Cherie Reich's 5 Reasons to Write to a Timer

Please welcome Cherie Reich, a guest whose monthly word counts always awe and inspire me. Find out more about her methods here! 

Five Reasons to Write with a Timer

by Cherie Reich

1. Get your BICHOK on.

Making the time to write is sometimes the hardest step in this whole writing business. Using a timer gets you to actually sit down, pull up your document, and focus on writing (i.e. butt in chair, hands on keyboard = BICHOK).

2. The 100m dash.

It takes some time getting used to writing with a timer. Start small, anywhere from 5-15 minutes. These micro-sprints will train your fingers to fly. You’ll be so busy trying to write anything down that you won’t notice that glaring typo in line seven or how you used the same verb three times in paragraph four. These micro-sprints train your mind, though, and in time you will write better faster. And we all can find 5-15 minutes to write, right?

3. Why do you write like you’re running out of time?

Because you are! 525,600 minutes. That’s all we have in a year. We are running out of time every single second. The timer emphasizes this. As the clock is winding down, the word counts grow.

And to be honest, I couldn’t resist adding a Hamilton lyric and a Rent reference.

4. Do you salivate when the bell rings?

Writing by a timer can create a Pavlovian response. Repetition trains your brain and forms a habit. After I read through what I wrote the day before, I press the timer. It may take me a few seconds to start typing, but by training my brain to know its writing time, I actually find myself getting the words down more often than not.

5. Write more now.

Some days you will still be lucky to get any words down, but if you know you have to sit in front of your document for thirty minutes, then you’re bound to write something. It’s amazing how those words add up.

Since July 1, 2015, I’ve been using a timer to time my writing. Writing for a set time every single day has allowed me to clock in 418,778 words in fifteen months, so I must admit using a timer has been an eye-opening experience. It takes dedication and practice, but so does writing in general.

Have you used a timer before when it comes to writing?

Cherie Reich owns more books than she can ever read and thinks up more ideas than she can ever write, but that doesn’t stop this bookworm from trying to complete her goals, even if it means curbing her TV addiction. A library assistant living in Virginia, she writes speculative fiction. For more information about her books, visit smarturl.it/CReichWebsite.

From USA Today, Amazon bestselling, and popular science fiction and fantasy authors comes Ghosts of Fire, a supernatural anthology of ten thrilling tales. Meet paranormal detectives, imprisoned dragons, dark demons, cursed jewels, and handsome prophets. Explore shifting realms trapped in mirrors and a disturbing future where a president aims to rid the world of Otherkind.

Cherie Reich’s story “On Day 168” in Ghosts of Fire was written in twenty-four 12-minute increments last October. You can purchase the anthology at Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Kobo, Nook, and Smashwords.