10 ten-minute writing exercises to sharpen your skills and publish better content

Good writing skills make connecting with your audience easy, whether you’re producing copy for your website, setting up your sales pages, or crafting content for your email newsletter.

But becoming a better writer doesn’t require hours and hours of daily practice.

With a few quick (10-minute only!) writing exercises, you can improve your writing. And with better writing, you’ll become more confident in creating marketing content that achieves results.

This article shares ten of our favorite exercises to improve writing skills, help connect with your audience, and grow your creator business.

So sit back, sharpen your pencils, and you’ll be a pro before you know it!

What are writing skills?

Writing skills are a set of abilities that enable you to write in a logical, engaging, and persuasive manner.

While writing is a competency on its own, there are several elements you need to be skilled at to be a strong writer. Essential writing skills worth mastering include grammar, spelling, punctuation, coherence, and clarity of thought.

For example, a sentence that successfully communicates a message about your brand or product should contain proper grammar and correct spelling that doesn’t distract readers.

Using the right punctuation will ensure your message isn’t lost or misunderstood. For example, “Let’s eat, Grandpa!” and “Let’s eat Grandpa!” have two very different meanings!

Your writing will also be more impactful if it follows a coherent structure and your ideas are clearly expressed without too much meandering and wordiness.

Why should creators improve their writing skills with exercises?

Good writing helps persuade your audience. For example:

• An email subject line with a catchy hook convinces subscribers to open your emails
• Snappy copy convinces website visitors to buy your products
• Compelling email campaigns help drive sales

As a creator, we can’t think of anything you’d want more than seeing positive results from your writing. And creators do a lot of writing.

Here are some of the common ways writing shows up in your workflow:

• Creating landing pages: So much writing goes into creating a landing page, from attention-grabbing titles to descriptions and call-to-action buttons.
• Building sign-up forms: The copy on your opt-in forms can either draw readers in or put them off. It takes solid writing skills to craft engaging titles, precise descriptions, and enticing calls to action.
• Crafting newsletters: A great email newsletter catches subscribers’ attention from the click-worthy subject lines and keeps them reading with engaging personal content such as essays and how-to guides.
• Creating paid newsletters: When subscribers pay to read your thoughts in a paid newsletter, the bar is even higher for the quality of writing.
• Making lead magnets: Whether you’re creating a checklist, detailed guide, or cheat sheets, you’ll need strong writing skills to create snappy titles and valuable content in your lead magnets.
• Building email sequences and campaigns: To set your newsletters on autopilot with an evergreen email sequence or automated campaign, you’ll have to write the emails first.
• Creating digital products: Writing is an essential skill for producing digital products. Ebooks, email courses, product descriptions, and detailed descriptions of your product’s benefits all need to be written.
• Composing blog posts: No matter what kind of creator you are, if you have a blog, you’ll need good writing to create blog posts your audience can enjoy.
• Crafting social media posts: Social media can be a useful promotion channel, but all social media platforms demand some level of writing to share content successfully.

From practice to daily habit: 10 exercises for beginners and non-writers to polish their writing skills

Becoming a better writer doesn’t happen overnight—and it won’t happen without concerted effort. Writing exercises help keep your creative juices going and can keep writer’s block at bay.

Regardless of which exercises you decide to try, don’t give up if you can’t make them a perfectly consistent routine. Life happens. Forgive yourself and know that you can start again tomorrow.

Writing exercise #1: Free-write (a.k.a. brain dump)

If you struggle with getting your thoughts out of your head and onto paper, try freewriting (also known as brain dumping).

During freewriting, write everything you can think of about the topic. No stopping or erasing (no matter how incoherent you may think it sounds!).

It might seem like writing should tackle a profound truth or universal topic, but writing habits can be easy to start around an everyday topic that you know a lot about. For example, an industry, podcast, music genre, or show you’re a fan of.

This type of writing (especially in the form of niche newsletters) has become very popular. Business coach and Kit creator Niels Janszen says free-writing helps him write blog posts consistently for his business.

No restrictions, no retyping or critical thinking. Simply getting into the flow of writing about it. In case I get stuck or don’t feel inspired, I just hop to the next topic on my list and start writing there.

— Niels Janszen

What kind of content benefits from the free-writing practice?

This writing exercise helps you write long-form content with less effort. For example, brain-dumping can produce ideas for:

• Email sequences
• Email newsletters—especially in essay format
• Ebooks on a specific topic
• Long sales pages

Free-writing resources

You don’t need any fancy writing tools to start freewriting. There are a host of free writing tools and some paid options to start with:

• A good old pen and paper
• Your favorite word processor or note-taking tool like Evernote
• Apps like 750 Words (free) and Daily Page (paid)

After getting your thoughts out of your head onto the paper, you’ll feel much lighter, and you’ll have a document packed with ideas and potential phrases for your content.

Pro Tip: Keep your freewriting exercises stored somewhere so you can come back to them. You never know when you can snag a sentence or two from your writing to use in other pieces of content.

Writing exercise #2: Use prompts to get unstuck

If you’re trying to figure out ​​how to get over writer’s block, try writing prompts to help you get started.

Just like physical warm-ups prepare you for a sprint or marathon, writing prompts warm up your writing muscles. A good writing prompt will spark a memory, elicit an emotion, or bring to mind a strong opinion. It’s fuel to get your wheels spinning and the words flowing.

For example, this writing prompt might stir up a vivid memory from your childhood: “What’s a valuable lesson a school teacher taught you?”

What kind of content benefits from using prompts?

Writing prompts help you overcome writer’s block so you can start and finish the copy that’s been making a home in the back of your mind. Use prompts for generating:

• Social media captions for multiple platforms
• Blog posts
• Editions of your email newsletter
• Landing and sales pages

Resources for prompts

You can find free writing prompts on:

• Tumblr
• Writing prompt generators
• Daily writing prompts
• Reddit

Each prompt—usually a sentence or two—can give you ideas and direct your writing.

Pro Tip: Sometimes, writing prompts can initially lead to free-writing about abstract ideas unrelated to your work. Following the prompt, regardless, will warm up your brain and make it easier to get into work mode eventually.

Writing exercise #3: Roll-a-story

Storytelling is an incredibly effective business technique to draw your audience in and nudge them towards converting to leads or sales. You can use stories to foster deeper connections with your audience and make your product more memorable.

What kind of content benefits from the roll-a-story practice?

This practice helps you develop stories to engage your audience and keep them interested in your offerings. You can then use these stories when writing:

• Sales pages: For example, coaches can benefit from sharing their stories or stories of past clients to convince leads to commit.
• Email newsletters: Sharing stories in your newsletter builds intimacy with your audience and fosters engagement.

Roll-a-story resources

If you haven’t written a story since the third grade, you might not know how to start. Luckily, if you have some dice, you can use the prompts on this website.

You can also search for “roll a story” on Google to come up with different legends.

Pro Tip: As you write more stories—and put yourself in the shoes of more characters—you’ll develop empathy, a skill every creator needs to truly understand their audience.

Writing exercise #4: Jot down a beginners guide on your passion

As a creator, your job is to excite your audience about your offers, not intimidate and confuse them. To prevent your audience from tuning you out, make sure your copy explains your offerings in a way that’s easy to understand.

To practice writing simple copy, spend ten minutes a day crafting a beginner’s guide breaking down a topic you’re intimately familiar with. Write your guide for someone who has no experience with the topic at hand.

If writing an entire guide seems intimidating, write something smaller, like mock social media posts.

Fashion blogger and Kit creator Maria Juvakka, says:

If you are not ready to write [longform copy] just yet, then social media [posts] are a great starting point. Social Media posts are short, therefore, you learn how to get your point across with minimal character and word targets.

— Maria Juvakka

What kind of content benefits from the writing a guide exercise?

Any kind of content that requires simplifying complex ideas into digestible pieces of information will benefit from this practice. This includes:

• Lead magnet creation
• Building an email sequence or course
• Writing ebooks to explain a concept or process

Pro Tip: Have a friend or family member review your guide so they can tell you if they understand the concept you’re trying to explain by the end of reading it.

Writing exercise #5: Write with random words

For this creative writing exercise, use this random word generator and generate 10-15 words. Begin freewriting and include all the words from the generator. The more you do this writing drill, the more new words you’ll learn.

Gregg Hinthorn, editor and content creator, gives writing tips to nearly half a million TikTok followers. He notes that when you have better words, you have better communication:

Words have precise meanings. Knowing those meanings allows the writer to more accurately convey a thought.

— Gregg Hinthorn

What kind of content benefits from this practice?

This exercise helps expand your vocabulary for colorful and precise writing, which can be super handy for creating:

• Landing pages
• Email newsletters
• Email sequences

Write with random words resources

For this exercise, you can use a couple of tools:

• Random word generator (free)
• A dictionary: Flip to three random pages and pick random words to try out.

Pro Tip: While learning new words improves your writing, Gregg also cautions to be selective about the words you use so as to not alienate your audience through words they might not know.

Writing exercise #6: Compose letters to different people

Your subscribers’ inboxes are bursting with emails. If you want to make sure your newsletter stands out, make it personable. What better way to do so than to pretend you’re writing to your closest pals?

For this quick writing exercise, pick someone who you’re close to, like:

• Your past self
• A close friend
• A relative

And write a letter to them (no need to mail it).

Writing letters to people you’re comfortable and close with helps you get familiar with personable writing so it can shine through in your email newsletters. When your audience enjoys your content, you’ll have an easier time promoting your offerings and making a living through your email list.

What kind of content benefits from the composing letters practice?

This writing exercise particularly helps you write engaging and delightful email newsletters.

Pro Tip: Keep all the letters you write. You can come back to them and use phrases for newsletter content.

Writing exercise #7: Write about your day

Your readers are busy and need you to get straight to the point. So, learning to prune down your writing to contain only the key points is a valuable skill.

Also, with website copywriting, you’re limited to fewer words, so making them count is vital.

Brevity and clarity are your friends. These concepts will make your writing more enjoyable to read and make your readers more likely to read your content (and make it to your call to action).

To practice pruning your prose, write about your day. A lot of things happen during the day, but not everything that happens is worth sharing.

What kind of content benefits from the writing about your day exercise?

This writing exercise helps you to be direct and extract key ideas. This is useful when writing:

• Email sequences
• Opt-in forms with minimal space for lengthy text

Pro Tip: For this writing exercise, only write down what’s important. And after you write about your day, go back and see if there are any other points you can eliminate.

Writing exercise #8: Rewrite email subject lines (or headlines)

For this writing exercise, head into your inbox; it’s a goldmine of inspiration. Rewrite and improve subject lines from your favorite brands.

What kind of content benefits from the rewriting of subject lines practice?

This writing exercise helps you to craft highly clickable subject lines, which comes in handy for writing:

• Email subject lines
• Opt-in forms headlines
• Landing page headlines

Rewrite subject line resources

For more practice with crafting better subject lines, you can use:

• Subject Line Tester
• ChatGPT for some rewriting inspiration

Pro Tip: Don’t forget when you use Kit, you can A/B test two subject lines, helping you figure out the most click-worthy one for every newsletter you send.

Writing exercise #9: Practice turning product features into benefits

Product features are a yawn, and they don’t evoke emotion in the same way the benefits do.

To liven up your writing and write wildly convincing copy, turn product features into customer benefits.

For this writing exercise, take a look around and pick a product. Start listing out all the features. Then, turn each feature into a benefit.

When working out the benefits, ask yourself, “Why would someone care about this?”

What kind of content benefits from this practice?

This writing exercise helps you write copy that converts for your:

• Sales pages
• Landing pages

Turning features to benefits resources

Let’s look at a quick example about an exercise bike to get you started:

Writing exercise #10: Rewrite and edit past work

Every professional writer will tell you their first draft is anything but memorable; the real magic happens through editing.

Not sure what to look for beyond basic spelling and grammar? Follow these tips:

• Use implicit analogies in moderation
• Replace negative phrases with positive ones
• Read your work aloud for any off-sounding sentences
• Remove phrases like “for example” and “in other words”
• Replace adverbs with descriptive verbs

What kind of content benefits from the rewriting of past work exercise?

This writing exercise helps you polish your writing and understand your weaknesses as a budding writer. This is useful for all kinds of writing, but especially long-form writing such as:

• Email newsletters
• Email sequences
• Sales pages

Pro Tip: You’ll notice your strengths and weaknesses as you edit more of your work. Take note and find the appropriate writing exercise to help you improve your weaker areas.

How to get over writer’s block (+ maintain your writing routine)

Sometimes, it can feel like your well of inspiration has dried up. But unfortunately, you can’t afford to let writer’s block hold you down as a creator who needs to write to help earn a living.

Here are eleven tried-and-true strategies for keeping up an effective writing routine.

1. Know when you work best

If you set up a designated time in the day to write and stick to your schedule, after a while, your brain will know it’s time to get down to business. You just need to choose a time when you work best.

2. Set deadlines and keep them

If you’ve set up your year-long content calendar, you know what you need to write and when it needs to be done far in advance. Keep yourself accountable as you would a work colleague.

3. Free-write

Use the free-writing exercises we recommended (or any others you can find online) to do a brain dump when you feel your thoughts are speeding by.

4. Try writing prompts

Writing prompts spark your imagination and get your mind spinning. You can use our resources to find prompts that get you going.

5. Change your environment

If you’re feeling stuck, moving to a new workspace can be just what you need to trick your brain. This can be as simple as moving to a new room or workspace, rearranging your desk, or moving to a different place in the room.

6. Edit later

Every sentence you write doesn’t have to immediately be 100% perfect. So, write now. Get every idea you have on the paper. Flesh those ideas out as best as you can, and go back to edit later.

7. Give your brain a break

If you’re feeling blocked with your writing, it could be a result of having a stressful day, feeling insecure, or perceiving a lack of time. To stay fresh and excited about your work, take care of yourself by occasionally stepping away from it.

8. Take a walk

One study found that walking strongly affected creative production, whether indoors or out. In other words, taking a walk can seriously boost your creative output, including your writing.

9. Participate in a writing challenge

Having external accountability can help you stick to habits and reach your goals. Here are some writing challenges worth trying.

• Ship 30 for 30 is a paid community of more than 100 writers completing a challenge to write one “atomic” (under 250 words) essay per day. It costs $199 to join, and the paid aspect may increase accountability.
• NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is a free annual writing challenge that encourages creators to complete 50,000 words (the minimum word count to qualify a novel) during the month of November. It’s great for creators looking for a creative writing outlet that ends with a finished (or close to finished) piece.

10. Join an online writing community

A writing community can help keep you motivated to maintain your daily writing habits, and it may even push you to create better work.

• The Write Life Community Facebook group: This is a free, casual, and active group with more than 27,000 members and is geared toward providing plot/character development help for fiction works or tips for getting published.
• Critique Circle: This group is free with premium subscription options. It’s designed to have writers provide critique to each other through their writing process.
• The Insecure Writer’s Support Group: This is a unique blogging community designed to allow writers to “express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak.”

11. Use apps

Technology can be super helpful if you can’t figure out how to make a habit stick. Here are a few apps you can try:

Streaks: This is an iOS habit-tracking app also available for Mac. The universal app costs $4.99.

• Works on all Apple devices
• Can track a variety of habits
• Available in over 10 languages

HabitNow: This is an Android app that works just as well as Streaks. The premium version costs $9.99.

• Track up to seven habits on the free plan, unlimited on Premium
• Keep track of your statistics to stay motivated
• Great UX

Share your writing daily and build an audience with these tips

The first step to building an audience through your writing is to share it. Here are some tips to help you share more effectively:

Identify a niche for your writing: Being known for one topic, style of writing, or medium makes it easier to gain traction with a particular audience.

Write on a public platform: Instead of writing privately in a journal, take advantage of the built-in audiences of public platforms like Medium, Tumblr, and Quora.

Share your writing on social media: Social media platforms can be ideal avenues for finding new people to share your writing with. Even more visual platforms can be used to grow a writing audience. For inspiration, check out poet and writer Kate Baer, who shares her work on Instagram and has grown her account to 206k followers:

Becoming a better writer

The best way to become a better writer is to make writing a daily habit. These writing exercises are quick, enjoyable, and practical at only ten minutes every day.

Put these short writing exercises to good use and start your email newsletter using Kit! Sign up for your free account today!