Pay No Attention To Shiny Objects

Dana Kaye

 

Distractions are inevitable, no matter what you do for a living. But I find that writers, in particular, are easily distracted.

They take a quick Facebook break that soon leads into a Twitter break, blog break, and a break to check their Amazon ranking for the third time that day. (You know who you are!)

They answer e-mails from fans, take calls from their agent, call their publicist and ask why they haven’t been on Oprah yet. (You know who you are!)

They do a load of laundry or unload the dishwasher or mow the lawn or research their next family vacation.

Many writers will take any excuse to do something other than write. But whether you’re a published author writing on contract or an aspiring novelist working towards publication, writing is your job, and it has to get done.

Ten Easy Ways to Stay On Task:

1. Disable internet or write longhand. Then, you’re less likely to get distracted by emails and social media sites.

2. Disable the phone or turn the ringer down. 9 times out of 10, it isn’t an emergency. If you have a smart phone, turn off your e-mail alerts or set up an automatic response.

3. Set aside an area of the house where you only write. If you have a spare room, set it up as your office. If space is limited, designate a certain chair or desk to be writing only. That way, you’ll compartmentalize your tasks so when you sit down, you know it’s writing time.

4. Head out to a café and work there. It’s a lot easier not to get distracted by chores when you can’t see what needs to be done.

5. Set a time each day dedicated to writing. If you have a set writing time, you won’t schedule appointments or other obligations during that time and your friends and family will know not to bother you.

6. Have everything you need to write before you sit down: thesaurus, previous chapters, your notebook, etc. Getting up to retrieve materials or research something is the easiest way to get off track.

7. If you get stuck in the writing, don’t let yourself walk away from the computer. Skip ahead to the next scene taking your attention and go from there. You can fill in the blanks later.

8. It’s easy to get caught up in revision. You’ll sit down at the computer, begin revising old scenes, and before you know it, the day is gone and you didn’t write anything new. Limit your revision time to ensure you move your story forward each day.

9. Timers are your friend. If you break for lunch, set a timer to indicate when it’s time to get back to work. If you had a real job, you wouldn’t be taking hour-long lunches.

10.  Give yourself goals throughout the writing day. If you write for word count, try to give yourself rewards for reaching word count milestones. Whether it’s as small as you won’t have the second cup of coffee before 500 words or taking yourself out to dinner if you reach 3k in one day, having small milestones along the way makes it easier to stay on task.

Feel free to leave other suggestions or tips to avoid distraction. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I just saw something shiny…

Comments

[Katie]

Thanks for the great post - I shared it with the readers of my dissertation writing blog.

[Mary]

Great post. I think I'll frame it above my desk.
Maribeth
Giggles and Guns

[Benjamin L Clark]

Another hint: Try a type-writer. No Internet, and the clackity-clack is insanely satisfying. Spanking the smack out the sterile white page as you go go go. I picked up a not so huge electric model at a recent church garage sale with a new ribbon for $3. Pretty shocking how lazy a typist I'd become.

[Melissa]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm printing this out and posting it above my desk: it's just what I needed to read today!

[Jane Rutherford]

It's like that little joke I tell my friends. "I'm all ready to take over the world. I just need to finish... oh shiny!" *heavysigh* If it continues like that somebody will steal my world domination plans :/

[allison]

Thanks. My new mantra came from Michael Connolly: He spends 15 minutes a day no matter what to "stay in the book" -- 100 words a day. That goal is so doable that I make myself do it before I go to bed (ok, here I am following your link from Twitter) and I am actually making progress on the edits.