For networking purposes, I’m active in several different Facebook groups for freelance writers. Recently, I posted in one of these groups that I had written four articles for a client that morning.

Almost immediately, some responded to my comment. She wrote, “OMG, how? I feel like it takes me all day just to write ONE 1,000-word article!”

I can whole-heartedly relate to this comment because in the beginning, I was probably the world’s slowest writer. It took me a long time to get to the point I’m at today. But with a little practice and consistency, I believe you’ll be able to get there too.

Why You Need to Become a Faster Writer

When you start working with clients, they will most likely pay you per word or per assignment. (I don’t recommend agreeing to an hourly rate for writing projects. This will cause you to lose money in the long run!)

If you’re paid per assignment, then the more assignments you complete, the more money you’ll earn. For instance, let’s say you get paid $150 per article.

If you write five articles per week, then you’ll earn $750. Which isn’t bad when you’re just getting started.

But let’s say you can increase this to three articles per day, five days a week. Well, now you’ve increased your earnings to $2,250 per week! So really, it just comes down to basic math.

6 Ways to Become a Faster Writer

Of course, it’s one thing to plug those numbers into a calculator but it’s quite another to sit down and actually write multiple articles per day. So listed below are six tips for how to become a faster writer and earn more money.

1. Have a set schedule

I know that one of the benefits of being self-employed is that you have the freedom to work whenever you want.

But believe me when I tell you that you need some kind of schedule, especially in the beginning.

Having set daily hours will help you get in the right mindset to produce content quickly and efficiently.

And this doesn’t mean that you have to spend eight hours everyday writing.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever sat down and spent hours writing for clients!

At the beginning of your week, I would take a look at your schedule and see what you have going on.

Try to figure out a consistent block of time when you can sit down every day and spend some time writing.

2. Eliminate distractions

Okay, hopefully, it’s a given that you shouldn’t check Facebook when you’re trying to finish work for clients. But distractions can extend beyond just social media. This also includes where you work during the day.

One of the things I’ve learned is that I work best when I’m sitting in my home office with the door closed. I’ve tried to work at Panera and Starbucks, and it never goes well. I always get distracted and end up being less productive.

I also don’t keep my phone near my desk. I don’t text people back during working hours. And I don’t get thrown off course by household tasks either. The laundry can wait until later -- you have work to do!

3. Create outlines

The hardest part about writing is just getting started. Staring at that blank Google doc can be so daunting! That’s why I always start with an outline, assuming the client hasn’t already provided me with one.

Outlines can be as brief or as detailed as you need them to be. Personally, I keep my outlines very brief. Generally, they just include the title, the major headings, and possibly a couple of subpoints.

An outline is also nice because it allows you to skip around. For instance, if you’re having a hard time coming up with an intro, just skip it and move on to the first heading.

4. Find ongoing work

Writing for new clients takes a lot of work and mental energy. You have to learn a new style guide, possibly learn about a topic that you’re unfamiliar with, and figure out all the nuances of working with that person.

However, once you’ve worked with that person for several months, you don’t have to spend so much time thinking about these things. That’s why I recommend you prioritize ongoing work from clients above all else.

The four articles I referenced at the beginning of this article? I wrote those for one of my regular clients in the payment processing industry. Since I’ve written for them for a long time, and write about the same topics every month, I was able to get them finished much faster.

5. Don’t be a perfectionist

One of the reasons it used to take me so long to finish one article was because I felt like the article had to be perfect before I could send it off to the client.

I would spend days pouring over a single article, editing and improving it.

And sometimes, I still didn’t feel like it was good enough!

At some point, I realized that if I wanted to be a profitable writer, I couldn’t demand perfection from every article I wrote. And the truth is, spending four times more on an article doesn’t necessarily mean it’s four times as good.

I feel like the quality of my writing has actually improved since I put a limit on the amount of time I’m willing to spend working on an assignment. I think it forces my brain to focus and become more creative in the moment.

6. Give yourself a little external pressure

In general, I have found that the more time I give myself to finish a task, the more time it will take me to complete said task. This has definitely proven true when it comes to writing.

I used to avoid taking on too much work because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to complete it all. And to piggyback off the point I made in the previous article, I thought the quality of my work would suffer if I took on too much work.

But often, a little external pressure is a good thing because it forces you to work more quickly and not get sidetracked by distractions. That’s why I always take on enough work where I have to write three to five articles per day.

However, there is one big caveat, and that’s that it took me three years to get to this point. If you’ve been writing professionally for less than a year, please do not think you need to write multiple articles every day. Figure out what you can reasonably push yourself to accomplish in a given day.

Final Thoughts

Becoming a faster writer won’t happen overnight but little by little, it will happen. If you set weekly income goals and continue working toward them each day, you’ll improve your writing and increase your income over time.