NaNoWriMo Day 6: Word Sprints are a Girl's Best Friend

So, I've discovered this nifty little thing this week called "Word Sprints", and wow are they incredible!

I had heard of word sprints before, but I had never actually dedicated the time to try one before. And now I immensely regret having never done so because they have raised my productivity level with writing.

Let me tell you about these little word sprints.

Word sprints are pretty much what the name says. You set a timer (or word count limit) and then write as many words as possible before time runs out. Just like a sprint for a runner, the only goal of a word sprint is to get as far as you can as fast as you can. No checking word counts, no thinking about what to do next, you're just pushing as hard and fast as possible towards the finish line.

NaNo makes the word sprint engaging and easy by providing a timer on their website so you don't have to keep checking your clock for when time's up. They even offer a group sprint option where you can schedule a sprint to do with other writers and have a little friendly competition to see who can write the most words.

I participated in my first word sprint last night with one other person in one of my forum support groups (who happens to be one of my writing buddies as well). We set a time for twenty minutes and we took off. In that time span, I managed to write 413 words.

I did another word sprint tonight on my own for thirty minutes and I ended up writing 682 words (give or take a few). Thanks to these word sprints, I have finally broken across the 4,000 word mark and I feel like I'm making progress now. Granted, I'm still technically behind and I still have a long ways to go to hitting that elusive 50,000. But now I am encouraged and motivated.

Plus, word sprints have an added bonus in that they can train your endurance. Just like sprinters can run longer and longer distance and move faster and faster they more they sprint, writers can write more and faster during these sprints and can begin to write longer. Word sprints force us to focus on only out writing for a span of time, be it 10 minutes, 20 minutes, or much more. It's super beneficial and I love that I've tried them.

Give me your worst, NaNo. I'm coming at you with the power of word sprints.

Word Count: 4284