Writing Sprints: How to Use Sprints to Improve Your Writing

A writing sprint is a nonstop writing session constrained to a limited amount of time—usually a time limit between five and sixty minutes. Practitioners write as many words as possible without stopping to edit or evaluate their work. A writing routine involving short bursts of creativity can help you achieve certain writing goals, like hitting a particular word count or just getting more familiar with the act of putting words on a page. This writing tool is especially useful when you’re struggling with perfectionism or procrastination, as it doesn’t allow you to pause and overthink your writing.

You can tailor the writing sprint exercise to suit your personal needs, but its overarching benefits apply to writers of any discipline. The following are a few of the most common reasons why writers choose to do a writing sprint:

• Writing sprints allow you to write quickly. Work and daily responsibilities can limit the amount of writing time you have available. Writing sprints allow you to create a writing process you can stick to, even when your free time is limited.
• Writing sprints help with procrastination. When you need motivation to write, a sprint gives you an actionable goal in the moment instead of an abstract goal like “write a great short story.” Absent a word count goal, sprints are simply writing sessions that don’t require any particular outcome other than completion.
• Writing sprints allow you to avoid the paralysis of perfectionism. Word sprints are set up so there’s no time to pay heed to your inner editor fussing over word choice and sorting through the wellspring of writing tips you’ve gathered over the years. If your fear of a mediocre first draft keeps you staring at a blank page, use a writing sprint to get words on the page without overanalyzing your work.
• Writing sprints help you overcome writer’s block. Creative dry spells are a part of the writing life. Writing sprints can be helpful to remind you that you still have the capacity to do the act of writing, even if you aren’t feeling as inspired as you’d like. Simply hitting a word count can give you a feeling of accomplishment and keep your daily writing habit alive during times when you aren’t sure what to write. The mere ritual of writing can help shorten these periods of writer’s block.
  

Consider these tips for creating a practice of writing sprints that works for you:

1. 1. Know your intentions. Set your goals for the writing sprint: Do you want to hit a specific word count? Do you want to get better are writing more in less time? Do you want to write on a more daily basis? If your goal is to write every day, for example, try setting a shorter time limit. Start with a five-minute sprint, and if you find it fruitful, increase the time each day as you progress.
2. 2. Focus on completion, not excellence. The only goal you have in a writing sprint is to complete the exercise. Your writing doesn’t need to be the start of a bestseller or Pulitzer prize–winner. Remember, you are just familiarizing yourself with the feeling of writing. There’s no need to think about audience or marketability.
3. 3. Choose a distraction-free environment. This doesn’t have to be total silence: Music and other stimuli may not count as distractions for you and may even help you complete your writing sprints. Just remove yourself from anything that might take your focus away from writing time.
4. 4. Set a timer. Set an alarm to signal the end of the sprint. This can help you focus on the writing instead of checking your watch or phone for the time.

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