The other day I wrote 17 sales emails, sent 2 Upwork proposals, 2 cold emails and the post you’re reading right now.
In all, it was about 12,000 words of copy.
And I finished it in about 4 hours.
I was chatting with one of my readers about this and they were shocked that I could get this much writing done in a day.
To quote them, “WHAT!? I just spit out my tea when you said that! How do you do that!?”
I’ve gotten this reaction a lot.
So I figured it might be cool to share some of the techniques I use to get this much writing done in a day. Actually at my peak output, I was producing probably 2-3x this much copy on a really good day.
Full disclosure: I’m a freaking weirdo! Some of this stuff is going to be crazy to write down. I know that. I’m also not claiming to be the fastest writer in the world. In fact, my girlfriend’s GWAM is 3x mine (so talk to her if you really want to know speed writing secrets)! That said, I do think you might be able to pick up a trick or two to improve your own output …
With that out of the way, let’s dive in…
Speed Writing Tip #1: Lay Your Stones First
Whenever I have a bunch of writing to get done, I almost never jump into the content right away.
Instead, I spend 30 min – 1 hour actually outlining everything I’m going to write first.
For example, today I was working on emails for a sales funnel. And I spent the first 30 minutes sketching out the topic of each email first.
I wrote an idea for the subject line and rough notes for what each email would cover.
When I do this, I’m really just trying to lay the foundation for the funnel. I’m mapping out the emotional arcs within the series.
During this time, I do exactly zero “real” writing. I’m just copying and pasting notes. Compiling loose sentences and ideas. Doing research.
In fact, if you were to pop into a google doc I’m working on when it’s in this stage, you would probably say, “WTF is this psycho doing????”
But just wait, it’ll come together soon.
Speed Writing Tip #2: Set The Clock To 55 Minutes … and GO!
Okay so once I finish the outline, I always let the document cool for about an hour before I come back to it to do the actual writing.
And that’s when things get really fun.
On bigger writing days, I like to push myself to the limits of what I can produce.
And I find a timer can really be useful for upping your output — MASSIVELY. There’s something about a clock that just makes you want to keep going and going.
You may have heard about techniques like “Pomodoro” and the like which want you to go for 25 minutes, pause 5 minutes and go again.
But I find when I’m doing really creative writing, I like to push the limits of that even more.
I set a timer for 55 min and make myself write as fast as I can.
I don’t really allow myself to use the backspace bar during this whole time (unless I make such an egregious typo that I have to fix it… And if you’ve read my writing you know I make a crap ton of typos … so it really has to be bad for me to stop. Haha ).
And during these short but intense bursts I might write 2,000-4,000 words, depending on the subject matter.
Do that 3-4x and you just wrote like 6-20k words and barely even felt it.
Of course, this writing will definitely need to be edited, but getting down a first draft and fast like this will make you feel so much better and bring you that much closer to actually finishing for the day.
Speed Writing Tip #3: Write Completely Fasted
Every day, I fast until about 2 pm.
But on days I plan to get a bunch of writing done, I won’t consume ANY food until I’m finished writing.
There’s a lot of reasons I personally choose to do this (I feel better, think clearer, and notice that I have more energy).
But also, there’s a lot of evidence that shows having food in your system diverts energy away from your brain causing your output to drop.
Is that true? Like all things with nutrition, who knows?
You’ll just have to test it out for yourself to see.
But for me, this is a key part of my writing regimine.
And if I do consume anything at all — foodwise — it’ll just be 16 oz of bone broth. It’s satiating enough to stave off hunger without any carbs or sugar and lets me think super clear all day.
Speed Writing Tip #4: Drink This Black Beverage Carefully!
With a title like “World’s most caffeinated copywriter?”, you might have guessed one of my tips is to down coffee when you need to get a lot of writing done.
And you’d be right.
But you need to be careful!
On the days I need to write a bunch, I probably actually consume the least amount of caffeine.
Because after a certain amount, I find it to be counterproductive.
In fact, too much coffee for me can lead to decreased focused, increased jitters and way more trips to the bathroom.
So I definitely still drink coffee, but I limit it to a single strong cup of coffee and get to writing!
Speed Writing Tip #5: Looping Whiny Pop Music
My last tip is probably the most CRITICAL for me.
It’s to find one whiny pop song and put it on repeat.
(Yes, a lot of my best copy has been written to Taylor Swift! Haters gonna hate! LOL.)
If the music is constantly changing or not super pop-y, I find it impossible to focus and distracting.
So I’ll often listen to the same pop song for 5-6 hours straight … for weeks on end.
It makes my Spotify wrapped incredibly cringe. But it makes my writing much much easier. The key is finding a song that bleeds into the background so much that you don’t “hear it” but it drowns out other sounds and lets you get into flow.
Combined, I can use these strategies to easily write thousands of words per day.
My top output? Once I wrote a 30k word VSL in a day. That wrecked me the next day but it was possible.
Anyway, if you have a big writing day coming up, consider testing some of these out to help you get your writing done faster and more fun!