This link has been bookmarked by 88 people . It was first bookmarked on 09 Jan 2009, by Tim Goh.
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Kill your word-processor
Word, Google Office and OpenOffice all come with a bewildering array of typesetting and automation settings that you can play with forever. Forget it. All that stuff is distraction, and the last thing you want is your tool second-guessing you, "correcting" your spelling, criticizing your sentence structure, and so on. The programmers who wrote your word processor type all day long, every day, and they have the power to buy or acquire any tool they can imagine for entering text into a computer. They don't write their software with Word. They use a text-editor, like vi, Emacs, TextPad, BBEdit, Gedit, or any of a host of editors. These are some of the most venerable, reliable, powerful tools in the history of software (since they're at the core of all other software) and they have almost no distracting features — but they do have powerful search-and-replace functions. Best of all, the humble .txt file can be read by practically every application on your computer, can be pasted directly into an email, and can't transmit a virus.
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24 Apr 09
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05 Mar 09
Aviva GabrielReaders are distracted and even overwhelmed by the myriad distractions that lie one click away on the Internet, but writers face the same glorious problem: the delirious world of information and communication and community that lurks behind your screen, one alt-tab away from your wordprocessor.
writing productivity gtd attention blogging advice search information knowledge addiction internet internet addiction information overload writers distractions procrastination
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25 Feb 09
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Sara KajderArticle with writing tips (and a real sense of what actually seems to be happening for my current research group...)
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20 Feb 09
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11 Feb 09
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08 Feb 09
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Short, regular work schedule
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Leave yourself a rough edge
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Don't research
Researching isn't writing and vice-versa. When you come to a factual matter that you could google in a matter of seconds, don't. -
Don't be ceremonious
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Kill your word-processor
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Realtime communications tools are deadly
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06 Feb 09
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04 Feb 09
Rhondda PowlingA list of tips for writing regularly without distractions
tools web books literature writing blogging tips corydoctorow procrastination distraction productivity
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25 Jan 09
Michael BeckerThe single worst piece of writing advice I ever got was to stay away from the Internet because it would only waste my time and wouldn't help my writing.
Cory Doctorow Locus Online attention writing internet Web productivity
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The single worst piece of writing advice I ever got was to stay away from the Internet because it would only waste my time and wouldn't help my writing.
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But the Internet has been very good to me. It's informed my creativity and aesthetics, it's benefited me professionally and personally, and for every moment it steals, it gives back a hundred delights. I'd no sooner give it up than I'd give up fiction or any other pleasurable vice.
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It's not plausible or desirable to try to get the world to go away for hours at a time, but it's entirely possible to make it all shut up for 20 minutes.
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When you come to a factual matter that you could google in a matter of seconds, don't. Don't give in and look up the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, the population of Rhode Island, or the distance to the Sun. That way lies distraction — an endless click-trance that will turn your 20 minutes of composing into a half-day's idyll through the web.
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It's nice to have all your physical needs met before you write, but if you convince yourself that you can only write in a perfect world, you compound the problem of finding 20 free minutes with the problem of finding the right environment at the same time.
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Word, Google Office and OpenOffice all come with a bewildering array of typesetting and automation settings that you can play with forever. Forget it. All that stuff is distraction, and the last thing you want is your tool second-guessing you, "correcting" your spelling, criticizing your sentence structure, and so on.
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By all means, schedule a chat — voice, text, or video — when it's needed, but leaving your IM running is like sitting down to work after hanging a giant "DISTRACT ME" sign over your desk, one that shines brightly enough to be seen by the entire world.
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22 Jan 09
Shanta RohseRegular work schedule, rough edges, resist research, forget muse, kill your wp, no real time distractors. Easy peasy, no?
cory_doctorow writing locus_magazine tools:writing productivity distractions linkingthinking engaging delicious_import
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21 Jan 09
Kevin LimHow to concentrate on writing, and to get it done done done!
howto creativity productivity tips internet attention work distraction
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Every now and again, when I see a new website, game, or service, I sense the tug of an attention black hole: a time-sink that is just waiting to fill my every discretionary moment with distraction.
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20 Jan 09
Dan VosWe know that our readers are distracted and sometimes even overwhelmed by the myriad distractions that lie one click away on the Internet, but of course writers face the same glorious problem: the delirious world of information and communication and commu
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17 Jan 09
Clive McGounCory with some excellent advice on writing great stuff, including: The biggest impediment to concentration is your computer's ecosystem of interruption technologies: IM, email alerts, RSS alerts, Skype rings, etc. Anything that requires you to wait for a
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16 Jan 09
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15 Jan 09
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Michelle A. HoyleWe know that our readers are distracted and sometimes even overwhelmed by the myriad distractions that lie one click away on the Internet, but of course writers face the same glorious problem: the delirious world of information and communication and commu
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Matt KramerCory Doctorow: Writing in the Age of Distraction
from Locus Magazine, January 2009
We know that our readers are distracted and sometimes even overwhelmed by the myriad distractions that lie one click away on the Internet, but of course writers face the same glorious problem: the delirious world of information and communication and community that lurks behind your screen, one alt-tab away from your word-processor.
The single worst piece of writing advice I ever got was to stay away from the Internet because it would only waste my time and wouldn't help my writing. This advice was wrong creatively, professionally, artistically, and personally, but I know where the writer who doled it out was coming from. Every now and again, when I see a new website, game, or service, I sense the tug of an attention black hole: a time-sink that is just waiting to fill my every discretionary moment with distraction. As a co-parenting new father who writes at least a book per year, half-a-dozen columns a month, ten or more blog posts a day, plus assorted novellas and stories and speeches, I know just how short time can be and how dangerous distraction is.
But the Internet has been very good to me. It's informed my creativity and aesthetics, it's benefited me professionally and personally, and for every moment it steals, it gives back a hundred delights. I'd no sooner give it up than I'd give up fiction or any other pleasurable vice.
I think I've managed to balance things out through a few simple techniques that I've been refining for years. I still sometimes feel frazzled and info-whelmed, but that's rare. Most of the time, I'm on top of my workload and my muse. Here's how I do it:
* Short, regular work schedule
When I'm working on a story or novel, I set a modest daily goal — usually a page or two — and then I meet it every day, doing nothing else while I'm working on it. It's not plausible or desirable to try to get the world to go away for hours at a time, but it's entirely possible to make it all shut up for 20 m -
14 Jan 09
Martin LindnerCory Doctorow: Writing in the Age of Distraction
20 minutes per day, every day, no web research (just placeholders) , txt files -
13 Jan 09
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set a modest daily goal — usually a page or two
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doing nothing else while I'm working on it.
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it's entirely possible to make it all shut up for 20 minutes.
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Twenty minutes is a short enough interval that it can be claimed from a sleep or meal-break
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do it every day, weekends included, to keep the momentum going, and to allow your thoughts to wander to your next day's page between sessions.
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When you hit your daily word-goal, stop.
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so that you get a little push before you begin your work.
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When you come to a factual matter that you could google in a matter of seconds, don't.
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Instead, do what journalists do: type "TK" where your fact should go, as in "The Brooklyn bridge, all TK feet of it, sailed into the air like a kite." "TK" appears in very few English words (the one I get tripped up on is "Atkins") so a quick search through your document for "TK" will tell you whether you have any fact-checking to do afterwards.
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if you convince yourself that you can only write in a perfect world, you compound the problem of finding 20 free minutes with the problem of finding the right environment at the same time.
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07 January 2009
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worst piece of writing advice I ever got was to stay away from the Internet because it would only waste my time and wouldn't help my writing
- 13 more annotations...
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But the Internet has been very good to me. It's informed my creativity and aesthetic
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Short, regular work schedule
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I set a modest daily goal — usually a page or two — and then I meet it every day, doing nothing else while I'm working on it
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Twenty minutes is a short enough interval that it can be claimed from a sleep or meal-break (though this shouldn't become a habit). The secret is to do it every day, weekends included, to keep the momentum going, and to allow your thoughts to wander to your next day's page between sessions.
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Leave yourself a rough edge
When you hit your daily word-goal, stop. Stop even if you're in the middle of a sentence. Especially if you're in the middle of a sentence. That way, when you sit down at the keyboard the next day, your first five or ten words are already or -
Don't research
Researching isn't writing and vice-versa. When you come to a factual matter that you could google in a matter of seconds, don't. -
ndless click-trance that will turn your 20 minutes
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do what journalists do: type "TK" where your fact should go,
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Don't be ceremonious
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Kill your word-processor
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Realtime communications tools are deadly
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IM, email alerts, RSS alerts, Skype rings, etc
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but leaving your IM running is like sitting down to work after hanging a giant "DISTRACT ME" sign over your desk,
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John LuceroDon't be ceremonious
Forget advice about finding the right atmosphere to coax your muse into the room. Forget candles, music, silence, a good chair, a cigarette, or putting the kids to sleep. It's nice to have all your physical needs met before you write, but if you convince yourself that you can only write in a perfect world, you compound the problem of finding 20 free minutes with the problem of finding the right environment at the same time. When the time is available, just put fingers to keyboard and write. You can put up with noise/silence/kids/discomfort/hunger for 20 minutes. -
Craig RettigThe single worst piece of writing advice I ever got was to stay away from the Internet because it would only waste my time and wouldn't help my writing. This advice was wrong creatively, professionally, artistically, and personally, but I know where the w
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12 Jan 09
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J BlackWe know that our readers are distracted and sometimes even overwhelmed by the myriad distractions that lie one click away on the Internet, but of course writers face the same glorious problem: the delirious world of information and communication and community that lurks behind your screen, one alt-tab away from your word-processor.
The single worst piece of writing advice I ever got was to stay away from the Internet because it would only waste my time and wouldn't help my writing. This advice was wrong creatively, professionally, artistically, and personally, but I know where the writer who doled it out was coming from. Every now and again, when I see a new website, game, or service, I sense the tug of an attention black hole: a time-sink that is just waiting to fill my every discretionary moment with distraction. As a co-parenting new father who writes at least a book per year, half-a-dozen columns a month, ten or more blog posts a day, plus assorted novellas and stories and speeches, I know just how short time can be and how dangerous distraction is.
But the Internet has been very good to me. It's informed my creativity and aesthetics, it's benefited me professionally and personally, and for every moment it steals, it gives back a hundred delights. I'd no sooner give it up than I'd give up fiction or any other pleasurable vice. -
Michel BauwensWe know that our readers are distracted and sometimes even overwhelmed by the myriad distractions that lie one click away on the Internet, but of course writers face the same glorious problem: the delirious world of information and communication and commu
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11 Jan 09
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The secret is to do it every day, weekends included, to keep the momentum going, and to allow your thoughts to wander to your next day's page between sessions. Try to find one or two vivid sensory details to work into the next page, or a bon mot, so that you've already got some material when you sit down
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When you hit your daily word-goal, stop
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type "TK" where your fact should go,
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They use a text-editor, like vi, Emacs, TextPad, BBEdit, Gedit, or any of a host of editors.
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biggest impediment to concentration is your computer's ecosystem of interruption technologies: IM, email alerts, RSS alerts, Skype rings, e
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Daniel AndrlikThis is a great article from Cory Doctorow on how to write effectively while avoiding the distractions that come with modern life. Some of these are common sense, but they are all wonderful tips. In particular, his admonishment of falling prey to the lure of research in the middle of writing strikes me as particularly insightful. I know that's certainly a habit that I fall prey to on a regular basis.
If you are a writer who struggles with distractions day to day, this is a worthwhile read.-
Leave yourself a rough edge
When you hit your daily word-goal, stop -
Researching isn't writing and vice-versa.
- 2 more annotations...
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do what journalists do: type "TK" where your fact should go, as in "The Brooklyn bridge, all TK feet of it, sailed into the air like a kite."
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Don't be ceremonious
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10 Jan 09
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09 Jan 09
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Will RichardsonThe single worst piece of writing advice I ever got was to stay away from the Internet because it would only waste my time and wouldn't help my writing. This advice was wrong creatively, professionally, artistically, and personally, but I know where the w
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Short, regular work schedule
-
Leave yourself a rough edge
- 4 more annotations...
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Don't research
-
Don't be ceremonious
-
Kill your word-processor
-
Realtime communications tools are deadly
-
-
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Howard RheingoldWe know that our readers are distracted and sometimes even overwhelmed by the myriad distractions that lie one click away on the Internet, but of course writers face the same glorious problem: the delirious world of information and communication and commu
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Tac AndersonGreat article about writing in the age of the Internet. "But the Internet has been very good to me. It's informed my creativity and aesthetics, it's benefited me professionally and personally, and for every moment it steals, it gives back a hundred delights."
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