If you could write faster, you would get more work done in less time. You could crank out more billable work product, complete more projects, and free up time for other activities. You could also bring in more new clients by turning out more website content and marketing documents.
You probably know some of the mechanics of writing faster and producing more content:
- Use boilerplate language and fill-in-the-blank templates.
- Re-purpose content. Convert a slide presentation into an ebook; revise old articles into new ones.
- Use outlines and mind maps to organize your writing.
- Divide big projects into a series of small ones.
- Dictate into a digital recorder or smart phone. Use a transcriber, or transcription software.
- Dictate while driving, commuting, taking a walk or a bath.
It turns out that one of the best ways to write better is to write faster.
I’m talking about the speed with which you put words on the page. The faster you do that, the better your writing tends to be.
Many people think that writing fast leads to poor writing. But that’s not true. More often than not, my best writing comes out of my head to my hands and onto the page when I don’t think, I just write. Quickly.
Write your first drafts as quickly as possible. Don’t worry about getting the words right. That will come in subsequent drafts and in the editing process. Don’t analyze what you’re saying, and don’t stop until you have nothing else to say.
If this is a challenge for you, like it was for me when I started a big writing project that ultimately took me three years to complete, give yourself permission to write the first draft badly. That’s what I did. In fact, I taped a piece of paper onto my computer monitor to remind me to keep going. It said, “Progress, not perfection.”
I focused on getting words down and reminded myself that I could fix everything after the first draft was done.
When I was done with the first draft, I found out that it wasn’t bad at all, it was actually quite good. With comparatively little re-writing and editing, that project became my first marketing course for lawyers and earned me millions of dollars.
