How to Write a Lot of Words (When You Don’t Feel Like It)

When you hit writer’s block when you are writing a copy you must know how to write a lot of words even when you aren’t feeling wordy.

Getting stuck is a natural part of writing. The truth is: You push through. Here are some writing tips on how to hit a large word count goal—even when you don’t feel like it.

Stop Relying on Motivation

Stephen King once said,

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

Stephen King

If you write for a living, you start to realize that you can’t just go with your creative flow. Part of you is an artist — a wordsmith — that is fluent when in the groove. But, the other part is trying to hone writing skills for a living and not a hobby.

Changing your mentality means you write whether you feel like it or not. Other professionals (doctors, lawyers, teachers, personal trainers) aren’t waiting for the mood to strike before they perform.

Of course, it’s easier when you are feeling the internal drive to write, but that shouldn’t be something you rely on to get started.

Form Positive Habits

Start early. Procrastination will sometimes give you that last-minute rush of genius, but not always. Most of the time, you will actually feel stressed and miserable — cranking out some of the worst work you’ve done because you are into crunch time. Most people have a clear head in the early or late morning (after coffee, right?), and that is the time to do any brainstorming for your topic or research.

Forming positive habits also means that you don’t do things to self-sabotage.

You know sitting in your favorite chair might make you sleepy — choose the desk! You know staying up until 2 A.M. to play a game is going to make it hard to focus tomorrow — go to bed on time! There’s no question that watching TV will slow down your work speed — turn it off! Social media is a huge time suck and energy drain — stay away from it until your work is done!

You probably already know the things most responsible for killing your workflow. So, form better habits to avoid common pitfalls and write a lot of words productively.

Focus Hard for Shorter Periods

Your mind can only focus for so long without becoming ineffective. If you find yourself struggling to put the words onto the paper, you need to take a break for a short amount of time.

Go get a glass of cold water or take a quick walk outside (does your garbage need to go out?). By breaking up your task when you are losing focus, you will save yourself a lot of time and avoid ineffective hours of sitting there pecking at the keys. Make sure you are getting regular exercise to help your creativity.

Sometimes, you may need to perform a brain dump to get out all the thoughts about a different topic before your focused writing time.

You may have trouble focusing if you are feeling stressed about politics, a personal situation or a relationship issue. Take 10 minutes to just write whatever rant comes to mind into a separate document. Then, take a quick break (go use the bathroom or walk the dog) before going back to your work.

Use Writing Prompts

My book on writing prompts is a great way to write a lot of words. Using just ten prompts, it’s easy to quickly write a thousand words.

Writing prompts can help you get the words out when you are feeling stuck. Right now, you can download my book for FREE from Amazon! You will get 101 of the best prompts for drawing out words hidden within you. Try this free writing guide here:

Do Some Quick Research

Struggling to find inspiration? Google can be your best friend here.

Just search for a few keywords related to your topic and see what you find. Try to write based on the titles or snippets of information that Google shows you.

Whatever you do, don’t copy someone else’s writing! You aren’t using or even rewriting their content — you are using some of the ideas to help spark your own thoughts. This is very important, since plagiarism is a huge deal in the writing industry.

Break Out the Outline

Something magical happens when you create an outline.

With an outline, you suddenly have several small assignments to get done instead of a very large, looming number of words. You can write a lot of words by writing just a few words into many sections.

Break down the main points into headers (H2 and H3) that you will want to cover. Ask questions you would want to know about the topic to spark new sections. You can even fill in basic bullet points of what you want to include under the sections.

Don’t feel confined to write the outline in order. Start writing the section that already seems to have words there. Once you start flowing, the next section will get easier. You still might struggle to focus, but even getting 100 or 200 words on the page will start to chip away at the assignment and make it seem more doable.

Invest in Ergonomics

If your back is hurting or your fingers are slowed from flying across the keys, you will struggle to achieve high output in your writing process. These are common issues for bloggers and copywriters.

Invest in a desk chair that contours your back and encourages proper posture. Get a laptop or desktop keyboard that is designed ergonomically. You’ll be shocked at how much faster you can type (and it’s much more comfortable too!).

When you are writing a lot of words, it’s easy to end up with a sore neck, back or wrists. This can make it hard to write thousands of words a day.

Proofread Your Work

If you are working out of order, taking a lot of breaks or struggling to focus, the end result might not be very pretty. If possible, give yourself a good break before proofreading your first draft. This is why it’s so important to start early and avoid procrastinating.

Start your revising process by using a great checker tool, like Grammarly to help you catch the tricky word misuses and typos that plague many writers. Read it out loud to catch odd sentence structures and flow problems.

If you are self-publishing a book, send your draft to an editor for a professional second set of eyes. If you are working for a client as a freelancer, you can go ahead and send it — especially if you have the kind of working relationships where they will ask for a revision if needed.

The Final Word on How to write a lot of words

Check out my book on productivity strategies. You won’t want to miss out on these tips to help you manage your day and get more done in less time. My book even breaks down the difference between the schedule goals for fiction vs. nonfiction writers.

You did it! After following those steps, you’ve successfully written a lot of words. And, if you’re procrastinating, now’s the time to get back to work and put this list to use!