I have spoken before about freewriting and I have started doing this as an exercise on Mondays.

Today is slightly connected, but it is about how you can write a blog post fast. Sometimes you are happy to luxuriate in the pleasure of writing.

Sometimes though, you are under time pressure. Like I am today. And I have a problem. That problem is that I have committed to writing 500 words every day. Now I know that my mission with this blog was about learning how to create quality content fast.  After all I have always been a bit of a speed freak, like Hunter S Thompson who I quote in the image to the left.

Sometimes research and adding in photographs really adds up and makes a blog post a much slower process. For example the post I wrote about running apps, whilst quite simple took a long time.

So here are my tricks for pumping out the posts fast and furiously.

  1. Use a Pomodoro Timer or similar. Here you set a timer for 20 or 25 minutes and then you pick a subject and you write until time runs out.
  2. Don’t allow any distractions. Turn off the internet if you know that it distracts you. Make sure that you can’t go and check Social Media
  3. Use Voice Dictation software – Some people love this and it can work well. You need to have practiced with  it first, but we typically talk faster than we type!

Have a list of subjects that you know you can write about with confidence.

Here are some of mine:

  • Fitness:  For the last two years I have spent a lot of time trying to get into shape and to get fit, whilst eating pretty much whatever I wanted. Without being a trained fitness professional I can’t write with authority. I can though write about it based upon my experiences.
  • Productivity: I am currently dedicated to making sure I become productive. As a result I have been looking at what I recently heard referred to as Productivity Porn. This means though that I have been coming up with systems to make sure I am productive. I can usually write something competent about that.
  • Where you live – Few people know more about where you live than you do, so write about what to do, where to eat etc.
  • Do a review of something you love. If you recently bought a new gadget for example then this can be a great subject to write about.

If you are not sure what else you can write about here are a few other places I go to for inspiration:

My Library / Kindle. I look through books I have read recently and think about what I have learnt from reading them. This often gives me subjects to write about.

Ted Talks – These are a fantastic selection of talks on a wide range of subjects. Either  go through their library and use one of the subjects you feel confident about. Or watch a talk and then write your summary of it.

You could also go back and read my recent blog post about what to write about when you don’t know what to write. That had some other fun ways of getting subjects.

I hope you have found this useful. I am currently reading a book all about writing fast, so I will come back and update this with my findings.

Love to hear your thoughts and comments below.

Time spent writing: 14 minutes
Time editing: 3 minutes
From start to finish 14 minutes
How happy with result: 6