Turn Off Your Internal Editor and Write Your First Draft Faster

If you're a writer you will more than likely have an internal editor. When you start writing your first draft, whether it be an article or a novel, as you are writing you may have ideas on what you are going to change before you have actually written it.

You cannot successfully write and edit at the same time and if you try, you will take much longer to compete anything. When you sit down to begin your first draft of whatever it is you're writing, you need to concentrate solely on the writing and not on the editing.

Here are a few tips on how you can turn off your internal editor and focus on your writing instead.

· When you start writing your first draft, never even think about hitting that backspace key until you have finished writing that first draft. Even if you are a horrible typist, you should still be able to recognize what you have typed.

· If you can, turn off your monitor or turn down the brightness so you cannot see what you have typed. Just let your brain and your fingers do the work. I bet that even though you cannot see what you are typing, you will still be able to understand what it is you have typed.

· If you have the option, record yourself instead of typing. Don't be tempted to edit yourself as you dictate your text. Never stop talking either, just talk and talk until you have finished your train of thought.

· If you have a website to write or a brochure to write then don't always start at the beginning. Start with the easiest part and go from there. There is nothing to say you have to start at the beginning and if it is a particularly difficult beginning to write, then start elsewhere.

· If you finish your first draft and you hate what you have written so far, then instead of editing it, try rewriting the whole piece. It won't take too long as it won't have taken you long in the first place. You may find you have a stronger piece of writing if you rewrite the whole thing rather than editing.

So if you follow these tips, not only will you be able to write faster you may find your creative side never switches off. Constantly stopping and starting will never get you anywhere and you may find yourself running out of ideas before you finish. If you can switch off your internal editor before you start writing you are allowing your creative juices to flow freely.