Issue 146 – April 2025
10 tips to focus and write faster – without AI
Editing while you write slows you down as your creative brain and your critical brain fight for control.
Everyone’s talking about how much time AI will save you. But will it when you’re in a hurry? It takes time to write the detailed prompts needed to get what you want, and then to check for hallucinations. Plus you don’t want to give AI your company’s or your client’s information.
So when you have something to write, quickly, how do you focus and get it done without AI? Try these 10 tips:
Set the stage
1. Back away from the internet
It might go without saying, but do not keep your browser open. Sure, you SAY you’re not going to look, but then you pop online to check a fact (don’t do it; see #4), or to briefly check your email, and next thing you know, an hour has zipped past.
2. Turn off notifications
Turn off automatic notifications and those distracting little “dings.” Close your email. Put your phone on silent mode or turn it off completely. If you must, allow yourself to check for messages only after you’ve put in a decent amount of time writing. Five minutes is not a decent amount of time.
3. Set a deadline
Nothing focuses the mind quite like a deadline. If you have too much time to write something, you’ll probably wait until the last minute. (Shades of high school!) If your deadline is vague, make it a specific day and time. Without that deadline, writing will likely drop to the bottom of your priorities.
Get organized
4. Separate your research from your writing
Don’t stop to look up a fact, find a quote, or check a figure, says Ali Hale on DailyWritingTips. You’ll just interrupt your train of thought and waste time trying to get back into the flow. Instead, set aside a block of time to look up facts and figures or whatever else you need. (See #8.)
5. Keep your notes together
I usually start writing by saving my research and notes about the topic as a new document, then I cut and paste from it as I go along. That way, I keep all the extra details and background in the original document and can concentrate on tying everything together. I often highlight great quotes or key information in that notes file.
6. Keep on track with an outline
An outline can be as simple as writing down the main point you want readers to take away and bullet points you want to cover. The Grammarly blog says an effective outline collects these talking points, which “talk” you through your first draft.
Separate writing from everything else
7. Allow yourself to write a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad first draft*
Writer Anne Lamott says in Bird by Bird, “The only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.” Author and digital marketer Ann Handley calls it an “ugly first draft.” For writing coach Daphne Gray-Grant, it’s a “crappy first draft.” Whatever you call it, stop trying to write the perfect first draft with the perfect words and phrases. Just write. (*With a nod to Alexander in the book by Judith Viorst.)
8. Use placeholders for words
It’s easy to waste far too much time trying to come up with just the right words. Instead of interrupting your flow, highlight the word you want to change. Write “ANOTHER WORD FOR X” or “CHECK SPELLING” or “SOMETHING HERE ABOUT Y” to capture your thought but not waste time polishing it. Go back in the editing stage (see #10) and fix it then.
9. Use placeholders for sections
Similar to #8, use placeholders for whole sections. Having a hard time writing the opening sentence? Write “CLEVER OPENING” and get into your writing groove in an area that may take less creativity. I often do the same with headlines: “CLEVER HEADLINE HERE.” Go back once you’ve warmed up.
10. Separate writing from editing
Editing while you write slows you down (see #4 and #8) as your creative brain and your critical brain fight for control. Only after you have your lousy first draft done should you go back and fix the parts that needed work or didn’t quite capture your thoughts.
What other tips help you write quickly? Please share!
Related reading:
Surprising (helpful) things Ann Handley learned writing 1,000 words a day
Daphne Gray-Grant has seven ways to stop editing while you write
In the Red Jacket Diaries:
Assignment: Learn about regrets and do-overs
7 writing tips we can learn from Sesame Street (from the blog vault)
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