Reading time: About 3 minutes
Most of us text these days, giving our thumbs a good workout. But for serious writers, there’s a typing speed secret you need to learn…
My parents wouldn’t let me take typing when I was in high school. Instead, I had to submit to Latin. Latin! As if conjugating verbs would somehow prepare me for the new millennium.
I hated every second of that class and never found it terribly helpful (despite the knowledge of word roots it gave me). But a few years later, I taught myself to type, eventually achieving a speed of roughly 85 words per minute. Not Olympic-level, but fast enough that I can now argue with strangers on the internet at a highly efficient rate.
And now that my handwriting is illegible — seriously, most doctors have better penmanship — typing is more important to me than ever before.
But is it the best way for writers to write? Clients ask me about this all the time, and I usually refer them to a fun 10-minute video by writer Clive Thompson.
What writing by hand is good for
While it’s true that some successful writers have sworn by longhand drafting (Joyce Carol Oates, Agatha Christie, Susan Sontag), neuroscientists believe this to be more about preference than any magical properties of fountain pens.
Still, there is lots of evidence that writing by hand is good for some things.
For example, it enforces a natural pace. It encourages deliberation rather than production. And it often reduces the relentless urge to self-edit that turns us all into neurotic wrecks.
Handwriting encourages you to think rather than perform. You can have fragments, arrows, crossings-out and a document that looks both messy and incomplete. With a handwritten draft, there’s less pressure on you to be “finished.” You can think and reflect in a more relaxed way.
But despite the persuasive benefits of writing by hand, I strongly encourage all my clients to write by typing. Here’s why:
Typing is better for writing
Most of us who write by hand can’t write much faster than 30 words per minute (wpm). Even if your typing speed is only 40 wpm, you’re still faster at a keyboard. Your job as a writer is to transcribe the thoughts occurring in your brain. And the better you can keep up with your brain, the more fluent you’re going to be. Think of it as running alongside your ideas instead of watching them disappear over the horizon.
In that 10-minute video I mentioned earlier, Clive Thompson presents some compelling scientific research about how a faster typing speed actually makes you a better writer. Spoiler: your brain likes it when your fingers can keep up.
Common sense should also tell you that a typed draft is friendlier and easier for revision. You can move sentences around with a couple of clicks and delete with ease. I know some people like to revise while they’re transcribing their handwritten first draft, but it’s an extra (and unnecessary) job that requires more time. Long stretches of drafting are also easier to do at a keyboard.
Writing by hand may make you feel like Jane Austen, but in fact it’s more likely to make you write like Agnes Whitcombe. Who’s that? Oh, she was a Victorian matron who never managed to get anything published.
What about creativity?
I know some people think they’re more creative when writing by hand, and this is absolutely true. That’s why I suggest writers mindmap and take notes — by hand — before they write at a keyboard. Use each method for what it’s best suited for.
(Important tangent: This is also why I don’t recommend using software for mindmapping, even though much excellent software exists. Your mindmaps will be better and more useful if you produce them by hand. Also, get away from your desk to mindmap. Go instead to a comfortable chair or couch.)
After your thinking feels decided, not just started, move to your keyboard and begin writing. Use your mindmap and notes as prompts, not scripts. And allow your ideas to develop into prose. Let them breathe. Let them surprise you.
A radical idea
Finally, here’s a radical suggestion if your typing has never gone beyond 30 wpm. You can always work at improving your typing (I recommend the free software Ratatype), but if that feels like a bridge too far, consider switching to dictation.
The fastest writers in my Get It Done group all use dictation, and they’re often able to hit writing speeds of 100 words per minute. They’re basically the Formula One drivers of the writing world.
Making such a switch is not cheating, and it requires some time and effort, but I’ve found that two weeks is usually enough for people to comfortably make the switch.
Stop pondering, start producing
So, here’s my advice: stop agonizing over the perfect writing method and start paying attention to what actually gets words on the page.
Try typing for a week. Try dictation for a week. Heck, try handwriting if that’s your jam.
But whatever you do, pick the method that helps you finish things, not the one that helps you procrastinate beautifully.
The best writing tool isn’t the one that makes you feel like a tortured artist — it’s the one that helps you become a productive one.
Now stop reading this and go write something.
If you liked this post, you’ll also like Why you should dictate rather than write by hand.
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My three-month writing accountability program, called Get It Done, is opening up with a Jan. 22 deadline for those who wish to start Feb. 1. If you want to build a better, more sustainable writing or editing routine, check out more information about the program. Entry is possible only four times a year.
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My video podcast last week addressed what happens when writers try to change horses, midstream. You can watch the video or read the transcript, and you can also subscribe to my YouTube channel.
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Do you have your own typing speed secret? Or some other way of writing? We can all learn from each other, so please, share your thoughts with my readers and me in the comments section, below. If you comment on today’s post (or any others) by Jan. 31/26, I’ll put you in a draw for a digital copy of my first book, 8 1/2 Steps to Writing Faster, Better. To enter, please scroll down to the comments, directly underneath the related posts links, below. You don’t have to join Disqus to post! Read my tutorial to learn how to post as a guest. (It’s easy!)
