How I Write Long-Form Substack Articles in 45 Minutes

Writing fast is a cheat code to build your audience faster

Quick note: I'm writing these articles daily and streaming my writing session live on YouTube. Feel free to join at 7 PM PST (daily) or catch the replay on this link

Most people spend hours writing what could've taken 45 minutes-if they had a system.

They blame "perfectionism" or "writer's block" but really?

They're just flailing in a process they never built.

Here's how I crank out full-length, high-quality Substack articles in under an hour--without burning out (or sounding like a robot.)

Learn how to say 1 thing in 1,000 different ways

Every piece of content is just a collection of ideas.

And for ideas to actually stick, you've got to repeat them. Again. And again. And again.

Not word-for-word--but through different:

• Angles

• Formats

• & tones until it finally clicks for someone.

At first, this felt wrong.

I thought that as soon as I'd talk about something, I couldn't talk about it again for 6 months, or people would notice and tune out.

But then I realized that no one's keeping track.

People forget what they read. They scroll right past. They weren't following you last month. I mean, you probably forgot what you posted last week. (I certainly do.)

So start being comfortable talking about the same thing in different ways.

Same core idea. Different wrapper. Different angle. Different entry points into the reader's brain

The beauty of this? You don't waste energy trying to come up with something "brand new" every time.

Repeat yourself.

Stop losing your best ideas

I write my articles at 6a in the morning.

Problem: Ideas don't show up when I sit down at 6a to write.

They show up when I'm showering, walking, zoning out in traffic, or half-listening to a YouTube video before taking a nap. Basically, anytime my brain's wandering, not sitting in front of my Macbook Air.

But if you don't catch the idea right then, it's gone. Doesn't matter how good it was. Doesn't matter how confident you were that you'd "definitely remember it later." You just won't.

I've lost hundreds of ideas that way.

That's why I built a dead-simple capture system. On my iPhone 13, I've got a shortcut that tags every note with "content ideas." I use it multiple times a day. Doesn't matter if it's half-baked or out of context.

Zero friction. Two taps, saved.

Sometimes also use voice-to-text with an app called Letterly. I'll just ramble for 5 minutes while walking. With one tap, it polishes the text and I either turn this into an email or an article.

The goal here isn't to write. It's to catch. Writing comes later. First, you need to trap the spark before it floats away.

I never start with a blank page anymore.

Why? Because I have over 1,231 ideas sitting in my notes, waiting to be lit up.

Stop giving yourself too many choices

Winging it is cute--until you waste 45 minutes just deciding what to write about.

On the first day of starting this Substack Sprint, I already came up with 10 to 15 ideas that I saved into my notes (remember last section?)

The problem: I was overthinking what topic to pick.

So what I did is I took 7 minutes to actually map out my topics for the next 15 days. That way, I'm forced to write about whatever I decide in advance.

It's like meal prepping but for your brain. You don't open the fridge at 7PM hoping for inspiration--you already cooked.

Having pre-decided topics kills 90% of the friction. I don't have to "feel inspired." I just execute.

But doesn't this kill creativity?

Nope. Constraints create speed. Knowing what you're going to write about before you write gives you a head start. It shuts down that indecisive voice that wants to bounce between five ideas and write none of them.

That way you can redirect all your creative juices to the outline and actually writing the piece.

If you're wasting time "feeling it out" every morning, you're not writing--you're stalling.

Use a content brain

Your brain is for having ideas, not for storing them.

That's why I'm using a content brain. Mine lives in Obsidian. It's where I dump all my notes, thoughts, and content.

But more importantly--it's where I connect everything.

Most people hoard notes like digital squirrels. They save a bunch of stuff and never look at it again. That's not a content brain. That's an idea graveyard.

The real magic happens when you start linking ideas. One note sparks another. Patterns emerge. You don't just have random thoughts--you have a network of thoughts. That's how you go from "I don't know what to write" to "Oh, I've got five different ways to tackle this."

When I sit down to write, I'm not starting from scratch.

I open Obsidian, search a keyword, and boom--there's a rabbit hole of ideas I've already explored. I just pick what's relevant and pull the thread.

Writing becomes 10x faster when the ideas are already sitting there, waiting for you.

Never start writing without this

In my first years writing online, I used to dive straight into writing, thinking I'd figure it out as I went.

Big mistake. Every time, I'd end up buried in a thousand messy thoughts.

No structure, no flow, just vibes and frustration. Editing was a nightmare.

Then I started outlining first.

Nothing fancy--just 3 to 7 bullet points and the core idea I want to hit. It's like laying out the clothes before you pack. Way easier to spot what fits and what doesn't.

When you outline, you shift from "What should I write?" to "How do I say this clearly?" That's a huge difference. It cuts the mental clutter. It kills the guesswork.

Outlining also makes editing easier. You've got a clear skeleton. You're not hacking away blindly at 1,200 tangled words. You know where the fat is, so you can trim it.

(It also makes the piece easy to read for your reader, too.)

If you skip the outline, you're prepping for chaos.

Draft with AI

Most people who use AI to write articles are stupid.

They think that some magical prompt they found in a notion template will help them write good content fast.

But all they do is spam their internet with garbage nobody wants to read.

I've written over 500,000 words with AI, and every single one of them started with my thoughts, my structure, and my angle.

I also proofread every single word of it.

I've built prompts that take my outline and turn it into something I can actually work with.

Not perfect. Not publish-ready. But enough to get past the blank page. That's the real win here.

The reason why I use AI is because the hardest part of writing is the first draft.

And look, I still rewrite. A lot.

So no, I don't let AI do the thinking for me. I let it speed up what I already want to say.

Huge difference.

90% of good writing goes back to this

Mark Manson says that 90% of good writing is good editing.

And if your final piece looks like your first draft, it probably sucks. AI or no AI. Doesn't matter how clean it looks--first drafts are liars.

Now that I use AI to draft, I move faster. But that doesn't mean I hit publish and close my Macbook Air.

I spend more time editing than writing.

Why? Because editing is where you strip away the fluff. Kill the clichés. Sharpen the punchlines. Make sure every sentence actually says something. Weave in personal stories. Add specific details.

Before, I'd waste hours agonizing over a blank page. Now, after the first Ai draft, I attack it with a red pen and no mercy. I cut half of it. Move things around until it actually sounds like me.

Editing > Writing.

Stop Whining and Start Writing

Everyone's "busy," everyone's "stuck," and no one's publishing.

Boo-hoo.

The system is here.

So now stop complaining, and start writing.

Because there are people out there who want to read from you every day.