Writing Quickly Can Help Improve Your Work

Anyone that sat in a class with me at some point in my life would have noticed one thing about me – I wrote very fast and would never read over my work when I finished. While a lot of my classmates commented on how strange this was, it always worked for me. That’s why I was excited when I came across an article titled, “A speed demon’s guide to more effective writing” on Ragan.com.  Unfortunately, it is now only available to paid subscribers – but if you have an account, you’ll be able to access it via the link above.

The article listed five reasons why writing faster can help improve your writing:

1. Your first instinct is often the best. How many times have you read over your writing and not changed a single word? Most likely, that has never happened to you. When you are writing slowly, you are more likely to agonize over each word choice and every sentence. When you write quickly, you can articulate all of your thoughts and ideas before you start becoming hyper-critical about your words and phrasing.
2. You will waste less time. This seems obvious – the faster you write, the more time you save. But pushing yourself to write on a deadline can help you to be more effective.  Doesn’t it seem like you can finish a writing assignment faster when you are under a tight deadline then when you have an extended period of time to work on it? That kind of pressure can increase your focus and help you write more efficiently.
3. You can outrun the negative self-chatter. When you write quickly you don’t have as much time to criticize your writing or ideas. This goes hand-in-hand with trusting your instinct. If you don’t believe in yourself and in your writing you will never finish revising documents!
4. You’ll want to write more often. Since writing quickly can help you use your time more efficiently and reduce self-criticism, you may find you enjoy your writing more. If you get more enjoyment out of writing, you’ll be willing to write more often – which will help improve your skills.
5. You’ll have more time to edit. When you write quickly you will inevitably misspell a few words and make various grammatical mistakes. However, since you wrote the document in less time, you have more time to edit. It’s not impressive to write quickly if your work is full of mistakes – but writing quickly ensures you’ll be able to  go through your writing to edit for spelling and grammar.

I think that most writing skills come with time and practice, and writing quickly is no exception. The more you write, the better you become at trusting your instincts and not criticizing yourself which can lead to more efficient and higher quality writing.