The Keys to Unleashing Your Writing Speed

During NaNoWriMo, speed is king (or queen) and the faster you write, the better you optimize your time. Which is why in today's quick "betweeniesode" we're sharing our best tips to pick up your writing pace.

Join award-winning fantasy author Megan Haskell and USA Today bestselling mystery thriller author Greta Boris as we unveil tried-and-true strategies to stay focused on your word count and keep your story on a roll.

Tip 1: Try writing in short bursts using the "Pomodoro" technique or writing sprints.

Tip 2: Don't be afraid of a little healthy competition! Whether you're competing with yourself or with other faster writers, you'll be sure to get more words on the page.

Want even more productivity tips? Check out our online course, Finish Your Novel Faster: https://www.authorwheel.com/finish-your-novel-faster

Get ready to accelerate your writing speed, stay motivated, and keep your story rolling!

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The Author Wheel:
Website: www.AuthorWheel.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorWheel

Greta Boris:
Website: www.GretaBoris.com
Facebook: @GretaBorisAuthor
Instagram: @GretaBoris

Megan Haskell:
Website: www.MeganHaskell.com
Facebook & Instagram: @MeganHaskellAuthor
TikTok: @AuthorMeganHaskell

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone and welcome to the author wheel.
This is Betweeny Soad numberfive.
I'm award winning fantasyauthor Megan Haskell.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
And I am USA Today bestselling mystery thriller
author Greta Boris.
Together we are the authorwheel.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
And today we are going to be talking about
writing sprints Again.
Like I said last week, thewhole point of Nano-Rymo is to
get those words on the page, andsometimes a little competition
can help along the way,especially now that we are in

(00:38):
the third week of November andmaybe your motivation is
starting to wane a little bit.
Or maybe you find yourselfbehind schedule and you need to
speed it up.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Or all the turkey is making you sleepy and you need a
little adrenaline, yes.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
So competition, healthy, friendly competition
it'd be a great way to keepyourself rolling and going and
moving forward and getting thosewords on the page.
So our first tip today is touse what are called pomodoro.
Now, this actually came out ofthe business world a couple of

(01:19):
decades ago, I think, but thebasic premise is that you break
your day down into 25 minuteincrements, and each 25 minutes
you set a timer.
You focus on a single task forthat 25 minute period of time
and then, after 25 minutes, yourtimer rings.
You pause, you take a break.

(01:40):
You take a five minute break,get a drink of water or a cup of
coffee or whatever.
Then you come back to your desk, you choose your next task to
focus on and you set another 25minute timer and you do it again
, and after four 25 minuteintervals.
Well, now it's lunchtime and sothen you come back after lunch

(02:00):
and then it's time to go home,and so there you go.
That's the corporate version ofthe pomodoro.
I think most writers use it alittle bit more flexibly.
we'll say that they don'tnecessarily do four in a row,
with strict five minute breaksfollowed by lunch, but I do find

(02:20):
that setting a timer can be ahuge help for my writing speed.
It's just, it's something abouthaving that timer running and
knowing that for just 25 minutes.
It's just 25 minutes, it's notreally that long, but I can
focus on just writing that onething, that one chapter, that
one scene, whatever, and nothave to or not allow myself to

(02:44):
think about anything else, andso you can really try to isolate
that chunk of time purely forwriting.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
I recently tried, instead of 25 minutes, I
recently tried 55 minute chunksbecause I was really behind and
I need to write a lot, so I did55 minutes and I liked that for
really getting in the flow andgetting in there.
Sometimes 25 minutes is alittle short for me for that to

(03:19):
get my mind truly in the story.
So know that.
25 minutes, yes, that is theway it was invented.
However, feel free to be alittle flexible with that time.
Maybe it's 25 for you, maybeit's 45, maybe it's 55, like me.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Maybe it's 15.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, maybe it's 15.
So, yeah, don't get religiousabout it.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
No, no, definitely experiment and find out what
works for you and for yourschedule, because sometimes you
might not have a full hour soyou can't do two.
So maybe you have 45 minutes soyou're just gonna do one 45
minute timer.
But setting that timer doeshave a, I think, beneficial
effect on the brain to help youincrease your speed.

(04:05):
But I do wanna say that for meand again, everybody's different
, so you gotta experiment whatworks for you.
But for me I have found that 25to 30 minutes is the peak
length of time for me to trulysprint right, so just typing as
fast as I can.
So the way I like to set myselfup ideally and it doesn't

(04:26):
always work this way, butideally.
We talked about brain dumpslast week or two weeks ago.
So if you can do a two minutebrain dump, get yourself set up,
get yourself in that zone, inthat state where you're in that
scene.
You've made all those sensorydetails in your head already,

(04:48):
you've envisioned where you are.
Then start the timer for 20,usually sometimes 20, 25 minutes
.
I never do more than 25 if I'mreally trying to sprint.
Then I set that timer and I hitgo and I literally try to type
as fast as I possibly can when Ido that for 25 minutes.

(05:08):
If you really in the zone, youcan maybe get 7, 800 words in 25
minutes, if you're really in it, which then you multiply that
out across several sessions overthe course of the day and all
of a sudden you're writingeasily a thousand words an hour,
which I think is pretty good ifyou're not dictating.

(05:29):
If you're dictating you can doeven more than that.
Experiment with that a littlebit.
But definitely block out thattime and set that timer to be
completely distraction-free, tobe completely focused on just
the one task of getting as manywords on the page as possible in

(05:49):
that amount of time.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
One more little thing I want to add to the Pomodoro
tip is that if there really issomething that is niggling at
you I know last week we talkedabout not falling down the
research rabbit pool, butthere's sometimes like there is
something you want to knowbecause you feel like it's going
to help you flesh out a scene.
So I had that yesterday whereI'm writing some scenes on

(06:13):
Catalina Island and I wanted toknow if there were underwater
caves or caves that filled upwith water, and I wanted to look
on Google Earth.
And I just wait till yourfive-minute break.
It's good to get up and getaway from the computer, but if
there's really something youwant to look at, then you can
tell yourself.
I can do it on my five-minutebreak.

(06:34):
It was very cool to go toGoogle Earth and look at
Catalina Island, look at theshoreline, look at there is a
lot of caves.
Then that got me even moreexcited when I sat down to write
the next writing sprint.
I was even more excited, evenmore jazzed, and I had even more
ideas in my brain because I hadjust seen these visual images

(06:56):
that were really fun.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, and I just want to add too that with that, if
you five minutes, maybe that'snot quite long enough.
So to avoid going down thatrabbit hole at least too far,
give yourself a pomodoro forresearch.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Ooh, I like that.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Let yourself have 15, 20 minutes to focus on that
research, that one topic, thatthing that you need to keep your
manuscript going.
Maybe it's not quite a fullpomodoro, maybe you shorten it a
little bit so you're stillspending more of your time
writing than researching.
But if you set a timer and ifyou follow that timer now,

(07:39):
you're not going to be waking uptwo hours later going oh my
gosh, my whole day just wentaway because I was researching
Catalina or whatever.
So you can set those pomodorotimers for other tasks besides
just writing if you need to, ifyou find that that helps you.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yes, that's an excellent idea.
So tip number two is kind ofalong the same lines.
We were talking about healthycompetition.
You can take your word countfrom your Pomodoro.
You can compete with yourself,and I do this quite a bit.

(08:20):
It's interesting if you.
I've noted that if I do 25minute Pomodoro is my first one
maybe between 450, 500 words.
My second one will be usuallyover 500 words.
I'm like competing with myself.
But if I do too many Pomodoro'sin a day then they start going
way down.

(08:40):
So it's interesting to see howyour own brain works, like
what's your peak?
How long can you really do thisat peak performance levels?
So that's one way to use thePomodoro word count.
Another thing you can do is joina group.
Nano-rymo does have groupsbuilt in.

(09:02):
Usually they have them for yourlocation.
I know when they do the summercamp.
You can join a cabin.
You can grab other writerfriends.
You can start to go to aFacebook group.
Whatever Then people will dowriting sprints together,
sometimes on Zoom, sometimes onFacebook Live, sometimes they
just text each other startingnow go, or sometimes even in

(09:25):
person, like in a coffee shop.
I was writing with a friend acouple of years ago.
We would just go for a walk,get some exercise.
Then we'd sit down and we'd dosome Pomodoro's and compare word
counts.
She always beat me, though itwas really discouraging, but you

(09:46):
may find that you are very,very quick, and then that's a
little shot in the arm and keepsyou going.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
Well and surrounding yourself with people who are
doing things a little bit betterthan you, a little bit faster.
You're going to strive for thatas well.
I know, Greta, you've told thestory before about running and
how you used to run with peoplewho were a little faster than
you and, as a result, you gotfaster.
So that's.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
No, that's absolutely true.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
And that's really the goal.
So, yeah, it might seem likewell, okay, you're quote-unquote
losing to your friend whowrites faster than you, but if
you're winning because youyourself will also be getting
faster in that competition.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Right.
So that is our wrap on ourwriting sprints and writing
faster.
I did want to mention that wedo have a whole online course
called Finish your Novel Faster,and we have a lot of these kind
of tips in there.
So you might just want to dropon by authorwheelcom and take a

(10:57):
look at that, but meanwhile keepwriting and keep those stories
rolling.