066: All About Writing Sprints
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All about writing sprints
Hello, friends, writing sprints are my secret weapon when it comes to writing. I talk about them a lot. But I don't think I've done like a deep dive podcast episode just about writing sprints, I'll talk about them a lot when I'm talking about the process of drafting, when I'm talking about how to make progress. But this is just an episode all about writing sprints. So if you are hearing me talk about these for the first time, a writing sprint is basically when you set a timer for a short window of time. And all you do in that period while the timer is running, is right. You are not writing and checking social media, you're not writing and have a good conversation with your partner, you are not checking email, but also writing or watching TV, but also kind of writing. The idea is that you are just writing. That's it. And there's a few tips I'll give you for setting this up things that I've learned that helped me be more successful.
And we're also going to talk about why I'm such a big fan of writing sprints. Why talk about them so much. And they're like a huge part of my writing philosophy for myself as a writer, but also in working with clients. This is just it, like it was life changing for me to discover this. So I came across this concept in a in a slightly different way, maybe four years ago, three, something like that. Three years ago, maybe I can't remember now. But there's a an organization called Creative Mornings. That's a professional organization that puts on meetups, and they have classes and there are chapters in each of the major cities in the US. And I think they're expanding a lot. So even if you live in a smaller city, there might be a creative morning's chapter. And maybe around the time of the pandemic or slightly before they started doing these things called field trips. And the idea was that, okay, because we can't have programming or classes or events in person, why don't we do them on Zoom. And again, I can't remember, it might have not been because of COVID, it might have been pre COVID. And they just like happened to do this online. Or it might have been because of COVID. And they pivoted to being online, I honestly can't remember. But I did a workshop that was an hour long, it was a 60 minute class, we all got in zoom. And it was about deep work, the concept of deep work. And the idea behind deep work is that it's work that requires focus and concentration. And isn't just mindless stuff. So you're not doing deep focused work when you're doing like when you're responding to emails, or when you're doing data entry, like on a spreadsheet.
The intention, the way that they talked about it in this class, at least, was that deep focus is work that requires creative energy, it's writing, it's editing, it's creating content, it's anything else creative, or a strategic project that requires some planning, those kinds of things, that that's the sort of work that you should be using this like deep focus time for. And the idea is that you want to get into a flow state, when you're doing this type of work, where you are aware of the outside world, you're paying attention to things, but you are so completely engrossed in what you're doing. You're in flow, you're in it, you're in the zone, things are coming easily to you. That's the idea. You want to get into this flow state in this this type of focused work environment. So they talked about this.
And then I think we did I want to say it was like 50 minutes or 55 minutes of a deep work session where there was a timer, maybe some ambient music, and we all were on Zoom and we all just had a project that we were going to work on. And we just we did it and then kind of emerged from that flow state when the timer went off. So that was my first introduction to it. And there's all kinds of science about productivity and our attention and Just all of these things about why this is so helpful because we are a distracted society with very short attention spans. And it takes something like 20 minutes for us to get back in a flow state to really be focused on something after we get interrupted. So the idea is that you are protecting in this time, you are only doing that one task, and really maximizing your what you get done maximizing your productivity.
So I thought, Okay, this is all great for a work environment. And like, I understand this, like hacking, productivity stuff that people are really into. That's not totally my jam. But maybe I could apply it to writing like to creative writing. So what I started doing is experimenting with shorter times. 50 minutes for me is way too long. My attention wanders, I stare off into space, even if I'm not checking social media or checking the email or talking to someone or doing other things, my attention is still wandering, I'm not really, I'm not writing for the full 15 minutes. So what I started doing is doing 15 minutes 15 to 20 minutes is kind of the sweet spot for me. And I also included some other things as I was tweaking this and trying this, like, can I apply this concept to writing, what I discovered is that if I do a shorter burst of time, like 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and I just forced myself to write as quickly as I can to try to get as much done. While that timer is running, I found that I was writing so much faster than I was before. How I was writing, how I wrote my first book is I would have my laptop on the couch, I was in a one bedroom apartment, didn't have an office. So it sit on the couch before work in the mornings.
And like, for 45 minutes or an hour I would kind of be writing but I would be playing with my cat, I'd be checking my phone looking at stuff I'd be talking to my to Sam, my husband, like just doing all this other stuff in addition to writing. And I would get like 200 words written in 45 minutes or an hour. Which is great like it please don't, I don't want to say that that's bad. Like you, that's amazing. You're still making progress. If you continue to do that, like you will have a book eventually you will get there. But for me, just personally, I wasn't happy with that because it was taking me forever. I was losing momentum. And I'm like this book is gonna take me frickin decade to write. And I don't want it to take that long. I wanted to be done with it sooner. So that's when I really started to figure out like, how could I? How could I do this for writing. So now what this looks like I talked about this a little bit. But again, the idea in any, let me just say quickly if you're familiar with the Pomodoro Technique, which is a 25 minute sprint, and then take a or a 25 minute session of focusing on something and then taking a five minute break. This is similar to that, except it's not as structured, there's not the 25 minutes, and then the five minute break 25 minutes and five minute break. Again, for me 25 minutes was a bit too long. And I also didn't need like a five minute break. Sometimes I just do 15 minutes a day, like to write and that's it, I'm good. But if I want to do longer, I might like stand up, check my email, and then get back into it and do another sprint. So here are my tips here.
Here's what I've figured out for that works for writing sprints. minimizing distractions is really important. And it's okay to be a little nuts about this. If you need to put your phone in a different room, if you need to shut yourself in your office with the door closed. If you need to do this at a time when no one else in your house is awake. If you need to do this in your car on your phone during your lunch break, because that's the only uninterrupted 15 minutes burst of time you can find, do it. And if 15 minutes is overwhelming to 10 minutes, you can do a 10 minute writing sprint to start. Okay. So minimize distractions. Whatever way that you can. The other thing I found the other tip I have for how to be successful when the timer starts is to do a little bit of prep work before it starts running before the clock starts running.
So what this can look like is opening up your main new script and just refreshing your memory about where you are. Are you in the middle of a conversation? Are you starting a new chapter? What did you write yesterday or last week or two months ago whenever the last time that you wrote was what where are you in the story? And then what's coming up next over the next like few pages, doing even 60 seconds of prep work to remind yourself where you're at and think about what's next. Helps you hit the ground running when the clock starts. Now there are writers out there who are Pantsers where they don't want to do plotting they don't want to do any outlining for the story there. Not interested in creating creating an outline of the book, they just like to start writing and figure out where the story goes as they write. And this can absolutely work for Pantsers. Because you don't have to figure out what's happening in the rest of the book, you don't have to know every little thing that happens, you don't have to create a detailed outline. All you have to know that day, that moment is what's happening on the rest of this page.
How can I resolve this conversation, this scene, this chapter, the next couple pages like what's happening, that's it, that's really all that you have to do is spend 60 seconds thinking about it, and not even getting a really clear idea, you don't have to get super specific with it. It's just, let's say you're writing to two characters who are having dinner together at the end of their work day, and you left off right as they set the food on the table. Okay, so then you know that the next page not next couple pages are them arguing about something that happened, and they are eating food, they're eating their dinner, and it's really tense. And then the chapter ends with one of the characters getting up from the table and like slamming the door and leaving. Boom, done. That's all you have to figure it out.
So this can work for you if you are someone who doesn't want to do a lot of like figuring out exactly what happens in the book. But yeah, so that's another huge tip is just taking 60 seconds to do some prep work and figure out what happens next. My third tip, and this is one of the most important things that I found that helps him be successful in writing sprints. Do not go back. When that clock starts when the writing sprint is happening, you are not going back to read what you previously wrote, you are not going back to edit. You are not tweaking word choice or sentences or moving things around, you can do an editing sprint later. But for purposes of writing, when you're focusing on getting the draft out getting the draft written, do not go back and edit.
Again, this kind of goes hand in hand with that like writing as quickly as you can, trying to get as much done as you can. Because when you do that, you're it's like your inner critic, that voice that judges what you're writing and tells you it's not great. And it's why bother all that stuff like that voice just doesn't have a chance to come out and be super critical of what you're writing if you don't go back to read what you've already written. And it can be really, really motivating to see how much you can get done. I mean, I remember tracking my writing, when I started implementing writing sprints about halfway through writing my second book, I noticed if I did two writing sprints in 15 minutes, some days, I could get 1000 words written, not every day, some days, it would be some days, it would take me longer to to do that much. But I mean, that's incredible in like 30 minutes a day that I could get that much written.
Now of course, you know, I'd have to go back and polish it. It wasn't perfect or anything, but you're gonna have to do revision anyways. So that that didn't bother me at all. So yeah, I really highly suggest doing that. And if you have a day where you don't want to write and you do want to edit, then that is totally fine to do an editing sprint, and do the exact same thing. Minimize distractions, set that timer, think about what scene or chapter you're going to be editing, and just boom, be so deep in editing that you are tweaking and polishing and changing sentences and rewriting certain things and whatever. You can do that as well. What else do I want to say about writing sprints? I feel like I could go on and on and on. And sometimes it I'm always like, okay, are people tired of me talking about writing sprints, but I don't even care. I don't even care if you've heard me say this 1000 times, I don't care. There are always new people finding this podcast and my content and whatever. And like, figuring this out, for me made the writing process so much easier and more enjoyable that I want everyone to know about writing sprints, I want everyone to have this information. So that's why I talk about it so much. But yeah, they're really are life changing. And think about this as a process of experimenting.
Think about what length of time works best for you, where you want to be writing, are you someone who listens to music when you do a writing sprint, there are a lot of ways that you can play with this to make it fun, and to make it fit your life in your routine and what you're writing. And I think that's part of the fun of being a new writer is figuring all of these things out. You know, figuring out what works best for you and what feels best for you like what makes it fun. And maybe your writing sprint isn't fun for you. Maybe this is just like the absolute worst piece of advice you've ever heard. You're like this is garbage writing sprints are terrible. That's fine, that's valid. That's valid. I'm sure that people can find you know another method of writing that works for them. Like, of course, of course. I never pretend that like anything I share on this podcast or anything I talk about is like the best answer in all cases always. Well, occasionally, I do think that about, about some things I talk about, but they're more like character related. If it's something about your writing routine or your process. That's so individual that you know, again, don't be afraid to tweak and experiment and figure out something that works for you.
So those are the writing sprints. I as part of the blank page, typical to black blank page to book membership, fee members get to drop in writing sessions a week for 30 minutes, we meet on Zoom, Tuesdays at noon central and then Thursdays at 6pm Central. So if you join the membership, you can get access to those. And then I also go live occasionally on Tik Tok, where I'll do a writing sprint usually like 25 minutes or 20 minutes. Well, sometimes when we're like 30, I've read that the algorithm likes when you go live for longer so I try to do a little bit longer writing sprint if I do that on tick tock, but you know, if you follow me on tick tock, keep an eye out for for that if I go live and do a writing sprint, I'll just like prop the camera up and be like, Hey, if you want to write with me, you know, let's let's do a sprint together. See, I can you can do that as well.