Here are a couple of word sprint timers that I put up on YouTube. I intend to add others eventually, but I’d like to record the background video myself, which might take a while for me to get around to. I intentionally didn’t add music to the timers because I use these timers too and I like listening to certain kinds of music for different types of stories or different parts in stories. If I mute the timer to listen to my music, I can’t hear the audio chime cue that the timer is up.
Enjoy! And if you don’t know what a word sprint or a word sprint timer is, no worries! Scroll down for an explanation.
What is a word sprint?
A word sprint is a writing exercise where you challenge yourself to write as much as you can within a specific amount of time. The benefit of this is that it silences your inner editor, allowing you to focus on getting your ideas out instead. They can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more.
This blog about word sprints on the ProWritingAid website says that, “Parkinson’s Law states that a task expands to take up the time allotted to the task. We’re human, and if we know we have an hour to do something, we will take an hour to do it. But a person who writes 500 words an hour can accomplish the same result during a 20-minute word sprint.”
If you tell yourself that you have all day to do something, it’ll take you all day to do it. But if you tell yourself you have five minutes, you’ll get it done a lot faster. That’s where the word sprint timers come in handy. They have a chime that tells you when your time is up so that it feels like a more solid deadline than some of the other tools I’ve used that don’t have an audio cue like that.
If you’ve ever used the The Most Dangerous Writing App (squibler.io), it takes this concept to the extreme by actually DELETING what you’ve written if you don’t write fast enough! Personally, that’s a little too high-stress for me. I think I’ll just stick to a word sprint timer.
Increased Productivity
It’s difficult for an aspiring writer to find time to write, but carving out just a few minutes here and there to write using a word sprint timer while you’re eating breakfast or before bed can help you make writing a consistent habit. Writing consistently is one of the best ways to tackle such a large project. It’s amazing to watch that word count slowly but steadily tick up.
Just a quick reminder about the math: You can write 300 words in 5-15 minutes (if you plan ahead of time). If you write even 300 words a day, you’ll have over 100,000 words by the end of the year: that’s a book.
Social Aspect of Word Sprints
Many people participate in word sprints on X (formerly Twitter) and various Discord channels, especially during NaNoWriMo in November. I’ve even done them with a friend over Zoom. Writers of all types and skill levels can participate in word sprints without fear of judgment, and the comradery can spur you on to write more than you might otherwise have.
Conclusion
Writing sprints (and word sprint timers) are an excellent writing exercise for authors. I hope these word sprint timers come in handy for you as you keep chipping away at that amazing novel of yours!
