To write faster, decide what you want to achieve before you start, plan the text with a template or an outline, do your research first, and leave editing until the draft is done. Short breaks and a firm deadline keep the pace up.
When your work involves a lot of writing, every minute you save is a minute you can spend on something else. Here are 8 tips that help you get your writing done faster.
1. Set a clear goal
Why are you writing? What do you want your text to achieve? Write the goal down at the top of the page, in bold. It keeps you focused and stops your mind from wandering off.
2. Use a template
Many companies use templates for their business documents. Templates make texts clear and consistent, and they also make them faster to write, because the structure is already there.
3. Make an outline
When there is no template to follow, make an outline before you start. List the main questions your text must answer, so that you deal with them early rather than late.
4. Research first, then write
Finishing your research before you write matters most for non-fiction. Schedule all research and interviews first, so that you have everything at hand when you start writing. Every time you stop writing to look something up, you lose your flow.
5. Skip the edits
Editing takes time. If you switch between writing and editing, you waste a lot of it. Save spelling and grammar checking for the end, when the draft is done. And when you edit, do not add new material: you would only have to edit that too. (For why the two jobs work better apart, see separate writing and proofreading.)
6. Use placeholders
Do you want to make a point but cannot find the right words for it? Use a placeholder. Journalists often write TK, short for "to come", to mark something they will add later. For example, if you want to quote a business leader to support your argument but do not want to search for the quote now, write "TK quote from a business leader" and move on.
What is TK?
It is simply a letter combination that journalists have used for a long time. It works because the two letters almost never appear together in English words, so a search finds only your placeholders. Which combination you use is up to you: "XXX", "###", or anything else that is easy to search for.
7. Take short breaks
When you sit down to write, set a timer that tells you when to take a break, for example 20 minutes of writing followed by a 5-minute break. Forcing yourself to stare at the screen for hours on end is bad for your productivity.
8. Set a deadline and stick to it
It may sound obvious, but a deadline speeds you up. Even famous novelists miss theirs, sometimes by years, yet most writers agree that a deadline is what gets the work done.
The deadline does not have to be for the finished job. It can be "I will finish the first draft by tomorrow morning" or "I will talk to everyone I need to interview within three days." Any deadline is better than none. For more on working against the clock, see writing on a deadline.