3 ways to beat writer's block and write faster

Whether you're a professional writer, student or someone who writes in business contexts, you've probably struggled with writer's block. If so, try these 3 tips to overcome this hurdle and improve your writing speed.

Most writers have an internal editor in their head – a conscience-like voice that loves to criticize, ridicule and demonize every word they write. This voice can inhibit creativity and paralyze even the most experienced writer, making it hard to write and making quick writing extremely difficult.

• In order to speed up your writing process, commit to destroying your inner editor with positive self-talk.
• When you hear your inner editor criticize your work, brush it off with a mantra about how good your work really is.
• Better yet, shut off your inner editor altogether. Visualize yourself slamming a door on your editor and working in peace.
• By freeing yourself from the editor within, you'll likely find your speed – and writing – improving dramatically.

One of the most effective ways to slay writer's block and write more quickly is to work in bursts with small rests in between. You'll need an alarm clock for this simple technique.

• Commit to a five-minute burst of writing and then resting for one minute. Try to repeat this pattern for an hour.
• As you get the hang of it, you can slowly increase your writing sprints to 10-, 15- or even 30-minute bursts. Just be sure to also increase the length of the rest period so that you get the equivalent of 15 minutes' rest for each hour you work.
• This technique will train you to work in a quick and efficient manner. You'll likely be so caught up in your sprint that you won't even remember that you were blocked.

If you struggle to write quickly, or at all, you may need to free yourself from your inhibitions and get some practice with a different genre. This technique can seem counter intuitive, but give it a try.

• Put your work aside and try writing something different. A poem, a tweet, a letter, a news story – any genre will do.
• When you free yourself from your preferred genre, you automatically give yourself a break and permission to write poorly.
• While it is counterintuitive, allowing yourself to write poorly can actually help to improve your quality when you return to your work at hand.

If you are struggling with writer's block or discouraged by your slow progress, remember that writing is a learned skill that you can improve with practice.