Seven Easy Steps to Much Faster Writing
This post by Ali Luke guest posting at Write to Done is full of good advice for getting rid of distractions and finding ways to help you write a bit quicker.
It doesn’t advocate some sort of slapdash approach, but focuses on sensible, practical stuff, like not checking your emails or tweeting when you should be working.
Anyway, in particular, the idea of using a timer caught my eye:
Timers help you to write for short bursts. At the moment, I’m trying out a system where I write for 20 – 25 minutes then take a break to exercise for five minutes. It’s been great for my energy levels, and I’ve been getting more writing done in less time.
I naturally tend to write in short bursts. I get lost in what I’m doing for half an hour and when I come up for air, I go and make a cup of tea and give myself 10 minutes break. Then I go through the process again.
However, it’s never quite that simple. The short bursts are great and I am able to switch off and be productive, but there’s no strict structure to it. When things are going badly, I’m often tempted to make my short bursts shorter and my tea breaks longer. Sometimes much longer.
So maybe a timer would work for me. If I had a physical object telling me when and when not to write, it might be productive in a way that’s more consistent and predictable.
Because I think that’s the real challenge for most writers. It’s not that we don’t know how to get things done, it’s more that we find it difficult to do so on a regular basis. Hmm, interesting.
*gets up, makes tea*
