Seeking advice: Writing skills and workspaces
Yesterday, I set a personal deadline: If I haven’t started writing more “S.I.” by Canada Day, then I’m going to start writing up the fast-finish version of the plotline to at least tie up the story and stop having it hanging over me.
Never underestimate the power of precommitment.
Now that I’ve started thinking in terms of my writing more of SI as a simple fact, I’ve realized that, due to complicated/personal/private home-life stuff, in order to actually have a reasonable chance of even writing the short ending, I need a new low-distraction work-space, and nowhere in my home is suitable. The most likely candidates are my local public library when it’s open (Tue-Sat, 10am-5/6/9pm), and, elsewhen, a particular local coffee-shop with a customer-available power outlet. And, in fact, my not noticing the lack of a suitable low-noise typing location may have induced an ugh field that kept me from even trying to catch up with suggestions and comments to SI even as my depressive episode has waned.
It occurs to me that there may be further options I’m not considering; and that there may even be other aspects to the process of writing which could be hindering my progress. And so, I come here, to inquire of the local hivemind: What advice can you offer?
For example, I currently have two and a half devices to type with: A Thinkpad laptop, an iPhone with a touchscreen keyboard, and an iPhone with a (folding) full-size Bluetooth keyboard. Should I look into some other input device?
Or: Is there some aspect of nutrition or hydration that I should pay more attention to?
Or: How significant is the audio environment? Should I pick a particular soundscape or playlist and hook up the headphones, or would there be minimal effect compared to a library’s shuffling or coffeeshop’s satellite radio?
Or: Would turning off my connection to the internet, save when I’m looking up some reference, be useful or annoying?
A crazy idea: Take some sound recording device, walk for an hour in a forest an tell the story to the device. At home, rewrite the recording to text.
Why? At the forest you will have no distraction, and at home, the distraction will have smaller impact on transcribing than it would have on thinking plus writing. Also the impossibility of editing on the sound recorder will make you move forward faster. You can edit later (you should anyway).
There’s an App called “Rev” where you can get it transcribed very cheaply.
I can’t necessarily provide specific advice, but what you need to analyse is:
1. Where are the barriers to starting, how can you lower these.
Many people don’t even get to the doing part, they put off starting a task. By making it easier to start it makes it easier to write for a few hours.
I.e. I have (personally) tried a bluetooth sliding keyboard, found pressing the keys to be awful, purchased a stand-alone bluetooth keyboard that works with my phone because it was much nicer to use. (don’t let “waiting for the new keyboard to arrive” be an excuse)
You may find that you get hungry/thirsty after a while of writing; and thats the biggest thing stopping you, consider having available food/drink.
2. what are the major distractions that you can get rid of, or would like to work around.
You have identified sound and internet already. but you might need a comfortable chair too, or a light enough workspace so that you dont fall asleep, Or to pay the bills you keep putting off because they won’t leave your head enough to let you think of the story.
Consider also making a list of things to do after writing, then leaving it in your way away from the computer so that when you are done with writing you can get straight onto that list, but while you are writing it won’t matter to you because its written down somewhere.
Some people are distracted by sound, some people are distracted by mess, some are distracted by having books around in the library. It really depends what is distracting you and whether the “distance and time to the library” is worth it (it might be). Or also “the house is too mess and so I am going out” might be more easy than staying home.
3. is it in your diary/calendar?
Regularly marking time out to do X will help it actually happen. trying to fit it around other things, especially a long standing project without the same new project motivation is going to be difficult to convince yourself to start X today
I assume you already have a plan. (the plot thing) So “knowing where you are going” is covered.
You may not need to fully disable the internet, an option that seems to work for some will range from any kind of serviceblocker (i.e. facebook limiter program) to the cat5 plug across the room. by raising the barrier to starting the internet and getting down a distracted path you lower the chance you will do it unless you really really need to.
Also having good check-habits will help. i.e. whenever you leave the computer you make sure the internet is off; so when you come back you can start with writing specifically, rather than starting with facebook.
Something like a word-count written in big somewhere (whiteboard, on the door, on the ceiling above your bed) might help you feel like the progress is serious and relevant. (word count may not be your goal, rather plot milestones, some kind of indicator to yourself)
Consider time tracking—i.e. rescuetime. It has a pretty useful free version for keeping track of if you are genuinely using the word processor and/or knowing what you are mostly using as a distraction/largest chunks of time abuse.
How many hours do you think you have left of the project? Then divide this up by the number of weeks left.
If these have helped I probably have a few more.
I’m planning on not, either in the specific case or in general. (Which is why I went for my precommitment yesterday.)
(In case you’re curious, my external keyboard is the one shown at http://www.dx.com/p/convenient-69-key-wireless-bluetooth-folding-keyboard-for-tablet-pc-smartphone-black-303707 ; fits in a pocket, allows full-speed touch-typing.)
I’ve already got my backpack ready for my first writing-focused trip to the library, come Tuesday: my preferred carbonated water and granola bars (which I should be able to have despite the usual no-food-or-drink policies of that library, as long as I’m reasonably discreet about it). If Soylent 1.4+ ever starts shipping to Canada, I might try that instead.
… Oddly enough, about a month ago I started thinking about replacing my current chair with a new one, maybe a recliner. This moves the idea up another notch or three on the priority list.
At the moment, the main place I have at home where I can set up to write is my living room, in my Sheldon-like spot, where my roommate is usually working on their own projects, and/or listening to the radio and/or watching TV and/or trying to socialize with me and otherwise keep me from entering a flow state. It’s infeasible for me to carve out a new workspace within the next few months, so as long as I can go somewhere where I don’t have to worry about being talked at and around and with flickering images in my field of view, I should be able to manage. If I had better batteries for my laptop, a park bench would do; I might try that with my phone, just because I’ve now thought of it. Having excess books around is more of a help than a hindrance (which it should be, as even without the internet, I have several gigabytes of ebooks on my laptop at any given time).
I go for miles-long walks daily. Won’t be a problem aiming some portion of those walks to and from the library.
This has potential. Once I’ve found out if the library is the best spot, or I pick a different location, I can make it a regular thing.
Maybe I can fiddle with the laptop’s settings, so it doesn’t automatically connect to the library’s wifi.
An addition—I can have my writing software automatically start when the laptop boots.
Hunh. That was fast.
http://blog.soylent.com/post/121573571522/now-shipping-to-canada
I like your approaches, and would like to see whatever other related thoughts you can share.
(Or: “Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.”)
(Warning: I picked the highest value/return things to mention first, after this its kinda diminishing returns)
Briefly because it was mentioned:
People can be distracting.
time of day (linked to scheduling)
noises (but also other sensory perceptions)
Time of day: I know someone who does his weightlifting before breakfast; breakfast being the reward, but also fixing the task into a time-of-day occurrence. (If breakfast is something you do every day) - because breakfast is something you do every day, by doing something just before or just after breakfast, its easy to build a habit of the new task linking to the old task.
notepad next to bed: depending on how you use your bed; keeping a notepad/pencil/writing implement there will help you write things down if they spring to mind.
notepad next to toilet: similar point. its better to notepad than facebook on the loo. (or actually maybe it isn’t. Make that choice.)
notepad on top of tv remote: similar, but also reminds you that you would rather be writing than watching tv (most of the time. When you really want to watch tv, a notepad won’t stop you. But it will help you when you only kinda want to watch tv because you have nothing better to do)
other sensory distractions: this is a point on distractions again, but a reminder to think of all your senses. You have already noted a few;
TV or people in your vision, (I mentioned adequate light), if you are going to a park, be aware that finding a place without sun on your screen might be tricky.
Sounds, (well covered elsewhere)
Touch—your clothes might be more/less comfortable or distracting on different days, and different clothing similarly might be more/less distracting. A different type of chair might be more comfortable, made of a warmer material (i.e. plastic not metal)
Smell—delicious coffee shop smell is probably not helpful to your focus, but it might be helpful for that written imagery. (point is—consider it, decide if it matters to you)
Taste—simple food, new food, complex foods, distracting foods. (well maybe, again—consider if it matters)
Spicy food, or too much food (relevant also to quality of sleep) if something is likely to distract your stomach, be aware of it, and consider avoiding it, that will probably also distract your mind.
hot/cold environment. You probably have a temperature that you find most-nice, or a range of temperatures that you can work well in. try to work in places within that temperature range. Also try not to be fooled when you think you are writing really well in one kind of weather but don’t seem to have produced as much as in a different kind of weather. Brains can be sneaky like that. lets go out to the park even though we work better inside. Also consider the weather at this time of year where you are.
Your environment changes; take as much control over it as is worthwhile.
Warning: don’t take the fun out of it. If you find that you seem to write the most when inside a plain white room with bland food and bright light on you. Doesn’t mean you should do it. You may just end up deciding that writing is not something that you want to do. This project is something you want to do; and hard work is by definition—not easy. You can lower barriers in some places, but you can’t actually make hard into easy.
Its impossible to make yourself do something that you don’t want to do. On some level—i.e. long-term goal you want to get it done, but on a short-term level, playing with this cat is what you are doing right now, also its pretty satisfying.
The way to convince yourself that the long term goal is more important than the short term reward is to make it more relevant. The reason we don’t go straight for the long term goals is they are harder to understand for a simple primate brain. Find a way to measure the short-term progress as a clear growth towards the long term goal. Find a way to tell your brain that the long term goal is also obtainable right here and now. Or the progress towards the long term goal is actually worth more than the kittens in front of you today. Simple measures include wordcount; progress on the plotline; you understand your goal better than I do—but make an everyday version of “the long term plan” so that you can work towards that, instead of waking up every day wondering if you are actually closer or not.
Make the story fun! If the process of writing is a chore, you will not be happy about spending hours and hours on it. Consider—how can you make this more fun? (I can’t suggest much here—but try not to be too distracted by having fun)
Make yourself a writing buddy. accountability buddy to check in every few days and make sure you are making progress. Its quite easy to lie to yourself. I have seen it done, but its harder to lie to someone else as well.
Join a local group about it. you are not alone. its fun to meet people; and it could give you more ideas. If you can’t find one; make one. I solemnly swear to show up at this time and place to write things for a few hours even if no one else comes along to also write things at this time and place with me.
Reward yourself for doing it? (benefits and disadvantages of this) by rewarding yourself you may trick yourself into doing more of it; but on the other hand it should be its own intrinsic reward; by creating an outside reward you limit yourself to external rewards. take the external reward away and you may lose motivation.
There may be more points but they exist inside my disorganised mind. Will try to get them onto another post in the next few days if I find them.
For me, having people around is quite distracting, so I wouldn’t do the coffee-shop, nor the library unless it is severely underused. If I couldn’t write at home I’d consider a car parked somewhere rural and invest in a thing or two with good batteries.
Time of day makes a large difference for many people. I’m most productive late when I’m somewhat tired, others like to write before breakfast. If the difference is similarly significant for you, your personal optimum should be easy to find.
I’m not sure about ‘severely’, but I’m pretty sure it still has worktables (if not the desks with vision-blocking walls it used to, a piece of furniture I’m now realizing I don’t know a name for) along the edges with minimal traffic.
In my previous coffee-shop writing endeavours, I managed to reduce said distractions by going in the evenings when there were few people, plus throwing something instrumental on some earbuds.
A thought I hadn’t considered, and should. Which is exactly the sort of thing I started this thread to evoke. :)
There are people purposefully travelling to no-Internet locations to get things done. Aso Chrome Nanny etc. are popular. I would say it is probably far more useful than annoying.
Regarding the audio environment: you’re combating the irrelevant speech effect. Shuffling and instrumental music are bad; people talking and vocal music are worse. A good bet is industrial-grade earmuffs + earbuds (possibly noise-isolating) playing white noise.
Regarding turning off the internet: experiment. I find it annoying and a hindrance, but I know that it’s wildly helpful for other people.
Did you mean ‘people talking and vocal music are worse’?
I have an app for that. Phone batteries are a precious resource, so maybe I should look for some white-noise MP3s for the laptop.
Anker (www.ianker.com) or other phone battery block for effectively endless phone battery (just really long between needing charge). I have a 12000mAh charger that I find difficult to beat in wake-vs-sleep time. (if it charges when I sleep, it usually is full by when I wake) for comparison your phone battery is probably between 3000mAh and 5000mAh. http://www.gsmarena.com/ to check the size of your native battery.
Oops. I did, in fact, mean vocal music. Fixed and thank you.
Does this qualify as one? You could weasel out of the decision and find excuses, IMHO precommitment means putting yourself in a situation where you suffer an unavoidable cost if you don’t do what you decided to.