7 Ways to Stop Yourself From Editing as You Write
Editing as you write is one of the fastest ways to kill your productivity.
If you type at 100wpm and stop to dwell over a sentence for two minutes, you’ve written 200 fewer words than you could’ve. Over a half an hour writing session, that quickly adds up.
Editing as you write makes your writing sessions less productive, and your confidence suffers because you’re doubting your idea before it’s even had chance to grow.
Stopping yourself from editing as you write isn’t easy, though.
I used to do it a lot.
Now that I don’t, I can write over 14,000 words in a day.
A lot of people have asked me how I changed my mindset, so I thought I’d write an in-depth blog post looking into some of the tactics I used, and a few others that you may find useful, too.
Zone out
In the modern world it’s becoming increasingly difficult to switch off and avoid distractions.
To fully get into the writing zone and avoid editing as you write, though, it’s the most important thing you can do.
Listening to music related to what you’re writing is an effective way to drown out external stimuli.
I have playlists set up for each character, mood, and story that I create. That way it’s easy to get into the headspace that I need.
If you don’t have the time, patience, or music library to create your own playlists, Spotify and Apple Music have playlists for every occasion.
Being in a room free from distractions helps even further.
Close the door, turn off notifications, go as dark as you possibly can.
Make it clear to anyone that you live with or that’s likely to contact you during your writing time that you should not be disturbed under any circumstances.
It’s very rare that genuine emergencies happen. People should respect your alone time.
Plan your writing time
When you’re prone to editing as you write, having a clear goal for your writing session gives you more of a focus.
This focus helps to keep you on track when you start to get distracted by the minutiae.
The hardest thing of all is to get your idea down. Don’t complicate the process by censoring yourself before your idea has had chance to mature.
Your plans don’t have to be concrete, but they should give you a rough idea of the journey your characters will go on.
Even if you only have a few key scenes mapped out when you start writing, it still helps.
The rest of the story will emerge as you write, and the more you work on your planning, the easier it becomes.
You wouldn’t get into a car without knowing what your destination is. Why should your writing time be any different?
Start small
Creating new habits can be intimidating, that’s why starting with short free writing sessions is crucial.
The shorter the writing session, the less of a commitment it is and the less scary it sounds.
When you first start out, just writing uninhibited for five minutes is a step closer to teaching your subconscious to trust itself and stop second guessing every decision.
Be sure to set a timer so that you have clear start and finish times.
If you still feel comfortable continuing after the timer is up, keep going, but if you feel yourself slipping back into old habits, take a break and try again later.
Turn off your screen/monitor
When you can’t see what you’re writing, it’s a lot more difficult to edit as you write.
You could also try using a typewriter or writing by hand, although I’m not a huge fan of either option as your writing will eventually have to be digitized anyway. Writing by hand or using a typewriter adds an extra step to the writing process.
However, using a typewriter if you have access to one can stop you from trying to cross things out as it’s such a pain to do.
The more difficult you make it for yourself to change something you’ve just written, the less likely you are to do it.
Try dictation
Some of the most popular and well-respected books are written as we speak.
This type of writing comes naturally to some of us, but not to all of us.
Dictation can be a way not only to achieve this writing style, but also to avoid the self-consciousness that many of us feel when we write down our ideas.
Bestselling writers from Joanna Penn to Dan Brown to Kevin J. Anderson are big fans of dictation.
If you struggle to type because of health reasons, dictation could also be useful to you.
Macs and PCs have built-in dictation software these days.
Dragon is also a popular dictation software used by many authors. It allows you to add new words to its vocabulary, meaning that even if your book has its own language, it will still understand what you’re saying.
Be immersed in what you’re writing
My friends have often remarked that I talk about my characters like they’re real people.
That’s because, to me, they are real.
They’ve been living inside my head for almost a decade, and not a day goes by when I don’t think about them.
Even on my darkest days when I didn’t write, I still heard their voices.
I know them as well as I know my boyfriend or closest friends, if not better.
Writing about them is therefore easy because I know them so well, and because I want to spend time with them.
If you really don’t care about what you’re writing, or you’re not particularly immersed in it, your readers will be able to tell.
Don’t do them — or yourself — a disservice by writing about something you’re not interested in, particularly if you’re writing it for love, not money.
Don’t feel like you have to write your story chronologically, either. So long as the finished product makes sense to your readers, that’s all that matters.
Stop being so hard on yourself
I mentioned earlier about how editing as you write means that you second-guess every decision that you make.
When you edit as you write, you’re too hard on yourself.
Writing should be fun.
It shouldn’t be another way to put pressure on yourself, especially if you don’t make any money from it, as most writers don’t.
Your writing will never be perfect. It’s OK to accept and acknowledge that.
As soon as you stop pressurizing yourself, you start to relax and the words come much more easily.
You achieve what you want to in life
When you really and truly want to achieve something in life, you put the work in to get there.
There’s no doubt that finishing your writing project will require sacrifices whatever your circumstances, but when you want something badly enough, you can and will put the effort in.
Reaching your goals takes time, but the more you want something, the more you’re willing to invest in a long-term commitment.
Do you write fiction, poetry, nonfiction, or scripts?
Whatever you write, the core ingredients are the same.
Discover what they are in my new ebook, the Essential Writing Ingredients.
The Writing Cooperative is sponsored by
Grammarly makes sure everything you type is easy to read, effective, and mistake-free. Take your writing to a new level. Try it for free!
