Comments on: Staying Undistracted So You Can Write

By: Hannah

Hannah — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:32:03 +0000

My biggest time-waster is chatting. I belong to a streaming music site and can easily kill an entire evening gabbing with my online buds. I don’t dare even log on to listen when I’m working; I use my media player instead.

I’ve fallen prey to the Link Monster before too. Following links is fun but before I know it, I’ve ended up far, far away from whatever I wanted to look up in the first place.

By: jorgekafkazar

jorgekafkazar — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:45:45 +0000

I must admit (confess?) that I'm easily drawn off course by Internet links-to-links. The Internet giveth, and the Internet taketh away. I've used timers, but mostly I just get uncomfortable if I'm too long in any one place. I enjoy two or three sessions a day at stepchat.com, but try to limit my visit to 15 minutes each time. I've given up computer games altogether. No pay-back, there, so why waste time on them? I've dropped MySpace and am getting tired of Facebook's stupid quizzes and stuff. Yahoo Answers was interesting, but I rarely go there anymore. .-= jorgekafkazar´s last blog ..Tenirax, Ch V =-.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:38:10 +0000

lol, Lindsey, you’re not alone.

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 01:25:32 +0000

I think chatting online, whether via IM or Twitter, is a big time sink and it's one I've managed to avoid for the most part, but just the web in general can be a pretty big distraction. I can usually get the "money" writing done (blog posts), but as for my short stories, they often suffer from Internetitis. I'll log on to look up something like when steam engines were invented and pretty soon it's two hours later, and I haven't written another word. Lindsay’s last blog post..Review of Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind Program

By: admin

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:35:35 +0000

Scott, thanks for the software suggestions. I’ve been known to turn down my screen so I can’t see the words, just ghosts so I don’t overwrite much.

Devon, I’m with you and the phone… and the radio… silence seems to work best for me these days

By: Devon Ellington

Devon Ellington — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:41:39 +0000

I keep my phone off. I HATE the telephone, and if it interrupts me, I’m finished. I turn it off while I’m writing and check twice a day for relevant messages on breaks.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:35:48 +0000

I like Doctorow's advice for killing off your word processor. But I usually go one step further: I use a full-screen editor. It's literally a black screen with green text. There are several of them available, like WriteRoom, DarkRoom, JDarkRoom, and TextRoom. I literally take my laptop, sit in a quiet corner somewhere, turn off my wireless, and start typing. It's amazing how much you can write when you're tuned out.