9 Tricks That Can Boost Your Writing Speed

If you’re searching for ways to boost your writing speed without sacrificing quality, you are in the right place.

Writing speed varies widely among writers, regardless of their level of expertise or years of experience. And what one writer may describe as fast may be considered slow by another.

Apart from that, some writers believe you must write slowly to create high-quality content—while many others disagree.

You are the only one who can decide whether your writing speed is slow, fast, or just OK. And you must do this by taking your unique situation, the type of writing project you’re working on, and your deadlines into consideration.

But guess what?

No matter the type of writing you do, it’s possible to increase your writing speed without lowering your writing quality and also enjoy a lot of other benefits such as: 

• Reducing the risk of procrastination.
• Speeding up your thinking process.
• Having more time for other areas of your life.
• Making more money if you write for a living.
• Increasing your productivity to become a prolific writer.

Ready to write outstanding content at a faster rate? 

Then check out these nine tricks that can boost your writing speed without reducing the quality of your writing.

Write When You Are Most Productive

Let’s be honest, different people are active and productive at different times of the day. 

On one hand, we have those who wake up early in the morning, cheerful and eager to start their day. This kind of person usually gets more done from early morning till early evening. They can get up as early as 4 a.m. and go to bed as early as 9 p.m. in some cases. They are called early birds or morning larks. 

On the other hand, we also have those who are more active and productive at night. Not only does this type of person enjoy staying up late, but they also prefer to wake up late. When they are forced to get up early in the morning, you can expect most of these night owls to do so in a bad mood.

Whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, you can boost your writing speed by writing when you’re most productive. 

But what if you don’t fit neatly into either group because you’re more alert, focused, and full of energy between noon and 4 p.m. daily? That’s also great because this key information can help you organize your writing life. 

In a nutshell, identify your most productive hours in a day, and do your writing within that period so you can increase your chances of writing faster.

Set a Time Limit for Your Writing Sessions 

You can also boost your writing speed while creating great content once you set a time limit for your writing sessions. 

Most people drag their feet when they think they have all the time in the world to do something. However, once there is a time limit or deadline attached, they usually pick up their pace and try to get things done faster. 

This also applies to writing and writing speed. 

For example, let’s assume you decide to write for just 30 minutes or one hour. Having this time limit can force you to be more time conscious and further inspire or challenge you to write as much as possible within that time duration. It can also help you focus more on your writing and avoid procrastination. 

At the end of the day, this intense focus and concentration can push you to write faster, thereby boosting your writing speed without any conscious thought.

Keep Research Time and Writing Time Separate 

Researching and writing at the same time will not allow you to concentrate fully on either task, and you will end up writing slowly. 

This behavior of constantly switching between two or more tasks is known as multitasking, and it comes with a lot of disadvantages because it:

• Reduces your ability to focus, pay attention, and learn.
• Increases the possibility of making mistakes.
• Reduces your productivity.

To increase your writing speed, separate your writing time and your research time. Focus on your research before you start writing so you can identify and gather all relevant information, links, research findings, and any other details you need. 

Once everything is ready, you can concentrate on your writing fully, and most likely your writing speed will increase as a result. 

Prepare Your Writing Space in Advance

Have you ever sat down to write, only to discover that something you need is missing?

In this scenario, most likely you will spend time searching for the missing item first instead of writing. Of course, by the time you find it and want to resume writing, you may need more time to settle down, focus, and concentrate, which can also affect your writing speed negatively. 

If you have a dedicated writing space, you can boost your writing speed by getting it ready in advance. 

Whether you write in your home office or at your kitchen table, identify and arrange everything you need to write well before you start. This can vary from one writer to another and may include things like your computer and mouse (obviously), pen, pencils and paper, jotters or notebooks if you sometimes write by hand, your timer or clock, your water bottle or mug, tissues, and so on. 

In short, get your writing space ready in advance so you can show up and start writing without delay and increase your chances of writing at a faster rate. 

Eliminate All Forms of Distraction

Raise your hand if you sometimes check emails, visit social media platforms, or even shop online when you’re supposed to be writing. 

You will agree that distractions are all around us, not only in our homes and offices but also on our computers. Without a doubt, being distracted as a writer will cause you to write slowly.

You can therefore increase your writing speed without reducing your writing quality when you eliminate all forms of distraction while writing. 

Here are some tips that can help:

• Switch off your phones and tablets.
• Wear noise-canceling headphones if the environment is a bit noisy.
• Silence calendar and email alerts on your computer.
• Use relevant apps and tools to block distracting websites.
• Write on a computer that is not connected to the internet.

In essence, create a distraction-free environment to write in, and you can increase your writing speed sooner rather than later. 

Create an Outline First

You can also write faster without sacrificing quality when you create an outline before writing.

An outline is a guide or roadmap of what you want to write and how you want to go about it. It helps to organize your thoughts and ideas before you start writing.

Because there are no hard and fast rules about it, your outline can be as detailed or as vague as you want it to be. You can even add to it or change some aspects of it as you go along, depending on whatever works for you. 

Without an outline, your writing speed can slow down significantly, since there is a higher risk of writing without a direction or going round in circles. In addition, you may spend more time thinking than writing and even get stuck due to lack of ideas. 

But when you create an outline first, you will have a clear vision and understanding of what to write before you start, which can boost your confidence and help you write faster. 

Write Without Editing

Did you know that writers are allowed to write messy first drafts full of mistakes?

Some writers think the best way to create outstanding content is to write a few sentences and then stop to edit all the errors in it. But at the end of their writing session, they may still be stuck reading and editing the same few sentences over and over without making any progress.

Remember when we discussed multitasking earlier?

Well, editing while writing is another example of multitasking, and it’s bad for you, since it can reduce your ability to focus or pay attention, and it ultimately reduces your productivity.

To increase your writing speed, do yourself a favor and ignore all the typos and errors you observe while you’re still writing. 

Make Use of Dictation Software 

You can also boost your writing speed when you write with dictation software.

Also known as speech recognition software or speech-to-text software, dictation software converts your spoken words, as you speak, into written text on your mobile device or computer. You can use it to write different types of content, and there are various brands and types on the market, such as:

• Dragon Speech Recognition
• Speechmatics
• Google Docs Voice Typing
• Otter
• Speechnotes

Nonfiction author Bryan Collins said using dictation software to write increased his output from 500–1,000 words in 30 minutes to 3,000–4,000 in the same 30 minutes.

So what are you waiting for? Start writing with dictation software, and watch your writing speed increase significantly.

Write on a Daily Basis

Writing is a skill that gets better and easier with regular practice. The more you write and exercise your writing muscles, the better your writing and the faster your writing speed. 

That’s why you can boost your writing speed when you write every day.

To develop a daily writing habit, start with a tiny goal that’s easy for you to achieve. This can be the number of words you want to write or the amount of time you want to spend writing. 

For instance, you can decide to write 200 words every day or just 100 or only 50 words. Alternatively, your goal can be to write for 30 minutes daily or for 15 minutes or only for 10 minutes if you prefer. Remember, once you set your daily writing goal, it’s important to strive and meet it every day. 

Whether you write for fun, or for a living, or only for your business, you can boost your writing speed with time and practice when you write daily.

Write Faster Without Sacrificing Quality

Even though it can take some time to create high-quality content, you can still boost your writing speed without a negative effect on the quality of your writing.

You can make this happen when you write during your most productive time of the day, set a time limit for your writing sessions, keep research time and writing time separate, and prepare your writing space in advance.

Your writing speed can also increase once you get rid of all types of distractions while writing, create an outline before you write, avoid editing while writing, write on a daily basis, and also write with dictation software. 

All in all, start using these tricks to boost your writing speed while creating first-rate content so you can enjoy all the wonderful benefits of writing faster.