We humans love to talk. A lot. Most people are absolutely in love with the sound of their own voice—myself included, truth be told. So why not put this to good use in your writing project?

Depending on the source, the average woman speaks upwards of 20,000 words per day. Men, about 7,000. A typical first novel is usually about 60,000 words in length. Business and self-help books tend to be shorter, about 40,000 words.

This is great news for aspiring writers—women especially—and a great way to jumpstart the book writing process. Imagine completing a rough first draft in just three days by simply recording your story out loud. And if you don’t have three days to sequester yourself in a room with a microphone, you can easily break it down into smaller, manageable chunks of time. Even an hour a day will yield around 1,250 words, or about three type-written pages.

You don’t need fancy equipment either. A simple hand-held digital voice recorder can suffice. The are also dozens of smartphone apps (free and paid) that will record a variety of audio files which you can share with ease. Another option is to record and upload videos to a private account (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) and email a link to your transcriptionist.

Once recorded, you simply transcribe your content and you’re ready to begin the editing process. If you’re a slow typist like me, you can hire an individual or service to transcribe your recordings for you. Local want ads and Craigslist are great places to find affordable options.

So if the thought of writing a book a page at a time feels too daunting, consider using the power of your voice to speed up and streamline the process.