Word Sprints: The Writer’s Secret Weapon

There are no universal rules in writing. But if there is one thing that is a near-universal truth, it’s that writing a first draft is hard.

(If it’s not hard for you, you’re the luckiest writer on the planet and I hate you.)

A lot of writers have to trick themselves into getting words on the page. Whether it’s going to a coffee shop and popping on noise-canceling headphones (guilty), lighting a specific candle to create a sensory trigger, or booking a week-long cruise to get away from all the distractions of normal life (sign me up), we all have our rituals and strategies for making ourselves get that first draft done.

The number one trick I have used over the years is Word Sprints.

What is a Word Sprint?

A Word Sprint is a small, dedicated piece of time when you do absolutely nothing but write in the hopes of getting down as many words as possible.

The length of time can vary. My current sweet spot is 15 minutes. When I wrote about The Magic Stopwatch Method back in 2009, it was 25-30 minutes. It can be as long or as short as your hyper-focused attention can hold.

I like to keep them shorter because then I can do more of them in one writing session. Sprint, break, sprint, break, sprint, break… The longer the sprint, the fewer I can do, which means the fewer overall words I can write. Also, the longer the sprint, the slower I write (aka The Law of Diminishing Returns).

Short bursts of high-speed writing do the trick. Literally.

Why Does it Work?

I’m obviously not a psychologist (though, as a writer, I do have to understand other humans pretty well in order to create and write them…) but statistically speaking, in 94328% of first-draft-block cases, the problem is the nit-picky voice of the internal editor. That nasty critic who says every word you’ve ever written or will write is Not Good Enough.

We all have one.

Word Sprints work because they shut that internal editor down. When you’re trying to write as many words as possible for the next fifteen minutes, you don’t have time to stop and think if those words are any good. You don’t have time to think at all. You only have time to spit the words out and hope they are spelled well enough for you to interpret them later.

And that is the entire point of a first draft. It might be crap. It probably will be crap. (If it’s not crap then—again—you’re gifted. *glares*) But you have to get the crap out so you can start molding it into something less crappy.

How to Word Sprint Effectively

I’m sure there are as many ways to use Word Sprints as there are authors in the world. (i.e. A lot.) Here are some tips and tricks to help figure out how to make them work for you.

1. Find Your Ideal Time — Experiment with different sprint lengths. You may find that 30 or 45 minutes works for you. Or, like me, 15 minutes may be ideal.
2. Build In Breaks — You also need to figure out how much break time you need after a sprint. My current sprint schedule is 15 minutes on, 5 minutes off.
3. Maximum Break Benefit — Use the break to recover, use the bathroom, get a beverage, or review what you’re going to write in the next sprint.
4. Set Your Timers — If you tend to lose track of time when you’re writing, be sure to set a timer for the duration of your sprints (and breaks). I use Be Focused Pro (Mac/iOS) because I can set the work/break sequence to my ideal times.
5. Track Your Progress — Whether you write it down in your BuJo, track it in a spreadsheet, or Tweet it to the world, keep track of your stats so you can calculate your average WPM (words per minute) rate.

Bonus Sprint Tip!

If you really want to take your sprinting to the next level, then sprint with a buddy! You can do it publicly on Twitter, privately via text message, or in an app like Forest.

If you’re at all a competitive person (raises hand) then the drive to get more words that your sprint buddy/ies will push to get write even faster!

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For all the writers struggling to get the first draft words done, I salute you. And I hope that adding Word Sprints into your bag of tricks helps get the words out faster.

If you have any questions about Word Sprints or want to share your own tricks for outwitting the internal editor, pop them in the comments below.