WRITING FASTER

A week ago I bought a book on Kindle called 5,000 Words Per Hour, by Chris Fox. 

Fox lays out a plan to increase writing speed by tracking 5 minute writing "sprints" each day. 

And he gives a tool to track progress, because he knows that when it comes to improving a skill, seeing progress is key.

I was interested in this exercise because I have hopes of helping a friend write a book. 

As my school work has increased in recent months, I have found daily excuses as to why I have made ZERO progress on the project. But Fox points out that if you can write 200 words per minute for five minutes, then you can (theoretically) write more than 2,000 words per hour. With practice, that could be raised to 5,000 wph. 

The typical nonfiction book is between 40 and 80 thousand words in length. If a person can write even 2,000 words per hour, a 40,000 word book can be written in 20 hours.

At least the rough draft could be. Yes, researching, revising, and proofreading are going to take quite a few more hours, but the hardest part - getting the ideas down on paper - seems manageable when seen in this light. 

That's a change in mindset. And a proper mindset can overcome even legitimate excuses.

So am I seeing progress after just one week? 

On Day One I wrote 160 words in 5 minutes, giving me a rate of 1,920 words per hour.

Day Two - 196

Day Three - 189

Day Four - 223

Day Five - 203

Day Six - 214

Today, on Day Seven, I wrote 246 words. That's 2,952 wph.

Point made, Chris Fox!