: Re: What techniques do you use to maintain your writing focus and maximise your productivity? How do you keep writing no matter what’s going on around you? How do you avoid the distractions of

@Bethany377

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How do you keep writing no matter what’s going on around you?

You can't (or you shouldn't). IE, there are times in lives where it will be important not to write. Some silly, but poignant examples:

You or your loved one is actively giving birth.
Someone needs to make dinner
Your social network has lost someone and the unit needs to grieve
Something about your life has dramatically changed (ie, you're about to move)
You are sick.

There are varying extremes to all of the above, some of which might grant you opportunities to write which would be healthy for you to take advantage of. But, interruption is not entirely preventable and it is not wrong to know when not to write.

This is the wrong question; the question should be: How do I maximize my writing time and ensure I do it often enough to be successful, however I may define success?

And the answer to that is that you need to have a few things:

Intention. You have to want to do. Not just that "I'd like to do this
thing." want, but a serious emotional commitment to needing it. If
you don't want it, then nothing will bind you to doing it. If you
can't remember why you want it, then you should list out the
reasons why, go full brainstorm. And inspect how you feel about each
of those things. If you don't have the intention, then maybe writing
isn't for you.
Ritual. Once you have intention, you want to establish some rituals
(ie, common practices). These can be absurd: squeezing a rubber duck
seven times, taking a cold shower, or going out into the shed in your
backyard and placing your laptop upon a one-legged stool which you
must balance to write. Or they can be practical: turning off the
internet, going into your writing space, and opening up your word
processor. The ritual that you need is going to be individual to you,
but it will ultimately establish: space, time, and a writing medium.
It may also establish or enforce specific goals. The ritual is the
repetition that you will come to expect, that lets you into the
writing mood. The ritual is only successful if it reminds you of your
intention and gets your fingers moving and creating words. You may
need multiple rituals: one for writing, one for revision, one for
reading feedback, or other writerly tasks. Maybe you only edit in the
evening and only outline in the morning. I don't know you, but you
know you.
Time/Space. Different from a ritual, which is used to seperate pieces
of time/space. After you have the intention you need to be able to
carve bubbles of time & space in your life to write. I know people
who only write surrounded by others and I know people who only write
alone. But both of those types of people know their writing space and
make sure they have enough time to get there. If you have intention
and understand your task, then finding time is an equation. How much
are you planning to write? What is your rate to get to a finished
project? How fast do you want to do it (factoring in what you're
actually capable of)? Ok, take the expected length to write and
divide it into accomplish-able spaces of time and then do what you
must to make those spaces available (including giving up things that
are less important, this is where intention is important).

How do you avoid the distractions of social media, that dishwasher that needs unloading, that wash that needs putting on, that cup of tea you’re dying to take a break for?

For me, (I suffer from an internet addiction, even talking to you now is making it worse for me later), I must work from a space that is not tainted. I block every website (including this one from time to time) from being opened. Only by not having access to a site and hating myself for going to it will prevent it from distracting me. And even that is temporary. IE, it's a struggle. I have dreamed of creating a text only laptop with a unix operating system that only lets you write; but of course, I'm too distracted by other things and that would not be writing.

The more mundane things are easier for me. I talk to those around me and make sure there is time for the things that must happen (both the dishwasher and writing), but that when I am doing one it is not interfering with the other. At the worst I leave the house, go someplace without internent and work offline for a while. You can destroy your network drivers and have a laptop that can only have files transferred by thumbdrive.

How do you force yourself to write, even when it’s hard, keeping your mind completely focussed on the job at hand?

Sometimes you don't; if it's truly hard it may be because of some other underlying issue. Like, you're telling the wrong story; you forgot how to have fun; or you shouldn't be a writer. (If your intention tells you otherwise, then it's likely not that last one).

Focus is a skill and a state of mind, if you can't do it; then you need to practice it. There are forms of meditation that are non-religious, having a meditation practice helped me write 200,000 words by giving my mind a chance to chill out; it also gave me introspection, intention and the space to decide using those tools.

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