Benjamin McEvoy

Essays on writing, reading, and life

How To Get More Writing Done In Less Time

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The clock says it’s 13:05 right now. I’m on my lunch break. Lets see how much writing I can get done in, say, 15 minutes. Ready? Let’s go!

I’ve written a lot over this past year. It’s been one of the only consistent things about my life. If I could have seen into the future at the beginning of the year and observed how fast my fingers fly over the keyboard right now, I would be amazed.

Here is how to get more writing done in less time:

1 – Choose your subject wisely

Non-fiction that is primarily based on your life is the easiest to write. If you know your subject well, you can write a staggering amount in a very short space of time (e.g. this article, for instance, is easy for me because I don’t have to research or think too deeply about the answer).

Fiction is harder to write than advice-based non-fiction. But the key is to choose your genre well. Choose to write within a genre that inspires you. If you know the genre well then you will already cut out a lot of unnecessary mental noise like wondering whether something you wrote breaks conventions in a bad way.

You can also make your fiction writing easier by boning up on exactly how to write fiction. Read books like The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne, Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, and On Writing by Stephen King. I also advise you to take regular writing courses like Aaron Sorkin’s Screenwriting Masterclass.

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2 – Plan

Even if you’re a pantser at heart, planning can be a huge aid in increasing the amount of writing you are able to do in a short space of time. Whenever I am struggling to write, one simple plan always grounds me and makes my writing easier. This is something I learned from Aaron Sorkin:

What is the character’s intention in this scene?

What are the obstacles that are stopping them from getting what they want?

Nail intention and obstacle for each character and your fingers won’t be able to type fast enough.

3 – Write in scenes or chapters

Stop thinking so far ahead.

This is good advice in life and it applies to writing too.

Concentrate on the scene at hand. Concentrate on the paragraph at hand. Concentrate on the sentence at hand. Damn it, concentrate on the word you are typing as you are typing it.

Forget about the bills you need to pay. Forget about the emails you need to reply to. Forget about that long-running conversation in your head with your old best friend from high school and what you wish you had told them. Concentrate only on what is before you.

4 – One true sentence

If you’re having trouble getting started, follow Hemingway’s advice:

“Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”

This has always worked for me. Write one perfect sentence that encapsulates a truth about life, love, humanity, war, whatever you are writing on. Once you’ve got that one true sentence, you will experience a burst of dopamine that will motivate you to write more and more.

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5 – Give yourself permission to write crap

Stop thinking about what others will think of your work when it’s finished. It isn’t finished yet. And it’s not going to be finished for a while.

First drafts always stink.

Don’t judge your first draft by the finished products you see lining your bookshelves. Your favourite books went through countless permutations before they became the gems you appreciate today.

Tell yourself you’re going to write the biggest load of crap the world has ever seen. Once you give yourself permission to suck, you will write quicker and you will surprise yourself. You’re not as bad as you think.

6 – Get your blood flowing BEFORE you write.

I spent years working out AFTER I write. I’ve come to realise that this was the wrong way of doing things.

You need to get your blood flowing in order to have the energy, motivation, creativity, and insight to write fast.

The first thing I do when I wake up is hit the floor and bang out as many push-ups as possible. Like this but without Michael Caine sitting in my bedroom:


It’s also good to any of the following first thing in the morning:

  • Go for a run
  • Go for a walk
  • Lift weights
  • Do yoga

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7 – Meditate and fill your body with oxygen

Meditation will clear your head and help you to disengage from the “outcome” of writing.

Follow the Wim Hof Method and suck massive amounts of oxygen into your body. If you’ve never breathed properly before, you will be surprised how much energy this gives you. It might hurt at first but give it a couple of weeks and you’ll feel like a god.

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8 – Read

Cut your writing time in half and spend it by reading stuff that inspires you. You’ll find that you’re able to write more in 1 hour when you’ve read for 1 hour before than you would in 2 hours without reading (or at least that’s how it works for me).

I like to read at least 1 poem, 1 short story, and 1 piece of non-fiction writing each day. I also have many novels I’m dipping in and out of. I read Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize winners and I also read pulp and comic books. Anything goes.

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9 – Supplement well

I recently endured a massive writing slump after coming off antibiotics. I was able to quickly spring back into action by supplementing my diet with the following things:

If you’re deficient in any of those things, supplementing and correcting the issue can have a dramatic impact on your well-being. You’ll feel happier. You’ll have more energy. And that translates to more writing in less time.

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10 – Hop yourself up on caffeine and l-theanine

Whenever I write, I always have two cups by my side. One of them has strong black coffee inside. Sometimes I add a little butter if I’m fasting from food as this helps to blunt my appetite and gives me more of a stable caffeine buzz without the crash. The other cup has green tea (usually a Japanese tea like sencha or gyokuro), which contains l-theanine and helps to calm me.

This combination of coffee and green tea really seems to give me an edge. I can write much faster with this combo than without it.

11 – Listen to binaural beats and white noise

There’s a lot of speculation that binaural beats are just placebo. That might be so but I notice a dramatic difference in writing speed when I listen to something with alpha brainwaves.


I also like some white noise with good quality noise cancelling headphones in order to block out the world around me.


If you really want to block out the world, wear a hoody and pull it over your head and write in a darkened room.

I also highly recommend brain.fm. 

12 – Make your writing routine and keep it

It doesn’t matter what I’m doing in my life. I can be working a 9-to-5 job, I can be travelling from one side of the world to the other, I can be in a motel room or my own apartment. I always do the same thing in the morning. I write. I write until I hit 1,000 – 2,000 words or until 2 hours have passed. If I have to get up early, so be it.

Keeping a routine is the most important advice on this list because a routine will help to build your momentum. Once you have momentum, it’s a lot easier to keep it than to try and build it from scratch. It’s also easy to lose it so don’t take any days off. Keep writing even when you’re feeling confident.

Okay, my 15 minutes are up. How did I do?

This article is almost 1500 words and I still have more than half of my lunch break left.

More related reading:

Now go write!