Getting Past The Clutter
I came up with a random list of stuff that floated through my head just this morning while I was trying to write that had nothing to do with writing. I only came up with 12, not 30,000, so you can thank me for that:
- Leather couches need dusting, how strange.
- Even showing her a picture didn’t help with this haircut
- I should empty the water out of the humidifier
- Is he hungry?
- I’m hungry
- Where’s my pen?
- There’s the mailman
- My back hurts
- That was a pretty good show last night
- Did I start that load of laundry?
- What should I fix for dinner?
- Oh my gosh, my blog is due – now!
And on and on…and on.
How in the world do we ever get any thing done what with all that brain noise? I’ve read articles where writers say they need complete silence in order to work, but there’s no way to ever get that, not really – unless one is dead. It is possible to tune a lot of it out, and afford yourself a better opportunity at controlling your distractions. If we shut down outside factors that tend to break concentration, that can really help.
For me, I keep the TV turned off. I also turn the volume of the phone down so I can just barely hear it. I have a bottle of water close by so I don’t have to get up. I log off of all other apps, email, internet, wifi, so it’s just me, the laptop and my WIP. What I have discovered is this; the longer I concentrate on the WIP, the deeper I get into the manuscript, the more involved and engaged on the words in front of me. In this area (the zone?) it’s possible to ignore those pesky intruders that have nothing to do with my current focused activity – i.e. getting the daily word count in.
When I finally take a break, it’s like walking out of a dark movie theater, where you’ve sat mesmerized and entertained for a couple of hours, and into the bright, hot sun. Sometimes I’m totally surprised that I’ve surpassed my word count for the day. If I don’t purposefully set myself up to focus,there is no getting past the clutter. The actual steps, although minimalistic work for me. No TV. No phone. No internet. Applied attention to WIP.
It’s as simple as that for me.
What works for you?
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