5 Tricks to Fast Drafting

It’s National Novel Writing Month and word counts reign supreme in the writing world right now. The thing is we are all so short on time. When I sit down to write it needs to happen now. There’s no luxury of sitting and staring at the screen for hours.

Kids, chores, other work, and the hubby are all competing for my time.

I’m sure your list of time competition is long too. So here are a few quick tips to draft quickly and with abandon.

1. Do not edit. Even if it’s a blatant misspelling it takes time to go back and fix it, plus it interrupts your writing flow.
2. Daydream. Use your chore time to think about your story. Find that next scene in your mind or fill an upcoming plot hole. You can get a lot of day dreaming done while doing laundry. Jot down a few notes to remember later if need be.
3. Find slivers of time. Waiting anywhere is prime time to write. Don’t let the opportunity to pull out a pen or your phone pass you by.
4. Use technology to your advantage. Use voice to text, type, hand write, whatever it takes to get that extra hundred words down. It takes me fifteen minutes to drive to my kids school to pick up. That’s fifteen minutes of voice to text story time instead of listening to the radio.
5. Talk it out. I’ll call my writing buddies while driving or while making dinner to brainstorm ideas as my story moves forward. That way I’m ready with fresh ideas when I make it to my computer to write.

The goal of these tricks is to have your mind prepped and bubbling with words for when you do sit down to write. That way words pour out like flood of creative energy instead of trying to mop up a small puddle of ideas.

Here’s to the muse being active and ready in the coming days.

Happy Questing!