Daily Writing Practice: Speed Writing
Too many English learners focus themselves on writing academic essays.
As noted previously, these kinds of essays are often overly complex. Even
when well written, academic writing is challenging and is one of the most
advanced levels of writing.
This is why most learners benefit by first focusing on simpler forms of
writing. One of the best ways to do this is to write a daily journal. Daily
journal writing helps you to improve sentence structure, write faster and
write more clearly.
The key to journal writing is to keep it short and simple. Each day,
choose one clear topic to write about. You might write about something you
did the day before. You might write about one of your goals. You could
write about something you recently read, communicating your thoughts or
feelings about it.
The next step is to set a timer, with an alarm, for ten minutes. When you
are ready to begin, press “start” on the timer and write as quickly as
possible. The most important point is to never take a break. You must write
during the entire ten minutes without pausing. Do not pause to think of
what to write next. Do not pause to correct mistakes. Do not pause to think
of a better phrase. Do not let your hand stop moving — continue writing
anything that comes into your head for the entire ten minutes.
This technique is called “timed writing” and is commonly used by
professional authors. By writing quickly, without pausing, you bypass your
critical brain and learn to let the words flow out. When you first try this you
will probably feel frustrated. You’ll struggle to think of what to write. Your
writing will be disorganized. You’ll make a lot of mistakes. Don’t worry.
As you continue doing timed writings each day, you will improve. Your
writing speed and fluency will get faster. You’ll find yourself naturally
using phrases that you read in a book or article. Because you are writing
fast, you’ll be forced to write more simply. You won’t have time to think
about grammar rules.
