How to Write GOOD Articles in Under Two Hours.

Take it from a Journalist who posts on Medium every single day.

Okay my phone’s away, coffee’s in front of me and I’m setting the timer… ready, set, go.

This is how I draft, write, edit and publish a story to Medium every single weekday.

Have I been doing this for a really long time? No. Do I have thousands of followers? Nope. Have I made $1K plus from this platform? Not even close.

So why should you follow my advice?

I’m a qualified journalist. And since challenging myself to write more regularly, I’ve published every single day.

Here’s how.

1. Remove distractions. All of them.

This one’s obvious but let’s get it out of the way. Your best ideas and sentences will come to you once you’re in a state of flow. More on this later, but here’s one thing you should know: The only way to achieve the state of flow is if you remove every possible distraction.

So go ahead, put your phone in another room and press pause on your podcasts because for the next two hours it’s just you and your article.

2. Stick to your guns

You know those moments when an idea suddenly comes to you and you think to yourself, ‘This is it’? Stick to that idea. Whether it enters your brain in the middle of a run or moments before falling asleep, write it down and revisit it as soon as you can.

It’s the achilles heel of every great writer, but don’t second-guess yourself. Chances are if an idea gets you pumped in the first place, it’s something you’re both passionate and knowledgable about. And this is the exact formula for great writing. So those random bursts of inspiration that come at the most annoying times of day actually carry a lot of weight.

In the world of news, journalists specialise in different fields. You’ll have a food critic, a political reporter, weather presenter and so on. They don’t dabble in other areas without proper experience and training.

When it comes to your writing stick to the topics that excite and interest you and you’ll end up naturally producing articles with a clear and confident tone that your readers will thank you for.

3. Accept the fact that pressure produces diamonds

I remember the first time I ever left homework to the last minute. I was 11 years old and we’d been asked to write a story called, A Day in My Life in 2025 (to this day I really wish I’d kept it!).

I wrote the entire thing in bed the night before it was due. The next day my teacher pulled me aside and said it was the best written creative piece he’d ever seen from a grade 6 student. Then he sent me to show the principal.

Here’s the truth. No matter how much time you give yourself, your best work will always be produced under pressure. There’s a reason why journalists, authors and copywriters all work to strict deadlines.

Time is never a writer’s friend. The more we allocate, the more room we allow for overthinking and over-editing only to end up with something that would have been just as good had we written it in half the length of time anyway. There’s an art to it though. Tolkien took 17 years to write The Lord of the Rings and I’m not suggesting he wasted 8.5 of those. Find your sweet spot and try not to go overboard.

4. Write with invisible ink

Starting is the worst, and blank pages can be really overwhelming. If you’re one to spend 30 minutes rehashing an opening paragraph, we’ve all been there.

But here’s one useful strategy I use to get myself started. I sit down with a blank word document, set my font colour to white, and type out absolutely everything. What I end up with is a complete brain dump of ideas, ramblings, possible quotes, etc. that I can then revisit and work with.

Writing with invisible ink prevents the temptation to go back and ‘perfect’ sentences before your ideas are fully developed. It’s far easier to improve what you have than to attempt producing something perfect from scratch.

Enter the flow state.

The flow state is a wonderful thing. Otherwise known as the zone, it’s that state of mind that all creatives strive for when producing their best work. When you’re in the state of flow you’re completely engrossed in an activity for its own sake: The ideas start flooding and suddenly it’s like you’re Ernest Hemmingway.

How do you get into a flow state? James Clear says it’s all about setting yourself tasks that are right on the edge of your current abilities. He calls this the Goldilocks Rule:

“Humans experience peak motivation when tasks are not too hard. Not too easy. Just right.” — James Clear, Atomic Habits

So writing about topics that both interest and challenge you, and giving yourself a set period of time to complete it by, will send you into the zone in no time.

At the end of the day there’s no magical formula that will have you pumping out articles as fast as a barista pulling shots. But with these few tried and tested rules you can certainly nib your writer’s block in the bud and be off to a solid start.

My personal challenge was to better my writing and efficiency by attempting to publish an article every single weekday. And after a few short weeks I can comfortably say I’ve made a vast improvement.

Implement these for yourself and I guarantee you’ll see change.