Hello, all! It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog post, but I’m glad to be back. Today I wanted to talk about writing sprints, which I believe are absolutely necessary to every writer’s life. A writing sprint is quite simple: you set a timer for a specific amount of time, put away all distractions, and write as much as you can until your timer goes off. Writing sprints are a great way to have a dedicated, focused writing time, and they can even be as short as ten minutes!
1. Can help solve your writer’s block
Writing sprints are great for writer’s block. If you’ve ever encountered writer’s block before, you know how difficult it is. Sometimes there’s a problem in your plot or you just can’t seem to get past a certain scene, but writing sprints are the cure for this. If you force yourself to put down every distraction (which can be part of the cause of writer’s block) and “sprint” for fifteen minutes, most of the time you’ll be able to push through!
2. Teach you to focus solely on writing
Another thing writing sprints do is teach you to focus on your writing. Putting away all distractions to focus on your writing for ten minutes to half an hour trains you to work harder during that time so you can get your writing done for the day. I’ve often found it motivates me to write more!
3. Make you carve out dedicated time to write
Writing sprints force you to carve out a dedicated time to write during the day, especially if you do it with others. Having a dedicated writing time—or even knowing you’re going to write for at least ten minutes—helps you reach your goals faster!
4. Easy to do with others
One of my favorite things about writing sprints is the fact that they’re so easy to do with other people. It’s easy to set up a DM group on Instagram or a GroupMe specifically for writing sprints. In one of the groups I participate in, when someone wants to write, that person just has to send a message in the group chat that says, “Is anyone up to sprint?” Normally, there’s always someone who can sprint for at least one round!
5. Great for goal-setters
If you’re someone who likes to set goals and achieve them, I highly recommend writing sprints. Trying to write a thousand words a day or less is easily achievable by writing sprints, and they’re much easier to achieve when you have other people you’re doing it with! I often set goals of trying to finish a scene or trying to finish a chapter in a day, and writing sprints normally help me achieve that goal. Plus, when you keep track of your word count for every sprint, your numbers add up quickly!
I hope this post helps you understand what writing sprints are and how helpful they can be for any writer! I’ve even found them beneficial for when I’m working on an essay for school. If you’re looking for someone to try out writing sprints with, feel free to shoot me a DM on Instagram, and I’ll sprint with you!
Much love,
Katie