Focus!

You’ve decided on a topic to write about, in my case a memoir. You’ve nailed down your schedule, and spotted openings which you have now reserved for the sole purpose of getting words onto the page. So why is nothing happening? Why aren’t your words spilling out of you like a raging storm, landing on the page, or more accurately, computer screen? Is your focus elsewhere?

Even though I’ve made the time to write, I feel guilty. I’m sitting at my computer, my fingers ready, warming the keys, but my mind is calculating all the other things I still have to do. How can I push aside those pesky voices in my head that interfere with my writing time? More importantly, how do I pull out the mental file folder that contains the pieces of my plot, details about my setting, and all the characters that populate my story?

White noise. You’ve probably heard the term, which refers to constant noise that overtakes clatter. Just like when my children were babies and I lined a laundry basket with a blanket that I lay them in, and placed them on the running dryer, to help them fall asleep, white noise can help you concentrate by blocking out what’s going on around you and in your head. These days there are plenty of apps that you can download for free to provide you with an array of noises. My favourite is the sound of hard rain. Nothing like a rainstorm to boost my creativity. The sounds not only help me to concentrate on my topic, but I also find it soothing and relaxing, allowing me to be more productive. I’ve also started wearing noise-canceling headphones so that there is no chance that any other sounds can distract me while I’m writing.

Another helpful trick is to turn off anything around you that beeps, pings, rings, etc. I don’t answer calls, check emails, return text messages because I don’t know that I have any until I’m done writing. This may seem impossible, but it’s not. If you can turn off your devices while at the movie theatre, a conference or workshop, or while driving, you can certainly do the same because it is important to you to utilize the time that you do have to be creative and write.

Giving yourself timed intervals to write is another way to get words down on the page. Do not use a mobile device! Having it on your desk can be a distraction even if it’s silenced. I started out using an egg timer set for ten minutes. I thought of it as a challenge. How many words could I write in such a short burst of time? Give yourself permission to be messy. Just write! If you can’t get into your story or character’s heads, focus on describing a location or setting. Once you start writing you’ll find that you can’t stop. When the buzzer goes off, take a short break, then start again. In between bouts of writing you can be thinking about what you want to write next. I’ve graduated from the egg timer and now have an hourglass on my desk.

Ultimately, we find the time and manage to complete all the other tasks that befall us in a day, but the one thing that eludes us is making time for ourselves, to write. The answer to our dilemma is very simple. We must make writing our work.

“It’s a job. It’s not a hobby. You don’t write the way you build a model airplane. You have to sit down and work, to schedule your time and stick to it. Even if it’s just for an hour or so each day, you have to get a babysitter and make the time. If you’re going to make writing succeed you have to approach it as a job.” – Rosellen Brown