Be more productive – write quickly

I regularly receive newsletters about writing both in the mail and electronically. Keeping up with all that reading can be time consuming and sometimes a little distracting. Managing all this incoming information is crucial for a writer. I must admit that I haven’t mastered that art just yet – but I’m working on it.

One electronic newsletter editor wrote about being productive as a writer. She suggested that effective writers write quickly and therefore are more productive. Rather than slaving over a sentence or a paragraph for hours, she suggests trying to just get it all down – and worry about editing out the rubbish later during a rewrite. I have to agree with her up to a point.

I often find that writing quickly keeps the creative juices flowing. The momentum created by writing rapidly is self generating. The more you write the more you are able to write. Writing quickly can free up the editor inside your head wanting to stop and polish, rewrite, edit, change and improve your writing. Switch off that editor and just keep writing. Let all the good stuff come mixed up with the rubbish. Later, during the rewriting and editing stages, is the time to refine, correct, polish and delete.

Her theory is that the more you write the more the good bits will shine above the bad parts.

(Now I have to go back and edit this piece.)

Good writing.

Further reading:

• Writing hints – more articles giving hints for writers.