Free writing for the win: 1,000 words in 20 minutes
This post is mostly for writers and other creative types. I’ve been applying the hyperclocking concept to my writing recently, to great effect.
Here’s what I do every morning: I sit down at my computer, open up a blank post in WordPress, start a countdown timer at 20 minutes, and then try to push 1,000 words out of my brain and onto the screen before the clock hits zeroes.
Some folks call this exercise free writing. The idea is to forget about editing and simply write whatever you’re thinking, stream of consciousness style. Anything goes.
The benefits
It’s amazing what jogs loose in your mind when you do this free writing thing. I’ve come up with a bunch of great articles because of it in recent weeks. Even on days when I feel completely uninspired and would rather not write, I come away from my little mind dump sessions with some promising seeds.
For example, I’ve been working on the email series for A Course In Courage. I made a promise that course participants would receive at least a dozen exclusive articles on fear and courage, the freshness delivered to their inbox once every two days after signing up. Part of me wasn’t sure I could write a dozen articles all on that same subject. And if I was still trying to write them the traditional way (editing as I go), I’d be in serious trouble by now. But, thanks to the free writing exercises, I find myself flowing through the series and easily coming up with new ideas and angles to write about.
The other big benefit is that the practice only takes twenty minutes. Not a huge commitment. You can easily do twenty minutes each morning, no big deal. I put in my twenty before breakfast, then head downstairs singing, ready for my porridge and the NBA’s top ten plays of the day.
3 tips for better free writing
Free writing isn’t as easy as it sounds. It’s taken me a while to get the hang of it. Here are a few things that might help you get into it…
1. Use a timer and a word count
You can free write without a countdown timer or a word count, but I find both of those things help me immensely. It’s good to give yourself a sense of time pressure so you keep writing as fast as possible, and having the word count in front of you lets you know if you’re on target. I use the countdown timer on my iPhone, and I type directly into WordPress which provides a live word count.
Set little milestones with the word count. Be at 250 words when you see 15 minutes, then 500/10, then 750/5. Make sure you can keep on track and pick up the pace a little if you need to. If you find yourself way ahead of schedule, don’t slow down. Just reduce the amount of time you allow yourself next time, or else give yourself a bigger word count to aim for in the twenty minutes.
I’ve actually cut down to eighteen minutes lately. Eventually I’d like to be able to get down ten minutes, but I’ll need to improve my typing speed for that. Ideally you should be able to type as fast as you think, so you’re not waiting for your fingers to catch up with your thoughts.
2. Never edit
When free writing, you must resist editing yourself. If you’re a perfectionist like me, this is very difficult at first. You want to go back and add that apostrophe or clean up that typo. But over time you learn to let go. The details aren’t important. Nobody else has to see your mind dump. And you’ll be able to decipher the typos no problem. The ideas are what you’re really after, and you have to let go and unleash the flow to find the best ideas hidden away inside you.
Below is an example of a paragraph that came out of me while free writing last week. I was trying to decide on a name for my resistance (you remember Frank, right?).
I should call my resistance something. Let’s call it Howard, no Jimmi, no Fred, no Tws, no Buou, no safhs, no Qes, no Wes, no Gye, no Frx, no Frank. no Vincent. Yeah. No. it doesn’t fucking matter what I call it. I’ll think of somethin. Maybe Don. Yeah, Don. No, fick that.
Not a paragraph I’m proud of, but I post it here to show what kind of crap you sometimes have to unleash before you get to the good stuff. Don’t edit any of that drivel. Just let it be.
3. Don’t stop to think
Instead, think in your writing. Write that you’re not sure what it was that you were going to write next, or that you must remember to pick up that loaf of bread later. Put it all down. Allow yourself to go off on tangents. You don’t even have to come back. There are no right or wrong words, no censorship.
If you run into a road block and can’t think of anything to write about, write about the nothingness. Start describing your environment. Write about the dream you probably had last night but since forgot. Whatever. Just don’t stop. Less thinking, more writing.
The cutting room
I come back to my 1,000 words in the afternoon and begin editing. That usually takes a lot longer than twenty minutes. I cut out a whole bunch of paragraphs, add to some, rewrite a few more. I might rearrange a few things, add some links, headings and pictures.
Free writing is fast and fun. The editing is more like grunt work. But of course it has to be done. Nobody wants to read your uncensored mind dump 
Try this
Try it and let me know if free writing works for you. If you’ve done it before, tell me about your experience. I don’t believe you need to be a blogger or have some kind of audience to benefit from free writing. You could get a lot from journaling this way, too.
If you’re some other type of creative/artist, apply the same hyperclocking concept to your work. As a painter you could try to fill a whole canvas in twenty minutes. As a musician you could try to write and record a song in an hour.
Now, for gits and shiggles, try free writing your comment below. Aim for about 50 words a minute. I’ll forgive you any typos 
Hi Niall, I love this post. I’ve been a follower of yours for some time and find your blog really inspirational. I am currently in the process of setting up my own blog called ‘Life is Limitless’ and as recommended by Chris Guillebeau, I plan to have a heap of articles pre-written before I go live. But of course the procrastination sets in, however I believe that this technique will be the perfect antidote to that – so thanks and I’ll let you know how I get on!
Thank you, Caroline! I like the name of your blog. Looking forward to seeing it launched.
Haven’t been in these parts lately so forgive me if you already have a post about this but is there any trick you can share to come up with what to write about?
I think I’ll try this exercise too but I’m not really sure what to talk about.
P.S.
Are you still rooting for the Hornets?
Hey Bug. Just start writing. Like I say in the article, if nothing comes to mind, just write about the nothingness. Also, try writing about stuff that happened to you recently, people you met, things you saw, projects you’re working on. Just let that stuff flow, see where it leads you. If your experience is anything like mine, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
As for the Hornets, I’m keeping an occasional eye on them. Shame about West.
Thanks for the comment.
I love free writing as well. I’ve been doing free writing for the last 6 months or so and have loved it for dealing with emotional issues, discovering my focus in life, and writing blog posts. I can keep writing out what’s bugging me, asking what I need to learn, how to deal with issues, and any other questions I have.
I haven’t tried setting a 1000 word count for my free write. I’ll try that now.
Thanks for the ideas and inspiration.
Oh, that’s another good point, Travis. Writing out questions as you go, then trying to brainstorm an answer. I do that every so often and I come up with some interesting stuff.
Thanks for the comment!
I have free writeen fro time to time but not on a regular basis. It is something that I shouls do more often. I think I will begin to on a regular basis. The last tie I freewrote I got some great ideas, and I did just as you described, picking through and editing the ideas out later on. I’m still getting into a grooev for my writing, it always feels good when I write and doing this on a regular basis will feel even better!!!
I think it will help me iwht my idea smashing as well, taking the things I am learning and researching and comgining them in unique and didfferent ways to come up with new outlooks on the topics I am writing and exploreing.
Awesome post Niall. Love it, and this was fully free writeen, with as little editing as possible (simetimes you cn’t stop the pinky key from htitting that deleete key beofre you realize you’re doing it. )
Wow! I need to work on my typing skills!
Haha, great stuff Spyros. Now that there is some free writing!
This is a very interesting and relevent post. i haVave a serious problem with writing taking too long to get what i want out of my brain into the computer. I think thisd is a great way. But my accuracy isn’t too good but I can go back.
Ok so that’s 48 words in a minute. Not too bad.
Thanks, Simon. Don’t worry about accuracy, just throw the words out there, get the ideas flowing. Nobody has to see that initial mind dump but you.
1400 words in 20 minutes and 2o seconds! (had to finish the last thought)
Great exercise. Very exhilarating
Love it! I often run over too if I’m in a good flow. No harm in that.
Hi Niall,
I don’t remember whether I shared my story or not, I’ll do it now anyway.
I tried the similar excersize called “Morning pages” for about a month and stopped then.
When I tried not to think about the content (pure brain dump) nothing valuable showed up.
When I thought about the content it started to take me too much to write 3 pages.
I had some valuable ideas but they were disappearing with time so I resumed the exersize without regret.
The practice once helped me to show good results during one seminar
but I didn’t value anything there except just plain volume of words and freedom of expression
Thanks for sharing, Pavel. I’m not sure though if you’re saying you had success with free writing or not?
It was a temporary rather than a permanent success – so I cancelled the procedure
Good article boy…..think I need to be selective as to WHERE my own “stream of consciousness” is being posted though….i.e. NOT Public Couchsurfing Formus for example!
Anyway, good post and I got an email from Toponlinecolleges.com today telling me about an article that me and my readers might be interested in: “The Top 10 Most Corrupt College Programs in NCAA history”……turns out that I was indeed very interested and receiveing feedback from what (me thinks) is a prestigious source on the other side of the World is quite an ego boost…thanks must also go to my blog designer, without whom none of this would be possible!
Cheers, James! I’m not surprised to hear that you’re getting some good opportunities with the blog. All the hard work pays off!
And as regards free writing, I never recommend that you go ahead and publish it without reviewing and editing first
Free write comment. This is an awesome post, Niall. Life is good, you know? I like life very much. Thank you. I feel embarrassed at the weirdness of this mind freedom post.
Okay. There’s my free write. Haha, it feels a little weird, but feeling uncomfortable is good
I will take you up on that idea, Niall!
Take care,
Josh Lipovetsky.
Haha, thanks Josh!
Ha, OK, Freewriting. I’ve been doing 750wrods.com for a month or two now, altough I haven’t been using a timer. A great resrouce. Still, ntohing really great produced, also using it as a pltaform to learn touch typing. Been touch ty[ong for years, but with some very bad habit.s. Like using shift with the left hand only. And not using pinkies enough. But i’m lering, and all the typo’s count as words
. Don’t call myself a writer, but I’ve been posting on the internet for years, and thought it’s time to learn to do it well. What is doing it well? I’m aiming for fluency. Get myself expressed without too much effort, but not necessary learning any particular style. Oh, and the writing exercise should help with writing up the PhD too
Loving the typos, Niel! Obviously you went all out with that comment
I need to get my ass in gear and learn touch typing properly, too. I’ve been meaning to master it for years.
Cheers!
Oh, and of course there is that other great free-writing event, NaNoWriMo. Write a 50 000 word novel in November, together with thousands of other people all over the world. A great, great, experience.
Very cool, Niel. I’ve heard of NaNWriMo but have never participated. Sounds like a great way to push the creativity out of you.
My main issue with trying to freewrite falls under the “don’t think” suggestion: every time I open up Notepad++ and look at the blank screen, I can’t stop myself from thinking about what I want to write (and then, if I manage to find something to write about, I can’t stop constantly thinking about that subject).
I tend to overthink things whenever I get into my writing “zone”, basically.
Any advice/ideas on how to handle this?
In a word: practice. It does get easier if you just keep trying it.
And I don’t mean to imply that you don’t think at all while writing, but that you don’t slow down to think. Keep typing no matter what. Think out loud on your screen. For example, here’s something I free wrote yesterday…
“I liked Jason’s advice in the last video about how less awkward is actually more awkward and vice versa. Or as I phrased it with Laurence earlier today… shit, how did I phrase it? I used some other word instead of awkward. But now I can’t remember.”
That was a typical brain dump session where I didn’t have anything in particular in mind to write about so I just went with the flow.
Hope that helps.