I’m writing this blog as I am working on a novel. As I am working on the novel I realize that I often reach for my phone. I do it mid sentence–usually when I am searching for a word or an idea or trying to figure out what is supposed to happen next. In truth, I left off the novel mid sentence to write this blog because the thought struck me so hard that I said: Yeah, I need to write this down.
I think I figured out how to write better and more focused. Over the years I’ve been building a sense of how my writing works and how to stay locked in during the process. Removing distractions is what people always say, but when you find yourself grabbing for your phone mid sentence it becomes clear how important that sentiment truly is.
Let me say this: I love writing. I love being deep into a story and finding out where it is going next. So, when I tell you I get distracted it is not about any lack of commitment but more of an understanding of the wandering mind–the process thereof–and how allowing for that time and space to wander can be a good thing AT THE RIGHT TIME. This is my theory. You need to provide yourself time to wander and explore and vegetate. Doing this will start to feel like it is a reward for the focus that you give yourself during the process. Reaching for that quick distraction or hit of dopamine from the phone is a bad look. I am pretty good at avoiding it ten minutes at a time, but anything beyond blog length becomes extremely difficult.
Here is what I suggest:
- Lose your phone while you work. You can take the call or surf the net later. Make sure to allow yourself a break every hour (or half hour until you can build up to an hour) so you can flip on the device and chill.
- Write somewhere that forces you to focus–but in a good way. Writers love coffee shops because you can block yourself off from the background noise by forcing yourself deeper into what you are working on. Also when you want to come up for air, there is always something interesting to grab your attention. This is less good at home where ignoring people around you generally means shutting out somebody you care about, which leads to bad things, man.
- Don’t research on the job. This is a tough one for me. I still do this, but only when it is particularly crucial to the truth of a scene. You shouldn’t be chasing down threads and theories while writing prose. Let the questions that build up in your mind about a thing become notes at the bottom of the page that you will look into on your break. Unless the answer determines how the seen moves forward, it can wait until later.
I am sure I will come up with more of these tasty tidbits, but for now, I’ve burned up all ten of my minutes…