How To Write Articles Quickly

You want to write articles with great content but you also want to write them quickly. It's not impossible. In fact, it's not even that difficult with a little bit of practice. Here are a few tips that can boost the speed you write articles.

But first, a quick warning. If you're just starting out as an article writer, you're going to need to practice writing well before you even think about writing quickly. Getting 500 words on paper is an easy task for anyone, but getting 500 words that clearly express a thought or idea is a lot more difficult.

It may take you a few weeks or even a couple of months to get into the grove, of things. And while you're learning to write articles, you pick up a few tricks of your own that can improve your speed while still hitting the same standard of quality that you need.

Tip #1. Eliminate Distractions.

Close your Internet browser, turn off the Television, and unplug the phone. The more interruptions you have the less you get done. That seems logical, right? It's more than just a way to overcome writer's block.

The real problem is that when you get sidetracked, the articles start to feel like they're taking longer to write than they actually are. If you sit down to write but your best friend calls, you could end up spending a half an hour on the phone with your thoughts wandering in the opposite direction.

Refocusing your mind takes extra energy... extra energy that you may have just spent on something less valuable than your writing. It's not going to kill you to be disconnected from the world for 30 minutes and you'll be amazed what it can do for your writing.

Tip #2. Have All Your Research Done Before You Start Writing

If you sit down with no knowledge of the subjects you have to write articles about, it's going to take a lot longer. When you start doing the research it's easy to get distracted. You'll end up chasing an information trail that leads to useless trivia on an unrelated subject.

But if you have all of the information you need available when start to write articles, you won't end up chasing those trails.

By having the research done, you reduce the curiosity factor. You won't have to ask, "well what about this" because you'll be confident that you have everything you need- either right in front of you, or already in your brain.

Another way that you can write articles with great content quickly is to opt for projects that are on subjects that you already know. This can significantly cut down on your research time. Do you enjoy exercising or do you have a passion for pets? Try finding writing jobs or write articles related to these topics.

Creating an outline before you start is also a good idea. It allows you to spend more time writing and less time thinking about what you want to write.

Tip #3. Use The Tools Available To You

Spell check is the best thing to happen to writers since the invention of the printing press (that may be a slight exaggeration). Microsoft Word and almost every other word processor have it built in. If you can stand the little red lines under your misspelled words, leave them there until you've finished writing and have time to go back and fix them.

However, if you're like me, those glaring errors can drive you crazy. Did you know there's a short cut to fixing them? You don't have to go to the top of the page and click the spell check button, you can just mouse over the word and right-click. The correct spelling options will pop up right next to the misspelled word and you can fix it with a single click and move on without much distraction.

It works on Macs too. Just mouse over the word and ctrl+click.

Tip #4. Separate Writing And Rewriting.

Speaking of fixing errors... Writing and rewriting articles should be in two separate categories in your mind. Save your proofreading and rewriting for later. Especially for short articles like this, rewriting later doesn't take much time. If you start to rewrite sections before you have all your ideas down, you risk getting distracted and forgetting the next thought.

Get everything down on paper first.

If you were building a house, would you paint each wall right after it was up? No, of course not. You'd build the entire structure first, then go through and paint or wall paper after it was done. Writing is a lot like construction in that way. If you try to get each section perfect before you move on to the next, the project will take forever.

Remember, never underestimate the power of quality content. You have to write articles well before you can write quickly. Everyone prefers quality content over rushed jumbles of words.

In case you're interested, this article is about 830 words and took 29 minutes and 55 seconds to write.

Related Articles:

Work Through New Writing Assignments...

Write Articles That Tell A Story...

More Articles About Writing Creative Non-Fiction