Locus Online Features: Cory Doctorow: Writing in the Age of Distraction

26 Oct 09

Muhammad Kasim Baba

@Blogging

18 Oct 09

Michele Day

attention

21 Sep 09

KO -

writing

19 Sep 09

John M

writing

14 Jun 09

0nm8

writing doctorow

10 Jun 09

Ben Simanek

15 May 09

Chris Lasher

productivity writing creativity tip

02 May 09

Kevin Hodgson

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.

24 Apr 09

Ken Fujiuchi

writing tips lifehacks creativity

12 Mar 09

Jody Bowie

must read for mishelleyb's writing classes

for:mibowie writing productivity creativity

05 Mar 09

Aviva Gabriel

Readers 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

25 Feb 09

Jordan Mantha

productivity

Sara Kajder

Article with writing tips (and a real sense of what actually seems to be happening for my current research group...)

methods writing

20 Feb 09

siz nax

#write

11 Feb 09

Electra Vang

writing howto tips

08 Feb 09

Joelle Nebbe-Mornod

writing thinking method productivity

Short, regular work schedule
Leave yourself a rough edge
4 more annotations...
- 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
- Kill your word-processor
- Realtime communications tools are deadly

06 Feb 09

Lisa Lynch

writing productivity

04 Feb 09

Rhondda Powling

A list of tips for writing regularly without distractions

tools web books literature writing blogging tips corydoctorow procrastination distraction productivity

01 Feb 09

Helen Kurukulasuriya

productivity writing gtd

y li

advice writing productivity

31 Jan 09

Jim Hanna

writing productivity gtd

30 Jan 09

T. Rex Bean

28 Jan 09

knobas last

writing advice productivity

27 Jan 09

tristram w

writing productivity toread tips

25 Jan 09

Michael Becker

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.

Cory Doctorow Locus Online attention writing internet Web productivity

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.
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.
5 more annotations...
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.

22 Jan 09

Shanta Rohse

Regular 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

21 Jan 09

Kevin Lim

How to concentrate on writing, and to get it done done done!

howto creativity productivity tips internet attention work distraction

Gerhard Stoltz

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.

20 Jan 09

Dan Vos

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 commu

howto writing productivity

17 Jan 09

Clive McGoun

Cory 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

rss writing socialnetworking

FruFru FourOne

toread

16 Jan 09

Shawn Calhoun

writing blogging productivity

Andrew Perry

tips writing internet productivity publication attention

15 Jan 09

mary theberge

how do overcome the temptations of the internet and get work done

writingonline

Frank Colcord

GTD Parachute

Michelle A. Hoyle

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 commu

productivity attention howto blogging article writing gtd

Matt Kramer

Cory 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

gtd

Nate Kogan

14 Jan 09

Martin Lindner

Cory Doctorow: Writing in the Age of Distraction
20 minutes per day, every day, no web research (just placeholders) , txt files

_microbook_write deli

James Schirmer

writing productivity work web cory doctorow

13 Jan 09

Christina Martin

writing

set a modest daily goal — usually a page or two
doing nothing else while I'm working on it.
8 more annotations...
- it's entirely possible to make it all shut up for 20 minutes.
- Twenty minutes is a short enough interval that it can be claimed from a sleep or meal-break
- 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.
- When you hit your daily word-goal, stop.
- so that you get a little push before you begin your work.
- When you come to a factual matter that you could google in a matter of seconds, don't.
- 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.
- 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.

Alex Ambrose

writing

07 January 2009



Cory Doctorow: Writing in the Age of Distraction
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...
- But the Internet has been very good to me. It's informed my creativity and aesthetic
- Short, regular work schedule
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- do what journalists do: type "TK" where your fact should go,
- Don't be ceremonious
- Kill your word-processor
- Realtime communications tools are deadly
- IM, email alerts, RSS alerts, Skype rings, etc
- but leaving your IM running is like sitting down to work after hanging a giant "DISTRACT ME" sign over your desk,

John Lucero

Don'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.

pretense articles

Driessen Samuel

knowledgeworker productivity

Craig Rettig

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 w

web tools writing

12 Jan 09

Nihar Malaviya

writing doctorow

Dan O'Brien Muzyka

writing literature tips productivity psychology process habits

J Black

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.

writing web2.0 toread

Michel Bauwens

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 commu

P2P-Literature P2P-Media P2P-Literacy P2P-Publishing P2P

11 Jan 09

Kevin Kimberlin

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
When you hit your daily word-goal, stop
3 more annotations...
- type "TK" where your fact should go,
- They use a text-editor, like vi, Emacs, TextPad, BBEdit, Gedit, or any of a host of editors.
- biggest impediment to concentration is your computer's ecosystem of interruption technologies: IM, email alerts, RSS alerts, Skype rings, e

Maggie Wolfe Riley

Simple good advice - and actually easy to do

writing tips tools

rubaiyat shatner

Tools web computer howto writing work tips 2009 psychology

Daniel Andrlik

This 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.

writing

Leave yourself a rough edge

When you hit your daily word-goal, stop
Researching isn't writing and vice-versa.
2 more annotations...
- 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."
- Don't be ceremonious

10 Jan 09

Eddy Webb

writing productivity writing_advice

Damon Snyder

productivity

09 Jan 09

Jason Heppler

internet gtd writing productivity work

James Harding

doctorow Cory Doctrow writing

lindsey Barlow

writing alastair interesting

Lisa Spiro

information_overload writing

Pop Pop

Les conseils de Cory Doctorow concernant l'écriture

écriture

Karen Richardson

doctorow writing

Will Richardson

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 w

network_literacy connective_writing

Short, regular work schedule
Leave yourself a rough edge
4 more annotations...
- Don't research
- Don't be ceremonious
- Kill your word-processor
- Realtime communications tools are deadly

Howard Rheingold

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 commu

attention creativity writing

Tac Anderson

Great 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."

writing internet advice tips ncb