how to write faster is one of the crucial skills needed for a freelance writer. Writing faster is particularly important for a freelancer who wants to make a profit writing web content. However, I'm one of those that stares at the computer screen while scratching her head in confusion each time I read about a writer churning out articles in 20 minutes or less. I've tried and tried and tried to write faster, but it seems the best writing time I could ever produce an article in was maybe an hour and a half. Did you hear me, people? An hour and a stinkin' half per article...and THAT was my top speed! Good grief, talk about feeling like I belonged on a short bus.
I realize now that my issue with writing faster has been that I edit while I write and I agonize over trying to write my best copy on a first draft (only to rewrite it a bazillion times when I'm done). I also mentally tell myself that article writing is a large task which makes me go into instant procrastination mode. I'm going to insert an extra whine here and say that I also think that the Internet has given me a very severe case of ADD. At any given moment, I easily have 5 to 10 tabs open on my browser and each connects me to forums, websites and other eplaygrounds where I can waste hours of time or, at the very least, which can drag me away from an article at the slightest feeling of frustration. Ok, maybe I can't really claim that the Internet gave me ADD, but if you've spent any amount of time on the web at all, you can certainly identify with the fact that if you want to be distracted, the web is happy to supply you with everything you need to be good and so.
(And, already, I'm all off topic. See!)
Anyway, so I had to cop to having writing issues. Even though I wanted to write faster, I was slow and didn't really believe that I could write any faster. Or at least that was the case before I read Jim Estill's article on CopyBlogger on How To Write An Article In 20 Minutes.
I tell you, this article did it for me. In my search to learn how to write faster, I'd read other articles which seemed to say the same thing, but something about Jim Estill's article just clicked with me. Maybe I was finally ready to accept that I, too, could learn to write faster or maybe it was my wit's end determination that gave me the boost that I needed. Can't tell you what made the CopyBlogger article stand out with me, but stand out it did!
The very next day I was determined to write faster while letting the words roll off of my fingers without editing, without thinking too hard and without listening to the voice in my head telling me to skip on over to another site whenever I hit a snag. I was a woman with a writing faster plan, with focus and with inspiration and, guess what? I was actually able to turn out 2 articles in 45 minutes! Overnight, I was able to write faster! So what that I was 5 minutes over my goal. The fact is that I was able to write twice as much in half the time it normally took me to write just one 500 word article!
Since then, I've been tapping into my speed zone pretty regularly. I've learned that writing faster doesn't necessarily mean writing perfect. I've learned that it's ok to be stuck, but it's better to jump to another of my own unfinished articles (or start another one) than to abandon my writing and head out to the world wide web and read someone else's copy. In fact, when I finished my first draft for the first 2 articles, I actually realized I had a total of 5 that I was working on. In the span of 45 minutes, my creativity was kicking in and new ideas for new articles were flowing. As the ideas came, I opened up new documents and began jotting them down. Then, when I finished the two articles, I had 3 more that were already partially written and just needed a little extra focus. I've been writing for a long time, but never have I been able to write as fast and as freely as I did after reading the CopyBlogger article.
Ah, what relief a little inspiration can bring...thanks, Jim!
I realize now that my issue with writing faster has been that I edit while I write and I agonize over trying to write my best copy on a first draft (only to rewrite it a bazillion times when I'm done). I also mentally tell myself that article writing is a large task which makes me go into instant procrastination mode. I'm going to insert an extra whine here and say that I also think that the Internet has given me a very severe case of ADD. At any given moment, I easily have 5 to 10 tabs open on my browser and each connects me to forums, websites and other eplaygrounds where I can waste hours of time or, at the very least, which can drag me away from an article at the slightest feeling of frustration. Ok, maybe I can't really claim that the Internet gave me ADD, but if you've spent any amount of time on the web at all, you can certainly identify with the fact that if you want to be distracted, the web is happy to supply you with everything you need to be good and so.
(And, already, I'm all off topic. See!)
Anyway, so I had to cop to having writing issues. Even though I wanted to write faster, I was slow and didn't really believe that I could write any faster. Or at least that was the case before I read Jim Estill's article on CopyBlogger on How To Write An Article In 20 Minutes.
I tell you, this article did it for me. In my search to learn how to write faster, I'd read other articles which seemed to say the same thing, but something about Jim Estill's article just clicked with me. Maybe I was finally ready to accept that I, too, could learn to write faster or maybe it was my wit's end determination that gave me the boost that I needed. Can't tell you what made the CopyBlogger article stand out with me, but stand out it did!
The very next day I was determined to write faster while letting the words roll off of my fingers without editing, without thinking too hard and without listening to the voice in my head telling me to skip on over to another site whenever I hit a snag. I was a woman with a writing faster plan, with focus and with inspiration and, guess what? I was actually able to turn out 2 articles in 45 minutes! Overnight, I was able to write faster! So what that I was 5 minutes over my goal. The fact is that I was able to write twice as much in half the time it normally took me to write just one 500 word article!
Since then, I've been tapping into my speed zone pretty regularly. I've learned that writing faster doesn't necessarily mean writing perfect. I've learned that it's ok to be stuck, but it's better to jump to another of my own unfinished articles (or start another one) than to abandon my writing and head out to the world wide web and read someone else's copy. In fact, when I finished my first draft for the first 2 articles, I actually realized I had a total of 5 that I was working on. In the span of 45 minutes, my creativity was kicking in and new ideas for new articles were flowing. As the ideas came, I opened up new documents and began jotting them down. Then, when I finished the two articles, I had 3 more that were already partially written and just needed a little extra focus. I've been writing for a long time, but never have I been able to write as fast and as freely as I did after reading the CopyBlogger article.
Ah, what relief a little inspiration can bring...thanks, Jim!
Labels: article, article writing, faster, faster article writing, write, write faster, writing
posted by BabyBlogger at 8:55 PM
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