Do you wish you could get more writing done in a day?
In our super-competitive world, it’s pretty clear that the more writing you can produce, the better your chances of enjoying a successful writing career.
It’s sort of like the more exercise you do, the stronger your muscles will become and the more physically fit you will be.
But just like you can injure yourself by pushing yourself too hard in any fitness program, you can also overtax your creative muscles if you force them to produce too much before they’re ready.
So how can we proceed if we want to increase our weekly writing output?
3 Reasons Why Writers May Want to Write More
1. Writing More Helps You Develop Your Skills
I can tell you from experience that it’s possible to produce more writing work tomorrow then you are producing today—even if you’re already writing a lot. I’ve had to increase my creative capacity myself to be able to keep up with everything I’m doing. I felt resistant to it at first, but then I had a few things change my point of view.
The market is very competitive, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Whether you’re writing books or writing for clients, you’re competing against a lot of other very fine writers out there. That means the more you can improve your writing skills, the better, and one of the best ways to improve is to practice.
If you think about it, learning the craft of writing is a lot like learning to play a musical instrument. If you ever took piano lessons as a child, you may remember your teacher requiring you to practice at home. You may have even had to fill out a practice chart to prove that you were regularly working on your material.
Many of us come to writing with no previous experience as storytellers or copywriters. That means we need to learn the craft on our own, which requires many hours of practice.
You may be thinking to yourself that you’ve already written a lot over the last several months or years, but after writing all kinds of different materials for over two decades, I’m still learning, and I still have a lot to learn. Stepping up your writing production is a great way to improve at a faster rate.
2. Writing More Increases Your Odds of Earning More
The more you write and the more projects you produce, the better your chances of earning money with those projects. Whether you’re a freelance writer or a novelist, your earning potential is strictly tied to how much you can create.
If it takes you three years to write and publish a book, for example, at the end of five years, you’ll only have one book on the market.
Another author who can put out one book per year, on the other hand, would have five books available by the end of that five years and would have a much higher earning potential.
It’s a simple equation if you’re a freelance writer as well. The more you can write and complete projects, the more clients you can please, and the more money you will make.
3. Writing More Exposes You to More Readers
As you may know, writers are responsible for finding the majority of their readers. Even if you publish with a traditional publisher, they will expect you to have a thriving platform filled with people who are ready and waiting to read your book.
If you self-publish your books, it’s even more critical for you to have readers who are interested in reading those books. If you’re a freelance writer, the more articles you’ve had published, the more likely your clients will be to trust your abilities.
No matter what kind of writer you are, the more you write, the more chances you have to connect with people who may be interested in your work.
5 Ways to Increase Your Writing Capacity
Let’s say you’re convinced you would benefit if you could write more words per day, or simply produce more writing-related projects per week. How can you increase your creative capacity?
One of the things you have to watch out for is creative burnout. Many of us demand so much from our creative brains that we end up overtaxing them to the point where we burnout and crash.
You may resist the idea of increasing production because you’re afraid of this type of outcome. Perhaps you’ve been through burnout before, or you’ve experienced days when you just didn’t feel you could write one more word.
As a full-time freelance writer, novelist, and nonfiction book writer, I also worried that if I asked myself to produce more, I would end up in creative trouble. But I have found that this is completely avoidable as long as you approach increasing production carefully.
Here are five steps I used to increase my weekly output without suffering burnout or creative exhaustion. I invite you to try them to see if they might work for you.
1. Decide that you are fully capable of increasing production.
This is by far the most important step. I came up against a place in my schedule where I wanted to fit in a new project I was working on, but I was facing my own resistance at adding more hours of writing work to my daily schedule.
Then I read something that broke this pattern of thinking. There is a difference between caring for yourself and limiting yourself. We absolutely can increase our writing capacity while still caring for the creative muse.
But first, you must decide that this is possible. Decide you can do it without harm to your creative self and you’ll be able to move forward.
2. Determine why you want to increase your writing capacity.
Before undertaking the task of increasing your writing capacity, it helps to have a reason why.
I had a project I felt would be beneficial to my writing business, and I was highly motivated to get it done. I had been thinking about it for over a year and had not made any progress on it. That brought me to a place where I was frustrated and determined to make a change because this project really mattered to me.
I realized the only way I could get this project done was to increase my daily writing output. There was simply nothing else that I could cut out of my schedule to make room for it, which meant that I had to become a faster and more prolific writer.
Think about why you want to increase your writing capacity. Are you motivated to get more books published per year? Do you want to write more guest posts per week so you can get your work out to a wider audience? Are you motivated to taking on more freelance work so that you can make more money?
Decide what project you’re motivated to do, and that will give you a good reason for increasing your writing capacity.
3. Create a slot in your daily schedule.
The next step is to figure out when you can fit this extra writing in. Maybe you can add another 30 minutes a day of writing to your daily schedule. So let’s say you’re already writing four hours a day. You simply find another half hour somewhere and devote that to writing.
The other option is to force yourself to complete your other writing tasks more quickly. If it’s taking you two hours to meet your daily word limit, start giving yourself only 90 minutes. Push yourself to write the same amount of words in a shorter amount of time. If you set a timer and stick to it, you may be impressed with how fast you can go!
I have experienced this myself. When I wanted to make more room for an additional writing project, I gave myself less time for the others already on the schedule. That forced me to focus more intently and I still got the writing done. Seems I was wasting time before!
You may have heard of the idea that whatever time you give yourself to complete a project, it will take the entire time. In other words, if you give yourself two hours to write 3,000 words, it will likely take you two hours. But if you give yourself only 90 minutes, it will probably take only 90 minutes. Reduce your allotted time and see what happens.
4. Get good at getting started.
When it comes to writing more, the hard part is getting started.
Don’t give yourself the time to think about it. Realize you have committed to producing more, and when it comes time to write, sit down and get started. Don’t let negative thoughts make you hesitate or cause you to think you should do something else.
Another thing that helps when it comes to getting started is simply to allow yourself to write badly. Many times we think that we cannot possibly write something else worthwhile after just finishing four hours of work.
Remember: this sort of thinking is limiting. Tell yourself you can do it, and permit yourself to write badly if necessary. You can always edit it later.
5. Feed your creative muse.
As you’re pushing yourself to produce more each week, it becomes even more critical to take care of your creative self. You’re asking your imagination to step it up, which means you have to give it the fuel it requires.
Just like a bodybuilder will require more protein in her diet when increasing the weight she’s lifting, a writer requires more creative nourishment while increasing writing production.
What qualifies as creative nourishment? That varies from person to person, but typically includes the following:
- A healthy diet, regular exercise, and 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night.
- Regular exposure to novelty, either via traveling to new places or simply changing up a daily routine.
- Mental space, achieved during periods of boredom or when walking in nature.
- Rewards for a job well done, such as a night out with friends after achieving a week of increased writing production.
- Support from family members, friends, or other writers who have similar goals.
One other thing that can be very effective when it comes to feeding the creative muse is to change up the type of projects you’re working on. Work on your novel in the morning, your guest post in the afternoon, and your poem at night before bed. Or work on your freelance projects during the day and your novel at night.
Write about fantasy characters for a while, then switch gears and talk about how important the imagination is to our ability to set goals.
Changing the subject you’re writing about helps keep the creative muse from getting worn out. Each time you switch, it’s like starting something new—and remember that novelty feeds creativity.
Using these five tips, I’ve been able to increase my writing production and maintain that increase over a period of several months. How about you?