Anthony Trollope, the Father of Writing Sprints

 

In his Autobiography, Trollope wrote that if he was to succeed at making money as a writer, he had to treat writing as a business.

To that end he set up a writing schedule that served him well throughout his writing career.

He got up at 5 AM every day. Spent 5 to 5:30 reviewing what he wrote the previous day. 

Then at 5:30 he put his pocket watch on his desk, took out a fresh sheet of paper, dipped his pen in the inkwell, and commence to write one 250 word page every 15 minutes. 

At the end of his 2 1/2 hour session he had 10 pages and 2500 words completed on the story or book he was working on. He’s been called the Victorian Writing Machine.

What Trollope did is to break down a 2 1/2 hour writing session into 15 minute increments. Fifteen minutes are much easier to manage than 2 1/2 hours. And 250 words a lot easier to accomplish than 2500 words.

By creating what we call today the writing sprint, Trollope paved the way for writers to be more productive and consistent in their practice.

He set aside the inner editor and just focused on writing. He had a mindset of getting it right the first time so he had little editing to do when he read over his text the next day.

I have some health issues that get in the way of my writing and I was pondering how to deal with those issues in order to increase my productivity.

The answer came from my mentor, Anthony Trollope. Writing sprints. 

Now Trollope wrote in one session because at 8 AM he left his study to eat breakfast and then depart for his 12 to 14 hour work day at the post office.

I am retired, so I don’t have a workday. My time is my own. 

So I thought to myself why don’t I spread Trollope’s ten 15 minute writing sprints throughout the day? That way the frequent breaks will ease the pressure on my hands and wrists, tailbone, and lower back.

So, for the month of July, starting tomorrow, I am going to set a goal of doing 10 fifteen minute writing sprints each day and produce one page (or more) in each sprint. The further goal being that of completing my novel by the end of the month.

Throughout the month of July I’ll give you progress reports on how it’s going. That way you can see if multiple short sprints will work for you to

• Increase productivity
• Shut down that inner editor
• End procrastination, and
• Kick writer’s block to the curb.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with three bestselling novels. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

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