For effective writing, turn off the phone. Close the internet browser. Put everything on silent mode. Reduce the distractions. Honestly this is the hardest by far for me personally. I’m so used to having everything accessible. I’m great at responding to things quickly, but it is a major distraction to writing. In your scheduled time, cut out the added distractions. I promise that email will wait. Your best friend dinging you on messenger will wait. The world will not end if you don’t answer that phone call. And the same new messages, likes, or comments on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat, or whatever your social media choice is, will still be there in an hour or two, or five when your writing time is up.
So turn it all off. Turn off the TV too. Don’t try to write and watch a movie. While I’m really really, kind of obnoxiously good at multi-tasking, it’s still a distraction that pulls me away from the moment, the creative flow, and eats into scheduled writing time. So turn it off!
If you need to do research, make a note in your manuscript and move on. Writing time is not the time to do research, that’s just another distraction. What I do is this… <<leave my note for what I need>>… then I know that I can search << and find all the places I need to add, expand, or research further. Find what works for you and be consistent with it.
The only exception I can think of to this is music. If music helps you write, then leave it on. For me personally, it’s just another distraction! Eliminating distractions from your writing time will improve your productivity and enhance your writing. With them you accomplish less, may find your work is choppy and not flowing right, requiring added time for rewrites later, and stalls or stops your creativity. So turn it off, unplug, and let that creativity flow freely and efficiently!
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