There’s a dirty little secret shared by many aspiring writers – certainly by me, and maybe by you too. It’s so embarrassing that hardly anyone admits to it or takes proper steps to overcome it. And that’s a shame, because it’s the thing that gets in the way of writing success more than anything else. Let me tell you what that thing is … It’s distraction.
How many of us have declared ourselves sufferers from writer’s block when what we’re really suffering from is social media addiction. Who hasn’t, at some point, persuaded themselves that they’re researching a subject for their novel when what they’re really doing is disappearing down a rabbit hole of Web links?
Writing on an Internet-ready device is like trying to complete your tax return on the beach. The work just isn’t going to get done.
A couple of solutions are often suggested. The first involves installing software that blocks problem websites such as social media. However, my experience has been that Web developers have found clever ways of preventing you from blocking several particularly addictive sites, including Facebook. The software is also quite expensive in some cases. The second solution that is often suggested involves using a typewriter of some kind. But realistically that’s not possible for most people – and of course sometimes you do legitimately need Internet access while writing.
So, allow me to share three strategies that have really worked for me in overcoming distraction while remaining online.
- Share your Web surfing history with someone else at the end of every day. This works best if the sharing is mutual, if you really care what the other person thinks of you and if the other person has a strong interest in your success. I share with my wife.
- Create a simple web page that contains nothing but the message ‘STOP WASTING TIME!!!’ You can do this simply by saving a word processed document in HTML format. Now go to your browser and change the settings so that your new Web page appears whenever a new window or tab is opened.
- If you have calendar software, configure an appointment entitled ‘STOP WASTING TIME!!!’ for every hour of your working day. That way, you will repeatedly receive a nagging popup message.
Let me know how these techniques go for you. And if you have any distraction-avoidance techniques of your own, do share them in the comments section.