Effortless English: Learn To Speak English Like a native

Daily Writing Practice: Speed Writing
Too many English learners focus themselves on writing academic essays. As noted
previously, these kinds of essays are often overly complex. Even when well written,
academic writing is challenging and is one of the most advanced levels of writing.
This is why most learners benefit by first focusing on simpler forms of writing.
One of the best ways to do this is to write a daily journal. Daily journal writing
helps you to improve sentence structure, write faster and write more clearly.
The key to journal writing is to keep it short and simple. Each day, choose one
clear topic to write about. You might write about something you did the day before.
You might write about one of your goals. You could write about something you
recently read, communicating your thoughts or feelings about it.
The next step is to set a timer, with an alarm, for ten minutes. When you are ready
to begin, press “start” on the timer and write as quickly as possible. The most
important point is to never take a break. You must write during the entire ten
minutes without pausing. Do not pause to think of what to write next. Do not pause to
correct mistakes. Do not pause to think of a better phrase. Do not let your hand stop
moving — continue writing anything that comes into your head for the entire ten
minutes.
This technique is called “timed writing” and is commonly used by professional
authors. By writing quickly, without pausing, you bypass your critical brain and
learn to let the words flow out. When you first try this you will probably feel
frustrated. You’ll struggle to think of what to write. Your writing will be
disorganized. You’ll make a lot of mistakes. Don’t worry.
As you continue doing timed writings each day, you will improve. Your writing

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speed and fluency will get faster. You’ll find yourself naturally using phrases that
you read in a book or article. Because you are writing fast, you’ll be forced to write
more simply. You won’t have time to think about grammar rules.
Week by week, your sentence structure will improve. Perhaps more importantly,
your confidence with English writing will improve. If you feel confident enough,
you could post your journal publicly online by writing it as a blog. Each day,
publish a new post of your timed writing.