In this article we'll discuss five tips to write more.



I'm a reasonably fast and prolific writer; it comes naturally. Over a long writing career I've also found that when I write more the quality of my writing goes up. My writing students have also found that when they write more, their writing improves.

Would you like to write a 600 word, well-researched article in half an hour, including research time? You can with practice.

Here are the tips:

1. Plan your writing a week in advance

You'll write more when you plan your writing at least a week in advance. Not only does planning your writing in advance help you to discover useful research material via serendipity, your subconscious mind does a lot of the "writing" for you.

So on Sunday evening, or Monday morning, take a few minutes to create your writing schedule for the week, and enter all the articles, reports, and other material you know you need to write in the coming week.

2. Research for a week's writing in one session

"Research", especially online, can be a huge time-sink. As with writing, I plan my research in advance, and you can too. You can research ten articles, or a 30-page report, in less than two hours at the library. Online, using newspaper databases and commercial databases, it should only take you around an hour, maximum.

If you're writing on commission, consider out-sourcing some research: it means you can write more.

3. Create descriptive working titles

Your working title tells you exactly what the focus is for an article, report, or book. It stops you wandering off the point while you're writing. I know if I can get the working title right, writing the material will be easy. Equally, while I may know what the topic and slant are, if I don't take the time to think about the title, I know that the material will take longer to write.

Batch-write titles, as you batch-research.

4. Outline each piece

Outlining is essential to help you to write more. My outlining is usually just a list of items I want to cover in the piece. If the topic is complex, or unfamiliar to me, I create a mind map.

Again, outline many pieces of writing before you write. I've just checked my In Progress file, and I can see that I currently have eight articles outlined. I'll outline several more later today; I like to have somewhere between ten and 20 articles outlined in advance.

5. Relax while you write

The more you can relax physically as you write, the more you'll write. Some writers like to listen to music - check to see whether playing music in the background helps you to get into a state of "flow" so you can focus just on your writing.

Bonus tip: get a speech recognition program. Although learning to dictate your writing takes a week or two initially, the boosts in your writing speed are worth it.

So there you have five tips which will help you to write more and make more money. Remember to practice these new skills until they become a natural writing process for you.