Adventures in Writing: How to Write More Words

Everyone has advice on how to write more words

And not all writing advice will work for everyone. That’s why there are so many articles about how write more, faster, smarter.

Writers who are prolific in their craft will happily tell you their method is the best. But here’s the truth.

Are you sitting down?

Until you practice several methods and cobble together a practice that works for you, you’re always going to be disappointed in your output.

Don’t get discouraged! If you’re writing then you’re writing. I’ve been a struggling writer for almost 30 years. Not writing is the hardest thing I’ve been through and I’ve been through it multiple times.

I’m still struggling. I got into the habit of participating in the Erotic Journal Challenge and then my website went down. After a few chats with support to find the issue, and a couple of days to restore the site, everything returned.

However, all the other things decided to drop and the next thing I know is that it’s Thirsty Thursday. Where the hell did the past week go?

The last post for EJC I was planning is still in draft mode. I think I’m going to just jump right in to the current prompts though, because going back is just a huge endeavor right now.

Writing advice I learned at InkersCon 2021:

One of the videos I watched called Hitting Your Writing Stride by Michael La Ronn had an excellent point about writing in the cracks of life. Many people read and write during commuting (if you’re not reading, it’s a fundamental part of writing). However, a lot of people forget there are other times you can jot down a few words or sentences. If you’re waiting to be seen at an appointment, sometimes in long grocery lines, or when you’re five minutes early to the pickup line for the kids.

If you can’t schedule time to write on a regular basis, writing in the cracks of your daily life can help you get the words down. The best way to do this is to put a shortcut to the document you’re writing in on the home screen on your phone. When you see you have a couple of minutes, you can type bare bones notes about the scene or chapter you have visualized.

The entire reason behind buying my little Asus Chromebook was to write on my work break. I get 30 minutes. I set my alarm for 26. This gives me walking time from and to the office. I turn on my mobile hotspot, open where I’m writing, and start putting down the words as quickly as possible.

I wrote many of my Masturbation Monday stories in this manner. The most words I wrote when I hit flow was somewhere around 980. That’s pretty damn good for 26 minutes. I would edit when I got home (or sneak editing using my phone because there are slow times in the office) so that I could get it submitted on time.

Sneaky Tip ⬇️

Speaking of down time at the office, if you get stuck with yet another delay for that meeting, opening the document on your phone to type a few words could look like you’re just making a note on a project or typing up an email and therefore productive while away from your desk.

Find or Induce Flow

Occasionally, when I took sneaky moments to type out the bones of a scene during the morning, a few or (if lucky) a dozen words, I could take them and induce flow on my break.

If you need tips on inducing flow, check out this article I received in a MeetUp newsletter.

What’s Flow? Flow is when the rest of the world vanishes altogether while doing a project or something creative. You get into this stream of consciousness. See the movie Soul for a visualization of Flow. It’s such a good way of picturing it. When was the last time someone had to shake you and yell to get your attention while you were working on something? That’s Flow. Nothing Else Matters except the work in front of you.

Remember to Set Alarms

Another thing I recommend is setting alarms. If you’re not drinking your water every so often, then you aren’t saving your work and you might lose what you’re working on. Save & Hydrate isn’t just for gamers! It’s for anyone working in a digital program of any kind.

Every time you take a drink of water, hit that save button. Every time you get up to go to the bathroom, hit that save button. Get into the habit of saving your work.

Set alarms for other things, too. If you know that you’re going to start working on something and possibly enter flow, you don’t want to have to worry about being late to pick up the kids or start dinner. I know that I need to eat around noon in order to stave off the shakes, so when my body wasn’t reminding me around that time to eat, I set an alarm. It will save your sanity and your body.

Mind Dump – Free Write

If you’re having trouble writing, try doing a mind dump. Write down every little thing that’s happening in your brain as quickly as possible. If you can type like me, I recommend typing it out to get rid of it faster. Just type as quickly as possible. Every stupid comment, remark, thought, argument, random mind garbage. Type it all out. When you reach that silent relief, then you’re ready. Delete everything you just did because it’s trash. Now you’re ready to mine the gold nuggets that were buried beneath it.

Sometimes this works for me, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s one of those things you have to try when you are struggling.

Structure the Story

Writing a story of any length is like building a house. You need to lay your foundation. Blah fucking blah, am I right? This also doesn’t work for everyone. I waffle somewhere around being a gardener variety of writer. I will plant the seeds in my brain when it throws out an idea. Then when more breaks through the earth, I take a look at the idea. Is it something I can take and cultivate or is it something that is just getting in the way of other ideas growing into their plots?

Sometimes I get the full blown scene, or even the story if it’s short and to the point, in one freaking fast-forward chipmunk voice blur. That’s always fun. Too bad I don’t have a rewind button. I honestly wish I could be like Agent Reid on Criminal Minds and remember every little thing.

And then other days I am so glad that I have forgotten so many things because I would be a damned mess for sure. There’s only so much room in my brain-vault and I don’t want it wasted on silliness.

Write More Words with Headings

If you’re writing an article like this one, or planning several articles, a good idea is writing down the headings you’re planning to use in the article to set apart your points. This way you’ll be able to SEO them to the hilt and get those green lights.

Plan to share links to articles in your post? Copy and paste them in ahead of time, then link them properly (not a ‘click here for more information – look at what I did with my link for the Flow Article on MeetUp and my link for Masturbation Monday – that’s what you want to do for SEO and The Google) when you write the meat of your article.

How do You Write More Words?

Share your tips, tricks, and secrets in the comments. We could all use new methods in our arsenal when it comes to writing faster, better, smarter.