How Writing Faster Can Get You More Clients

So, you want to learn the key to writing faster?

If you’re a freelance writer or blogger, online writing is something you should learn more about and writing faster is part of improving your writing skills.

It’s not going to be productive if you slave away trying to write your client post and the deadline is looming. You’re dragging your feet and unable to move past that second paragraph.

How Writing Faster Can Get You More Clients

Having to do that for all your client work, won’t help you make a living as a writer.

Being a freelance writer has many responsibilities and as you grow into your groove, you learn what it takes in order to benefit your business.

So, if you want to get more clients, earn more money and make them eager to continue working with you, then it might be a good time to assess your writing skills and see if you can adjust them and learn faster writing.

How to do you write faster?

When I say your writing speed, I don’t mean sacrificing your great content in hopes of getting more clients.

For some reason, I don’t see learning how to write faster and producing poor content as mutually exclusive, but I know you’re probably thinking, if I’m writing faster, will I still be able to produce memorable and awesome content?

The answer is, Yes.

Learning how faster writing will only help you produce quality content that’s better from before. It will make your writing flow better, read better, and relate better.

You will be able to devote more time to researching, reading up on your topic and even have time to read freelance writing tips like this one here!

If you are new to freelance writing and a slow writer, one writing tip I could offer is to create content that shows your awesome writing skills.

Okay, so you know writing faster will get you more clients, but can you earn more? Yup, the faster you write, the more you’re worth per hour. Linda Formichelli wrote on Copyblogger that she earns $250 an hour.

How does she do it? By typing wickedly fast (when I grow up I want to be Linda Formichelli).

Tips for Writing Faster

I know that writing every day will improve my writing skills, but I’ve learned since starting my freelance writing career, that it’s my writing process that was slowing me down.

It would take me days just to think of a topic to write on my blog and then I would spend hours (indirectly, while tending to my children) thinking about subheadings and points I’d want to include.

I would also, once my post was done, scour creative commons photos for just the right photo and edit it to add my own personal touch.

Do you see any problems with my process?

Most of my process was in my head. I thought about my blog post idea all day  and never wrote anything down.

When it came time for me to type, I would have to spend time thinking about my blog post topic again, and end up writing it down.

I decided to change my writing process and adopted these 7 key strategies to practice writing faster. And then, I’ll share with you my most productive ways to make sure you continue to write faster as a freelance writer!

Want to learn what clients want from their freelance writers? My complete course, Write Your Way to Your First $1k not only gives you a step-by-step framework to get your biz up and running, it walks you through how to write a proper blog post and how to submit your blog post to your clients. Be sure to check out my course!

You may already have an awesome writing process, but if you don’t, I can guarantee you that these tips will result in faster writing.

You will be able to write more in a day in less time and earn more money and more clients when you use these 11 ways for a faster writing speed.

Let’s find out what they are.

1. Plan it Out – On Paper to Writing Blog Posts Faster

I learned that just thinking about my blog post idea all day, didn’t result in faster writing. I still had to write my blog post idea and supporting points down.

So, for writing blog posts faster I think of a potential topic and I write it down.

Go ahead and use a fancy fountain pen if you want! Or, go with handwriting or use Microsoft Word.

I make an outline and use my Freelance Writing Productive Planner and make sure to include:

  • A working headline. It doesn’t have to be your final headline, just an idea. For this topic, I immediately wrote X Key Ways to Write Faster. I knew I wanted to make a list, but didn’t know how many tips I could come with and I also knew my topic was going to be about writing faster online.
  • My subheadings. The bulk of  your post is your subheadings and supporting paragraphs. Again, my subheadings are all just ideas at this time. I wanted to get a basic skeleton of my post, so I thought of as many tips as I could (at first there were 4) and just wrote them down.
  • Basic points I wanted to cover for each subheading. Now I don’t always do this part, only if I have the time. For this article, I only had basic points for a few of my subheadings.  You may find, however, that once you start typing, those points may not flow with what you are writing and you never end up using them. That’s okay. You could always use those points on another post.

I found once I wrote a plan, I was able to sit down and type, making my writing much more fluid and easier to do.

There may be times while I’m writing, that I get stuck or can’t think of what else to write. I usually just stop and take a break.

This helps me view my work from a fresh perspective when I return, which allows me to write faster and better.

2. Make a Routine Out of Writing

I don’t know about you, but I find that when I have a routine around my writing, I can focus better, which makes me be able to increase my writing speed.

Writing faster techniques really centers around a daily and consistent routine.

Before I write anything, I usually do the following:

  • Make sure my water bottle is full.
  • Put my favorite slippers on, since the hardwood floors are chilly this time of year.
  • Put my hair in a pony tail. I can type faster when I’m not bothered every few minutes by my hair getting in front of my eyes.
  • Clean my glasses. I seem to have smudges on them all time. My children are probably the culprits.

Doing these things helps me with writing drafts faster.

Do you set aside writing time so you can be more productive? Do you have a favorite place you like to write? If you do, let me know in the comments!

3. Clear Out All Distractions So You Can Think Faster When Writing

I know for some freelance writers, having the TV on in the background or your children’s chattering floating by while you write doesn’t stop your flow.

For me, however, any other sound other than the tap, tap, tap of my keyboard, and all focus goes away and I can’t think.

This why I mostly write when my children are sleeping or out of the house.

I can think faster when writing when I have quiet or repetitive music on.

I also make sure that when I write, all my little alerts on my computer like my email and calendar alerts are muted.

Nothing bothers me more than seeing a small window at the corner of my screen prompting me that I have a new message.

While making sure my house and laptop are quiet and free of distractions, I also have to keep my desk and room organized and clean. I am a big believer of a clean house gives you a clear mind.

Maybe you have your desk littered with old receipts, magazines or extra pens.

Having these items on your desk could be stopping you from clearing your mind to focus on your writing process and write faster. So spend a few minutes a day, cleaning up your space and see if you don’t end up writing faster.

4. Find Your Writing Place to Get Faster at Writing

Some writers enjoy writing at a coffee shop or public place. They might get inspired by the people coming in and out for coffee and this fuels them to be good at fast writing.

For me, I need to write at my desk, on my computer to get faster at writing. I can’t write on the couch or at the kitchen table. I find I need the structure of my desk and the environment to inspire me to write.

Anywhere else doesn’t seem like a work environment, and if I want to learn to be a fast writer and learn speed writing, I needed it to be as if I’m going to work.

You might not have a place of your own to write and must resort to the kitchen or living room. As long as it works for you and you are able to write quickly and with ease, then don’t change.

But, if you think that where your writing could be affecting how fast you can write on keyboard, then maybe switch it up. Put a desk in the living room and see if that helps.

Maybe convert a hall closet into your office.

When you do this, note your words per hour. You can take a typing test for your typing speed at each location to figure this out.

5. Just Write

… and don’t edit while you write. I know this is hard for some (like me), but I can promise you that if you just write and not stop for any misspellings or wrong words, you will end up being a faster writer.

In the past, I was always thinking,

  • “What’s another word I could use instead of…?”
  • “What’s a better way to say…?”
  • “Didn’t I just read about this on another blog? Let me check”
  • “Let me fix this misspelling”

Do you often have the inner editor? I still do, but now I just don’t always pay attention to my thoughts. They are distractions now.

Sometimes this can turn into writers block even.

I’m getting better at just writing it all out and fixing any mistakes at a different time. This definitely makes me type faster.

So next time you want to check a source, add a link or fix that spelling mistake, don’t.

Don’t even use word count.

Just write and forget about everything else during your writing session. Write and write and then write some more with speed.

The less you edit your work as you go, the better chance you have of completing your thoughts and generating good flow.

6. Fuel Your Writing With Passion

Do you remember the last time you wrote about something you were excited and passionate about? Maybe it was something in your niche or something that was dear to your heart.

Whatever the topic was, your passion was able to fuel you to write incredible content fast.

Yes, the secret on how to write blog posts faster is having that passion fuel for sure!

This is what a professional writers does.

I know it can be hard being passionate about some of your clients’ topics.

For instance, it might be difficult to find some enthusiasm in plumbing equipment or medical information on different heart medications.

But let’s break this down and see if we can try to find some passion to write about plumbing equipment and heart medications. 

I’m also going to let you in on a little secret I recently found out (it’s empathy).

Plumbing Equipment

Plumbing usually involves a problem, change or re-model, but if you can empathize with your target audience, then I’m sure you can find some relatable content to make you passionate about it.

Maybe you’ve read some comments on various plumbing blogs and notice a common thread, that there is financial hardship when it comes to unexpected plumbing problems.

You can then get in the mindset of people who are faced with unexpected costs and write how various plumbing equipment could be installed as a DIY project.

This can help alleviate their plumbing problems while doing it at a reasonable cost that won’t overburden their finances.

Medical Information on Different Heart Medications

Let’s use empathizing again to turn an uninspiring topic into something full of passion that will register with your client’s audience as a new medical writer.

With heart medications you might realize that once patients take them, their lives improve tremendously.

They can go back to being themselves and not have to worry about any complications their heart may cause them.

When you write about medical information on different heart medications, you might include a Second Chance section where you write about how heart medications can give a person a new outlook on their lives.

If you practice empathy while you write, you can find passion, or at least a new perspective that gives you a bit of enthusiasm, in just about anything.

And when you can find passion in just about anything, clients will be coming to you for your services.

7. Get Into Your Writing Rhythm

I’ve mentioned your writing rhythm in some of my other tips because it’s very important in helping writers learn how to write faster. Once you get into your own writing rhythm, nothing gets in the way of great writing.

It may only happen a few times, but if you can figure out when that happened, then you can tap into that whenever you want.

It might be an environmental situation that helps you get into the rhythm of writing. Maybe you need a clean space or you need the window open to get into the zone.

It might be a good night’s rest that’s given you all the energy, enthusiasm, spark and interest in writing. You find that when you sit down, writing becomes effortless and quick.

Over time, you will learn how to get into your writing zone and use that to help you learn how to write faster and better.

For me, I find that I  can get in the writing zone when I have an outline of what I’m writing, have all the information available before I write, and a quiet room to work in.

When I can accomplish all this, I find that a 2000 word blog post only takes me less than an hour and a half. Of course that doesn’t count the next phase of writing, the editing.

Editing can take hours or days, depending on the length of the your writing, amount of mistakes and structure of your article or blog post.

This is where you take your time and not rush into polishing up your work.

Writing faster can open the door to new business opportunities with the possibility of creating financial security.

When you can pump out quality posts in half the time as other freelance writers, you can dedicate additional time to getting more gigs and perfecting your pitch.

4 Productivity Tips On Writing Faster

Those seven tips to write faster will help you streamline your writing process and get words on paper (or screen) faster then if you didn’t use these tips.

But, there are some productivity tips that can help ensure that this is your new way of writing! Let’s look at four productivity tips to help you learn how to write articles faster.

1. Set a Timer

Give yourself a set time to write. You can give yourself 20 minutes to write an outline, an hour for the rough draft, 30 minutes to edit and so on.

If you give yourself a timer for each task, you WILL write faster. You want to beat that timer, don’t you?

2. Create a Template

Over time, you will have style of how you write. Maybe you use bucket brigades when you write, or you enjoy descriptive writing or narrative writing. Whatever it is, you can create a sort of template to each of your writing jobs.

Personally, I usually have a short introduction + several subheadings + Conclusion + Call-to-action

3.  Listen to Music

I don’t know about you, but any noise disrupts my flow of writing. To maximize my time writing, I listen to music.

Over the years, my taste of writing music has changed, but I listen to anything that is calming to get me in the writing zone.

4. Write Every Day

Finally, the best tip to continue to write faster, is to write every day.

I own several blogs and I write blog posts or social media posts or email newsletters every single day.

This one thing has helped me increase my wpm and made me a fast typer!

Maybe you’re thinking is typing faster than writing?

Yes, yes it is. I can type 90 wpm and I know I can’t write that fast!

So, try it!

5. Dictation Software

If you often get hand pain or just stuck with ideas, why not try speaking what you write?

Using a dictation software can help you organize your thoughts and get them out quicker, making you a fast writer.

I like using the Google’s Voice Typing when I write in Google Docs. Try this method for 30 minutes to see if you like it.

How to Write Faster – Practice Makes Perfect

I’ve recently adopted all these tips to make my writing faster, and it’s working. It’s helped me become more confident in my ability to produce quality writing quickly.

Want to learn high-paying writing tips? Be sure to check out my course, Write Your Way to Your First $1k, where I spill all my secrets to the best writing tips to snag high-paying clients [note, this material is in the Advanced and Strategy packages only].

Of course, when you practice writing, it will help improve how you write and how long it takes to write it.

If you’re new to freelance writing, all you have to really do is to just write! Write daily and read blog posts!

What have you found to be the most effective in writing faster? How has writing faster improved your career? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Hi I'm Elna and I'm a freelance writer and mom blogger. I help people just like you become a profitable freelance writer. Within 6 months of starting my freelance writing business from scratch I was able to earn a full-time living as a part-time freelance writer while taking care of my twin toddlers. Check out my free email course Get Paid to Write Online and learn the steps you need to take to be a freelance writer.

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36 Comments

Thanks Elna for sharing these PRO tips to write faster. Writing fast helps to build confidence, thus helping earn more money in the same time frame. Can you please provide some tips for scaling up the freelance writer income as a non-native English speaker? I have been writing since last 7 years. Thanks!Reply to Dr.
Hi! Scaling your freelance writing income means raising your rates and networking for sure! I have a post on that: https://elnacain.com/blog/how-to-network-online-jobs/Reply to Elna
I love this blog post. I’ve been looking for ways to write faster and these tips are perfect. Thanks so much!Reply to Kristi
Hi Kristi, Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed the post and I hope these tips can help you write faster! Good luck!Reply to Elna
Thanks for that post Elna. Amazing as usual. I want to make the leap to fulltime freelancer but my process sucks. It takes me too long to write and I definitely could be pitching and publishing more than I do. I believe you about a clean house. Its harder to write when their is clutter.Reply to Janeen
Hey Janeen, You’re so very welcome! Glad you enjoyed this post about tips for writing faster!Reply to Elna
God Elna, these are wonderful tips! I’m a fifteen-year-old trying to get into the freelance/blogging sector despite, or perhaps, in-spite of uncertainty. Having read a lot of tips about being brief and using simple vocabulary, -a total opposite to my descriptive writing style, ha- I was wondering what your outlook would be if I offered a variety of writing styles? (Ps. your writing is beautiful)Reply to Talah
Thanks Talah, For me, I do conversational writing and I find my clients enjoy that type of writing. There are other writers that provide humorous writing or more academic writing. So whatever your ideal client is and their audience you can tailor your writing for that.Reply to Elna
Hi Elna, I’ve been perusing your blog for many months. I’ve recently decided to dip my toe into the world of freelance writing. I was wondering, did you know much about your niche before you began? I want to do things similar to what you do, but I don’t have a whole lot of experience (though, I’m a quick and eager learner!). I’m just feeling a little lost and unsure when it comes to diving into a lucrative niche. Thanks!Reply to Emily
Hi Emily! Thanks for letting me know you’ve been lurking 🙂 I love hearing from long-time readers of my blog. As for your question, the niches I chose when I first started aren’t the niches that paid me. My niches were natural health, parenting and education. My first gig where I was paid $100 per post was about automotive and travel! My second paid gig at $120 a post was for social media marketing! So, I landed those gigs and didn’t know much about those topics, but that’s why we have Google! You sound like a good candidate for my Writeto1k course! It’s a good time to join 🙂 Lot’s to things happening in the private Facebook group!Reply to Elna
Hi Elna. As a published author and freelance blogger myself, I was interested to read that you write about other subjects outside your passions. On my site, as well as writing about my passion, horror and ghosts, I do occasionally broach subjects unrelated to my genre, but even then, I have difficulty attracting as much traffic as I would have liked. I even take the tip of writing eye-catching headlines featuring numbered lists, but again I am lucky if I get more than 20 views of my article per day! A blogger’s journey is, I am sure you would agree, fraught with frustration and disappointment, but we keep going and going, don’t we?Reply to Alan
Hi Alan, A lot of my gigs are inbound leads, so they contact me. I get prospects in all types of niches – AI, dentistry, law, home decor, etc.. So, if I wanted to, I could take those gigs, but I haven’t lately since I am niched down and don’t need to broaden my choices.Reply to Elna
Elna, I’ve found your posts to be extremely insightful. This one, in particular, has resonated with me. I have a full-time day job and typically do my freelance writing at night (often late into the night.) I’m always wishing I could write faster so I could either get more clients or more sleep. I’m definitely going to try to incorporate many of the points you make. I “know” I should prepare an outline first but tend to prefer writing “by the seat of my pants.” I may end up with a great finished product, but it takes way too long to create it. The point about having empathy (or another comment about putting yourself in the reader’s position) is an excellent idea. I write a lot about home repair, medical treatments and plastic injection molding. While I know a lot about each of those subjects, I’ve struggled to really become as engaged as I am when I write a lifestyle piece. Of course, it slows me down to a snail’s pace. I’m re-posting this so others can benefit from your amazing insight.Reply to Debbie
Hi Debbie, Thanks so much for your kind words. You are right in saying an outline can cut your time almost in half. For me, I usually jot down some ideas and then start finding resources and writing the intro. What slows me down is trying to find the facts to back up my claims. I know many writers skip all that and find their links to stats after. So, I’m working towards that since that is what slows me down the most. Thanks for sharing my post!Reply to Elna
Oh why didn’t I stumble on this link earlier? Reading this made me realise how much time I waste during my writing process. Thanks! Bookmarking this now so I can come back to this again and again!Reply to Lavanya
Hi Lavanya, Well I’m glad you found my post. I’m still perfecting my writing process. I have twins, so I have to be super efficient when I write since I can only truly write 3-4 hours a day. I find the best thing for me is to have a plan in place, but sometimes that can take me a while. But, I think that’s more writer’s block than anything else. Glad you stopped by and you found this useful for you! ElnaReply to Elna
Interesting article, Elna. I completely agree with your point about empathy, and would even go a bit further – it’s not just being interested or, even better, passionate about a subject that makes it easier to write (or write quicker), but picturing yourself as the customer. My starting point is always ‘if I were the customer of x, what would I want to know?’. Not only does this help you develop a structure pretty quickly, it also really helps with language – what would I want to know, and how would I ask it? This is particularly effective for consumer products (as opposed to B2B), as clearly that language comes completely naturally. My first draft is always really just a stream of consciousness, so is very quick to produce. Subsequent drafts then just tidy everything up.Reply to Kate
Hi Kate! Great addition to my tips! Picturing yourself as the consumer is probably the best way to see how you can use your writing to benefit your readers. I always try to think about what my readers want, what kinds of questions do they ask and what do they want to learn. I seem this helps with generating blog post ideas. Thanks for stopping by! ElnaReply to Elna
Hi Elna, Excellent article. Thanks for the tips, I shall keep in mind and implement it in my work.Reply to Kashmira
Thanks Kashmira! I hope my tips can help you in your career! I found these tips to be paramount when I have deadlines!Reply to Elna
I am glad I came across this article. I am still new to freelance writing. But at risk of sounding like a stuffy old cliche’, writing really makes my blood bubble (all in the good sense of the phrase) :D. I seriously want to kick off my freelancing career. I got a couple of projects a while ago, but I haven’t been able to apply more since then. I have a dozen excuses. Some valid, others not so much. All points in your article make perfect sense. I especially loved the ’empathy’ one. But how do I land more projects? Every job I see online seems alien and I feel incompetent. HELP!Reply to Nida
Hi Nida! Thank you for visiting my blog and commenting! First of all, I’m glad you have the fire in you to write and keep writing. I headed over to your website and liked what I saw, except I had no idea you were a freelance writer. Your site did not indicate that to me, nor did it indicate whether you are a freelance writer for hire. I gather you enjoy writing short stories and other fiction. Have you considered maybe doing ghostwriting instead? It pays much more than freelance writing (b/c you don’t claim ownership to what you write), but it let’s you explore fiction writing, in most cases. Feel free to email me or even sign up to my newsletter to get a free info guide to 8 Mistakes to Avoid In Your Email When Pitching to Clients.Reply to Elna
Excellent article! Great info that I will put into practice. I am a professional writer and these tips are golden. Thank you!Reply to Joe
Hey Joe! Thanks for tweeting my post out and leaving a comment! I really appreciate that. I’m glad you think these tips are golden for your professional writing career. Time is super important for me (having twins and all) so I had to learn to write fast… right away if I was to make any headway on freelance writing.Reply to Elna
Fantastic post – interesting to read and genuinely good advice. I love the tips around small things like finding putting your hair up first or turning off the notification noises on other devices. I am exactly the same! Thanks for the great post, I shall be tweeting it.Reply to Hanna
Hi Hanna Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Yes, not having my computer update me on my emails or notices helps me stay in my writing rhythm. And of course, how can I write if I don’t have my writing ponytail 🙂 Being a stay-at-home mom, I’ve learned to value the time I have and learned how I can maximize it without sacrificing time I have with my twins. I’m glad you adopt some of these tips and it’s helping you with your writing. Have a great week.Reply to Elna
Fantastic post Elna with some great tips. I left a comment on LinkedIn but wanted to pop over to your blog as well. I love the way you write and your articles are really inspiring. Thanks for sharing and have a lovely week. 🙂Reply to June
Hi June! Thanks for your commenting on here and on LinkedIn! I’m glad you enjoyed my article on some writing tips! I’m always excited when I can help people or at least let them in on some new tips. I hope you have a great week too.Reply to Elna
great ideas! I’ll bare them in mind! 🙂Reply to Sare
Hi Sare Thanks for commenting! I can tell from your writing you have a lot of passion and energy. It’s great when you have that as you’re writing – an hour can go by in a snap when I’m in the zone. Thanks again!Reply to Elna
Good article! I find that #7 is above all the thing that makes me write faster and more efficiently. If I’m not in my groove, no magic will happen! ~AngelaReply to Angela
Hi Angela Yes, #7 Finding Your Writing Rhythm is definitely a key way to writing faster. I feel it goes hand-in-hand with using your passion to write. I usually get into my groove when I am enthusiastic about writing! This only happens, though, without the distractions of my twin toddlers! But I still manage to use what time I have and produce some valuable information for my readers and clients (hopefully). Thanks again for your kind words!Reply to Elna