This link has been bookmarked by 370 people . It was first bookmarked on 09 Jan 2009, by someone privately.
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25 Aug 19
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one alt-tab away from your word-processor
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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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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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it's entirely possible to make it all shut up for 20 minutes
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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.
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Leave yourself a rough edge
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Stop even if you're in the middle of a sentence
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Knitters leave a bit of yarn sticking out of the day's knitting so they know where to pick up the next day — they call it the "hint."
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Don't research
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do what journalists do: type "TK" where your fact should go
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fact-checking to do afterwards
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Don't be ceremonious
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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.
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Kill your word-processor
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All that stuff is distraction
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text-editor
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txt file
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Realtime communications tools are deadly
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09 Jul 19
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18 May 19
fortellerhttps://t.co/NBE7ybs2LE the @doctorow rules do work. The daily focus helps to overcome those tough chapter breaks - getting a "rough edge" down makes the rest of the chapter more accessible when you come back to it the next day, even if it's initially fru
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David VHBasic practical tips for getting work done /writing/ , avoiding distractions.
--productivity work happiness distractions help tips attention
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t'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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he secret is to do it every day, weekends included, to keep the momentum going,
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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.
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Don't research
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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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hat 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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o what journalists do: type "TK" where your fact should go
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o a quick search through your document for "TK" will tell you whether you have any fact-checking to do afterwards.
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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,
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Realtime communications tools are deadly
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01 Jul 14
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28 May 13
Tim McCormick@jackcheng Your insights reminded me of Cory Doctorow’s “Writing in the Age of Distraction”: http://t.co/tH3fzI5H62
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24 Apr 13
Alan LevineWe 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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10 Feb 12
Tim MoyeCory Doctorow is one of a dozen Locus columnists and reviewers. Every issue, we review dozens of books and magazines, most before they appear in print. A subscription will get you all those as well as the rest of the magazine -- news, People & Publishing, commentary, reports on events, and a list of all books and magazines published that month.
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Siv Marit ErsdalCory Doctorow skriver om konsentrasjon og skriving, eller mangel på konsentrasjon, kanskje
lesing skriving konsentrasjon distrasjon multitasking cory doctorow
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24 Aug 11
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15 Jun 11
Jonathan SimmonsWe 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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25 Feb 11
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15 Feb 11
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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.
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Short, regular work schedule
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09 Feb 11
Dorrine MVery good post by Cory Doctorow on Writing in the Age of Distraction: http://bit.ly/p2sH
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16 Jan 11
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04 Jan 11
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Cindy MinnichNice 2009 piece by Cory @DOCTOROW w/ practical advice - Writing in the Age of Distraction http://ow.ly/3xRu4 (via @AdviceToWriters)
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Isabelle VodjdaniShort, regular work schedule...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 ordained,...Don't research
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03 Dec 10
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30 Nov 10
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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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Writing a page every day gets me more than a novel per year — do the math — and there's always 20 minutes to be found in a day, no matter what else is going on
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do it every day, weekends included
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When you hit your daily word-goal, stop. Stop even if you're in the middle of a sentence.
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Don't research
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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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28 Nov 10
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20 Nov 10
Andy PalmerUse TK to placemark facts rather than getting distracted looking for the information while you're in the flow
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18 Nov 10
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davidngillespieSome simple tips form one of my favourite authors and commentators on how to ensure you get the most of your daily opportunities to write.
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Pete Viltergood tips and perspectives from Cory Doctorow
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01 Feb 10
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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.
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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.
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23 Jan 10
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02 Dec 09
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29 Nov 09
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26 Oct 09
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24 Oct 09
yuval yehiamShort, 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.Writing a page every day gets me more than a novel.*Knitters l -
19 Oct 09
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18 Oct 09
Michele DayBut 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: -
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12 Jun 09
Roland GesthuizenWe 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
writing productivity tips work creativity Internet tools howto imported
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10 Jun 09
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mattijs devroedtWe 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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04 Jun 09
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28 May 09
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15 May 09
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02 May 09
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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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26 Apr 09
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20 Mar 09
Mohit JustThe 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 Mar 09
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07 Mar 09
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