“Time is money”… whether you like it or not.
After all, the faster you write, the more money you earn by the hour on per-post or per-project rates.
When I started freelance blogging, it took me a long time to get 500 words done – about one afternoon, I’d say. I realized that, if this was going to be my main income, I’d have to boost my productivity so I could get more writing done in a day.
So, I started googling articles on productivity and drew on fellow freelancer’s experiences to try to find out what would best suit me.
But here’s the thing, though: most productivity methods just didn’t do the trick for me.
For instance: almost every article I read quoted the Pomodoro Technique, which can be great for certain activities but, as a writer, it didn’t do me any good. In fact, some productivity methods just made me anxious, which ended doing more harm than good.
After gathering a few bits and pieces of many different blog posts and testing out a few methods of my own, I came up with six hacks to speed up my writing. In a matter of weeks, I went from writing 500 words in an afternoon to 1000 words in an hour.
There are a few obvious elements that will help you write faster, such as:
- how deeply you identify yourself with the subject you’re writing
- the amount of references available
- the complexity of the topic
If you have none of these components in your favor, it will take much longer to get the work done.
I found these techniques help me either way, but I do take a lot more time to write about a subject I don’t master.
Anyway, let’s get to it!
1: Collect references before you begin
Gathering and reading your reference material before you actually start to write helps optimize your time, since you won’t need to stop to do research while in the middle of writing.
What I like to do is read whatever I can find about the subject, take a few notes and only then start my writing. This helps me with my workflow while also adding more “juice” to the article with in-depth references.
“Ok, but how do I find good references?”
If the online sources you found were too superficial, hit the books! Sometimes, a short chapter might be hiding the answers you are looking for.
You can also try channeling your inner journalist by interviewing experts on your blog post topic. Not only will you be creating original content, but it’s a great way to equally promote you and your interviewee.
If you are writing for a client, you can often collect background material directly from them with only a few e-mail exchanges.
2: Start with titles and subheadings
I never start writing a blog post from the introduction. Instead, the very first thing I do is write and format the title and subheadings.
This helps organize the blog post and keep important subjects in mind as I go, which prevents me from drifting away from the topic or having to stop and think, “What’s next?”
It also gives me a better idea of the length of the content – the more subheadings I have, the more I write.
3: Ask yourself the questions your readers might have
While you might not want to include the questions themselves in the article, this is a great method for keeping in mind what information you should insert into your blog post.
Adding passive answers to these questions will help to fill in your paragraphs faster and in a clearer way. You can do this by giving a little bit more background on the subject with historical facts, inserting real or hypothetical examples, and so on.
For instance: let’s say you’re writing a blog post about SEO tools for optimizing blog posts. Readers might wonder what SEO is, why it matters, and whether it requires them to change their actual content or just the way they present it. Try giving them these answers before jumping into the tools themselves.
4: Write from your head
Sometimes, writers stick closely to their technical references to create a blog post, which forces you to go back-and-forth from writing to reading. Using your own words, however, is the fastest way to get the job done.
This reinforces the importance of good research: the more you know about the subject, the easier it gets – and the faster you go!
If there’s a section of your post that needs more attention to write and is, therefore, more time-consuming, I like to leave that for last. This is basically the same principle as when you’re taking a test: if you start with the questions that seem easiest, you can score points quickly. This way, not only will you get things done faster, but you’ll feel more confident in your writing, too.
5: Stop overthinking
I’ve got to admit: to this day, I still struggle with overthinking.
- “Should I write this down?”
- “Is this good enough?”
- “Am I drifting off subject?”
Stop it!
Overthinking busts your creativity, and creativity is the best fuel for faster writing. If it doesn’t look good, you can rethink it later, while you’re editing.
And, speaking of editing…
6: Don’t edit as you go
Writing while simultaneously editing a blog post can seriously slow you down.
If you feel like there might be any mistakes or missing details in your blog post, fix them once you are finished with your content, not while you’re working on it. Editing as you go is guaranteed to distract you and make you lose momentum.
Remember: writing is a process!
I’m a big fan of processes, so I decided to have one for my writing. Instead of just waiting for inspiration to strike – and ultimately feeling blocked and frustrated – I found that working step-by-step for my writing helps me create better blog posts in way less time.
So if you want to write faster – and better! – blog posts, give some of my techniques a try. And if you feel like you could adapt them to suit you better (like I did), then go right ahead.
What about your own ideas for faster writing? If you have a great tip that I didn’t mention here, please share it with us in the comments — thank you! 🙂
Thank you for this valuable information, some of which I knew, some of which is new but much needed information. I am looking to transition from the 9-5 to traveling more and this is helping to format my articles.
Glad you liked it! 🙂
Thank you very much for this blog. You addressed exactly what I wanted to know.
These are simple tricks anybody can implement.
I’m glad it helps you, Ruth! 🙂
Great blog post with some handy tips that I will definitely incorporate into my writing process. 🙂
Nice! 🙂 Hope this article helps you!
Nice article – and I still write slowly! I always start with a spidergram, as my brain thinks in clumps rather than straight lines- and I like the colours to use as links!
But doing the important headers first is really really helpful.
Hi, Ashley! Oh, don’t worry about being a slow writer – it takes practice! I can assure you that the more you write, the faster you’ll get. Remember what I said at the beginning of the article that it took me about an afternoon to get 500 words done? You’ll get the hang of it in no time! 😉
Very good advice. Research in advance, rather than in-progress, don’t over analyze.
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
I love the idea of asking yourself the questions your readers probably asking themselves. It’s very easy to get carried away and go down a writing rabbit hole that no one but you wants to go down. I’d have to say, that for me, the easiest way I found to speed up my writing is to write it as an email first at Mailchimp. I don’t know why it is, but I write better and write more personally, if my head’s in the email writing mindset, than the formal dashboard that WordPress has. Then I just simply copy and paste the email as a blog post and launch it. – Probably sounds a bit weird, but that’s me. 🙂
Your email mindset is super interesting! I can definitely see myself having that same problem of writers block with the blank box from WordPress vs an email. Great tip!
Not weird at all! It’s all good as long as it works for you! 🙂 When I want a more personal tone to my writing, I like to think I’m writing to a dear friend… this allows me to be myself!
I agree with answering questions that readers might have! I used to blog more of a personal outlet, and when I changed my mindset to how I can help readers, my writing style changed, too.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing such simple tips we tend to overlook.
Glad you liked it!
Hi Paula,
I’m glad I found your post right at the time I was beginning to get stressed out about the time I take writing one article.
My favorite take away is ‘write from your head.’ Just realized how much time I waste going back and forth from my written research points. I’ll be sure to change this from now on.
Thanks so much for all the tips.
I’m glad this helps you, Catherine! And don’t stress yourself – you’ll get faster with more practice, I can guarantee that!
Loved the tone of your writing, witty.
Thanks!! 😀
Yeah I needed this. I have an 8 month old and am literally squeezing in words any chance I can get. I really need to gather all of my references first and have everything I need to get to writing. I definitely overthink. It’s like you’re working on the same paragraph for so long that you end up thinking, “Does this even make sense?” Gotta stop that! Thank you.
Yeah I needed this. I have an 8 month old and am literally squeezing in words any chance I can get. I really need to gather all of my references first and have everything I need to get to writing. I definitely overthink. It’s like you’re working on the same paragraph for so long that you end up thinking, “Does this even make sense?” Gotta stop that! Thank you.
I know, right?! Writing and rewriting the same paragraph is not only time-consuming but also stressful and overwhelming. But one thing I realized is, once you type your ideas, it all sort of makes sense at the end – maybe after one or two edits. If you overthink, you lose track!
I’m glad this helps you and good luck with your writing! 🙂
Thank you for sharing. I should really stop editing while writing 😉
Glad you liked it! 🙂
Amazing Post, Thank you for sharing this post really this is awesome and very useful.
I’m so happy you found this useful! 😀
This is great advice, and the one idea that really resonates with me is answering the questions you think readers might have within the post. I am just getting started in the business of freelancing, and articles like this are a Godsend!
So happy this helps you! 😀
Awesome! Thanks for sharing With Us
I’m glad you liked it! 🙂
Thank you so much Paula Martins.
This is by far one of the best posts which had double my writing speed.
Wow, thank you so much for this feedback! I’m so glad this helps you!
You totally hit on one of the struggles I face each time I write a new post. I’m still rather new to blogging- around 6 months now. I didn’t realize I was doing it “wrong” until I just read this article- I am guilty of writing from the introduction on- like a story in order. I hadn’t thought of first coming up with the title and subheadings so I can fill them in later. I’m going to try this- I think it will help my brain from feeling overwhelmed with coming up with the whole story at once.
Thank you for these tips!
I used to do this too, and I always felt overwhelmed and anxious… not to mention I always had that did-I-forgot-to-mention-anything? feeling once I was done (and I usually did). That’s when I had the idea to start with the subtitles – that way I could guarantee I wasn’t going to forget anything!
Good luck with your writing!
I’m just starting out, and I haven’t written much. I’m tucking this away in my notes for when I start writing more. Such good advice. Thank You
Thank you Paula! Great advice for someone just starting out. Will definitely keep these pointers handy when I write my blog posts. I read elsewhere that it is also a good idea to bath your blogs, which also save tons of time, especially if you’re like me, and the ideas keeps coming while you’re trying to finish your writing.
Planning ahead of time is super essential to being productive, not just when writing but life in general. One tends to achieve a lot more if you go into it with a plan.
Once again, thanks for sharing your experience so we can learn from it.
Pardon, finger error. “is also a good idea to bath your blogs” should read “is also a good idea to batch your blogs”. Once again, apologies everyone! (Blush!)