Want to learn how to write fast? Like, write 2000 words an hour fast? This article will teach you how. And if you want to go deeper, check out my Dictation for Thought Leaders course. It’s short, efficient, and will get you rolling on learning this time-saving ASAP.
At the end of last week, I was coming up against a book deadline—and I was falling behind.
Which meant I needed to push.
One morning, I sat down for a virtual write-in with my local Sisters in Crime chapter. It’s an hour-long call where we chat for a few minutes, then do a 45-minute sprint. I knew that was going to be my one shot to work on the book that day, and in order to meet my deadline, I needed to hit 2000 words.
Now, writing 2000 words an hour (let alone in 45 minutes) hasn’t always been my usual speed, but lately I’ve been leaning hard into a couple of tools that have sped me up in the past—with great results.
So when the sprint started, I was off to the races. And I hit 2000 words in 45 minutes very easily.
In fact, with my current process, I can write 2000 words an hour pretty easily—fiction or nonfiction. And in this post, I’m going to tell you exactly how I do it.
First: Why Draft Fast?
Let’s be clear: I’m not chasing speed for bragging rights. And it’s not just because I’ve got a packed schedule.
Drafting fast makes me a better writer for two reasons:
1. I much prefer the revision and polishing phase, when the piece really starts to turn into gold. The faster I get the first draft out, the sooner I get to that phase—and into my happy place.
2. When I draft fast, it means I’m in the flow, which means the writing is better.
Now, let me slow down on that. ;)
I’m not saying writing fast automatically makes your writing better.
I’m saying that when you know where the story (or argument) is going, and you’re not stopping every thirty seconds to second-guess yourself, you naturally move faster. You tap into that place where it feels like you’re downloading the story or essay, rather than scraping it up painfully word-by-word.
Draft speed is an indicator of writing in the flow. And writing in the flow is an indicator that the draft is already on the right track.
And yes: “Okay Jessie, cool, but how do I get into that flow state?”
That’s what this whole post is about.
Because the real secret to my recent kick of writing 2000 words an hour isn’t that I suddenly became a different kind of writer. It’s that I built a process that:
- removes friction
- cuts down distractions (and perfectionism)
- keeps my voice intact
- and makes it super easier to start
Dictation is the engine underneath all of that.
Dictation: The Key to Write 2000 Words an Hour
I’ve been dictating for years, and it’s honestly changed how my brain works as a writer—I feel more nimble, more conversational, less “stuck,” and way less physically drained than when I end up hunched over a keyboard for hours.
But dictation is definitely a learned skill, and the learning curve can be steep.It’s extremely well worth learning, though.
I created a course on dictation for thought leaders, but I’m going to break down the basics for you here. We’ll talk about:
- the prep that makes the actual speaking part super easy
- the simple tech stack I use
- and the actual process of dictating fast drafts
This skill is especially useful for entrepreneurs, business owners, coaches, and anyone else who’s trying to write a book to grow their business—it really speeds up the process while preserving your actual voice!
Step One: Dictation Prep Work
Here’s the thing: when you’re typing, you can get away with making decisions on the fly. You can stop mid-sentence, scroll up, rethink your hook, open seventeen tabs, then come back and inch forward.
When you’re dictating, you don’t have that luxury.
Which is why you need to know where you’re going ahead of time, especially when you are first starting out and are still training your brain to write via speaking instead of typing.
Before I hit record for a longer session, I do two kinds of prep:
- Make the decisions about the container.
- Build a lightweight outline the content.
1) Make decisions about the container
When I say “container,” what I mean is:
- What am I creating? (Blog post, newsletter, chapter, LinkedIn post, etc.)
- What’s the topic, in one sentence?
- What’s the main takeaway?
- Who am I talking to? (Be specific)
- What do I want them to do or feel by the end?
- What’s the call to action?
Dictation is conversational by nature, so this part helps a ton—because instead of speaking into the void, you can imagine you’re talking to one specific person.
A lot of this work can be done once, then reused over and over again.
For example, if you’re dictating chapters of a book, you’ve already figured out the audience. Now you just need to know your big takeaways and call to actions for the specific piece you’re dictating in this session.
Same thing if you’re dictating a blog post or LinkedIn post for an audience that you are already familiar with.
Further reading: A Simple Nonfiction Book Writing System
2) Outline your talking points (nonfiction and fiction)
While you can absolutely use dictation as a way of musing through your thoughts and writing off the cuff, it’s much easier to get started learning how to dictate when you know specifically what you want to talk about.
That means creating an outline.
It doesn’t have to be fancy. It can be a scrappy list of bullets. But you want a path to follow so you can stay in flow.
Here’s what I usually include (nonfiction):
- How I’m starting (story, stat, problem, confession, question)
- The key points / steps in order
- Any supporting evidence I want to include (examples, mini case studies, research, “here’s what happened when I tried this…”)
- Stories I want to tell (just one-line reminders)
- My CTA
If you’re writing fiction, it’s the same principle—just a different flavor. You don’t necessarily need a detailed scene-by-scene outline for the whole book if that’s not your jam, but you do want to know what you’re dictating today:
- What scene am I in?
- What’s the goal / conflict?
- What changes by the end of the scene?
- What beats do I want to include, in what order?
You can absolutely “discover write” while dictating, but having at least a loose sense of direction makes your spoken draft cleaner. Which means way less cleanup later.
(BTW—I go deeper into how to get better at dictating off the cuff/discover writing in my Dictation for Thought Leaders course.)
Step 2: Tech Setup
There are a ton of dictation and transcription tools out there, but these are the ones I recommend.
My goal is to have a tool stack that I trust so completely that when I sit down for a 45-minute sprint, I’m not thinking about whether something is recording, whether the transcription will be a disaster, or whether my headphones will disconnect and give me a beautiful recording of… my pocket.
(Been there. Hate it.)
Here’s the setup I recommend (and use):
The minimum viable dictation tech setup
You can start dictating today with what you probably already have:
- A recording option that creates a sharable audio file (your phone + an app)
- One transcription method you trust
That’s it.
You do not need to buy a new microphone, or a bunch of apps, or build some elaborate workflow. Start simple, then upgrade based on what you actually need.
My setup, broken down by how I’m dictating
1) Quick notes + short bursts (seconds to a couple minutes)
When I’m capturing a spontaneous idea—an opening line, a quick hook, a paragraph—I often don’t even bother with a separate recording app.
I use Wispr Flow on my phone and dictate straight into a notes file (mine lives in Notion so it syncs to my computer automatically). It’s fast and simple.
(I’ve recently switched to Wispr Flow from the native voice to speech on my iPhone because it’s more accurate and less irritating. And that link is an affiliate link—it earns me a free month if you upgrade to Pro.)
2) Longer dictation sessions (10 minutes to an hour)
For anything longer than a quick note—especially if I’m walking, driving, or away from my desk—I do an audio recording first, then transcribe it.
My go-to recording app is:
- Just Press Record (iOS)
It’s simple, high quality, and it’s never failed me, which is honestly the main requirement. Also, it was a one-time purchase of $5, so that’s killer.
(If you’re on Android, the key is the same: choose something boring and reliable that records and shares audio files easily.)
If you’re using headphones to record the file, do a quick check to make sure it’s actually recording and not just getting pocket noise. Wired-in headphones often get you a clearer sound quality than Bluetooth.
I’ve had enough headphone malfunctions over the years that these days I just speak directly into my phone.
3) Dictating at your desk into your computer
Sometimes you want to dictate directly into your doc—emails, paragraphs, revisions, or even a full draft if you like editing as you go.
For that, I’m obsessed with:
- Wispr Flow (Mac/Windows/iPhone; affiliate link)
This is a new tool that came out in the last year or so, and I am absolutely head over heels in love.
It’s the first tool I’ve used that actually gave me what I wanted: smooth, accurate dictation directly into my computer without fighting the OS. It’s $15/month, but it saves me hours—so it’s absolutely worth it.
A free alternative if you want to test the habit and see if you like it is just voice typing into a Google Doc. It’s less accurate and way less flexible than Wispr Flow, but it’s a good way to practice.
And the OG standard for PC is Dragon NaturallySpeaking, though they no longer support that software on Mac, and it was frustrating AF back when I was trying to use it, anyway. If you’re going to pay for a dictation app on your computer, just get Wispr Flow.
4) Meetings, interviews, coaching calls
This is a different category than solo dictation, because you need speaker recognition, searchability, and a transcript that’s easy to navigate, edit, and (sometimes) share. But you might still find this handy, so here you are.
For capturing meetings, interviews, and coaching calls I use:
- Otter.ai
Otter is incredible for conversations. It can identify different speakers, it’s easy to edit inside the app, and it’s gotten good enough over time that I rarely need to correct much.
Plus you can record straight into the app in-person. Just set the phone on the table between you and it transcribes in real time.
Transcription: Two Tools I Trust
If you do longer sessions (especially walking dictations), having a quality transcription tool to run the audio file through afteward is key. Otherwise, you end up having to do so much cleanup it won’t save you any time.
I use two transcription tools depending on what I’m doing:
StorySpeak.ai for solo dictation (fiction and nonfiction)
This is my favorite tool for narrative-style transcription—anything where I’m talking through a chapter, blog post, essay, etc.
StorySpeak was built by a fiction-writer friend specifically for dictating fiction, but I use it for both fiction and nonfiction because it handles narrative speech beautifully.
Here’s why I love it:
- Phenomenal accuracy (better than anything else I’ve tried).
- Great with slow speaking + pauses. StorySpeak processes the audio before transcribing, which strips out those pauses and results in fewer weird errors and hallucinations.
- You can shape the prose as you speak. Just say things like “new paragraph” or “quote… unquote,” and it will format accordingly.
- Automatic find/replace rules. This is incredible for proper nouns (character names, place names, niche terms) that transcription tools love to mangle—and it’s useful for nonfiction too if you have recurring jargon.
Otter.ai for conversations
Otter is less ideal for slow solo dictation with pauses (it tends to break things up awkwardly and hallucinate during pauses), but as I mentioned, it’s awesome for interviews and meetings.
It makes sense for my business to pay for both transcription tools, but if you only want to pay for one tool I’d recommend StorySpeak.
HOWEVER. If you really want the conversational functionality of Otter, there’s a workable hybrid approach: transcribe in Otter, export as a single block of text, then run it through an AI cleanup prompt. I’ve tested that and it works surprisingly well.
I’m very particular about this: I don’t want the AI to “improve” my writing into something that sounds like a generic blog post. I just want it to:
- fix obvious transcription glitches
- smooth grammar/repetitions
- follow spoken formatting cues that Otter.ai ignores (like “new paragraph”)
- keep my voice intact
In Dictation for Thought Leaders, I include prompts you can use to clean up transcripts without rewriting them.
Audio Recording Quality Guidelines
You don’t need fancy gear, but a few basics matter:
- Do a quick test recording before a long session. Record 10 seconds, listen back to make sure the recording is actually capturing your voice, then commit. This one habit saves so much pain.
- Quiet space helps. Avoid echo, heavy wind, and constant background noise when you can.
- Be careful with headphones/Bluetooth. They can disconnect without you noticing (ask me how I know). I often just dictate directly into my phone now because it’s the most reliable.
- If you dictate at your desk a lot, a decent mic is worth it (I’ve used a Blue Yeti for years). It improves dictation and makes you sound better on calls.
Step 3: Talk it Out
This part is just what it sounds like:
Just talk you way through the draft. If you’re dictating nonfiction, speak the same way you’d explain an idea to a friend or teach it on a call. If you’re writing fiction, just tell yourself the story the same way you would if you were typing it up.
And I tend to dictate in one of two ways, depending on what I’m writing and what kind of day it is.
Option 1: Long dictation (record a file then transcribe)
Most of the time, this is my favorite.
I go for a long walk—or I lay in bed if it’s that kind of day—open my voice recorder app, and I literally tell myself the story, or talk through a blog post, or work out a nonfiction chapter out loud.
I do it in increments of about 30 minutes.
I tend to use this method when I need to get away from my computer or if I’m feeling kind of distracted. This kind of dictation forces you to keep going forward and doesn’t give you room to go wandering off on a Wikipedia rabbit hole.
This is why this method is so powerful for first drafts: it keeps me in story-brain (or teaching-brain), not editor-brain.
This is the mode that most reliably gets me to that “write 2000 words an hour” pace—because it eliminates the biggest speed killer: distractions.
Option 2: Desk dictation (Wispr Flow + light editing as I go)
The other way I dictate is at my computer, using Wispr Flow.
This is my “cleaner draft” mode—because I’m dictating directly into the document, I can:
- dictate a passage
- glance at it and quickly correct obvious weirdness
- revise if needed
- and keep going
It’s still waaay faster than typing, and the result is cleaner than a raw transcript from a full 30-minute audio recording because you’re tidying as you go.
But there’s a tradeoff: You don’t get the same protective bubble you get on a walk.
Because once you’re at your computer, you’re one click away from email, Slack, research tabs, your calendar, the file you meant to organize, and… suddenly you’re no longer drafting.
So when I use this mode, I usually do it intentionally:
- I set a timer
- I close everything except the doc
- I treat it like a sprint (not an “open-ended writing session”)
- And I’m careful not to slide into heavy editing, because that defeats the purpose
How I choose which mode to use
A rough rule of thumb:
- If I need momentum, if I’m stuck, or if I want to get a big chunk out fast → walk dictation.
- If I want the draft to be a bit tighter from the start or I’m working on a partially-written chapter → desk dictation.
Both get me to the same outcome: a fast, usable first draft.
The difference is what you’re optimizing for:
- Walk dictation optimizes for flow and speed.
- Desk dictation optimizes for cleanliness and control.
Step 4: Go Forth and Write 2000 Words an Hour!
That’s the whole process:
Prep →Talk it out →Transcribe →Cleanup and Revision →Draft done.
Dictation is a skill with a learning curve, for sure. But it is so worth learning. It’s completely rewired my brain. It’s made me a faster and more efficient writer, and it’s made writing feel more creative and energetic again.
And it’s also made me a healthier writer—physically and mentally—because I’m not glued to my computer every time I need to produce words.
Go forth and try it out!
And, if you want a deeper dive into my process, check out my Dictation for Thought Leaders course.