I used to end my writing sessions feeling unproductive and defeated—like I had wasted so much time with nothing to show for it—until one day, I learned something about managing distractions that changed my writing career.
It’s much easier to write about solving the problem of distractibility than it is to live out the process. With practice, we can take control of our writing time and complete each writing session with a sense of accomplishment. Rest assured—all successful writers face distractions and need a plan to fight them.
The Parable of the Distracted Baker
Once upon a time, a girl decided to make a fresh blueberry and apple pie. Her neighbor across the street had a blueberry farm and an apple orchard divided by a wide river with a bridge connecting them.
The girl crossed the street with two baskets in hand. She started at the blueberry farm because it was on her side of the river. She’d only picked a handful of blueberries when the wind blew in from the direction of the apple orchard. She inhaled deeply, relishing the sweet aroma. Her mouth watered as she thought, I want an apple. She set her blueberry basket beside the bush where she was picking and crossed the long bridge to the apple orchard.
The orchard spread out as far as she could see. The girl picked a few apples for her basket and one to eat right away. Oh, it tastes delightful, she thought, the perfect blend of sweet and sour. Between bites, she remembered her blueberry basket that she had carelessly left on the ground. The girl traipsed back across the wide river to retrieve her blueberries, but she couldn’t remember where she’d left her basket.
Counting her losses, the girl decided she would just make a plain, old-fashioned apple pie instead. Back across the bridge she went, intending to fill her basket with enough apples to make a giant apple pie for dessert, but dark clouds rolled in just before she reached the other side of the bridge.
Cold air brushed against her cheek. The smell of rain filled her nose, and a clap of thunder startled her. Lightning struck near the river, causing the hair on her neck to stand on end from the electricity in the air. Another clap of thunder opened the heavens with a downpour of stinging rain. She took off running home, but—unable to see the fall of her footsteps—she tripped. The apples tumbled out into the mud. Too afraid to stop long enough to pick them up, she left the fruit behind and ran for safety.
Relieved to be safe at home, she sunk to the floor—cold, weary, drenched to the bone—and fruitless.
The girl picked blueberries and apples. She smelled and tasted them—that’s for sure—but did she have a pie to show for it?
Writing Tasks Were Like That for Me!
I would start with a plan—let’s say, “create chapter three.” Then, I would set a goal, like “write as many words in chapter three as you can in 25 minutes.” Inevitably, I’d find myself referring to chapter one or two for a necessary fact and spend the rest of my 25 minutes making corrections. Lack of focus beat me down (more than I’d like to admit) until I discovered an interesting fact about our brains and applied it to my writing career.
What Can Be Done to Avoid Distractions and Feel Productive After a Writing Session?
Our brains are divided into two hemispheres: the right and the left. Though they work together, we typically accomplish task-oriented decision making and logical thinking on the left side and more creative problem solving and imaginative decision making with the right side. In my world, I divided up the tasks and skills needed to write a novel in the following way:
Left-Brain Tasks
Editing for grammar mistakes, content issues, plot flow, and revising plot holes are left brain activities in my world. To accomplish those tasks, I employ rules, guidelines, and structure.
Right-Brain Tasks
Creating, imagining, and dreaming—all necessary skills for any writer—are carried out on the right side of the brain. Even reading novels is a right-brained activity because it engages the imagination.
Once I blocked my work off into right- and left-brained activities, I produced more content and felt better about my accomplishments at the end of the day.
I wish I could delete distractions altogether. The best we can do is supervise them, taking control of our attention and placing it where it ought to be from one writing block to the next. Since a delete button isn’t an option, we need to develop tricks to govern our distractions.
Do Less, With More Focus: Five Tools for Managing Your Distractions
Our goal is to write in spite of distractions. It’s a skill you will develop over time. I wish I had a magic pill or incantation to cast on myself so I would never need to ward off distractions again. If you get nothing else from this article, I hope you take this fact into your heart and mind: the temptation to “cross the bridge” plagues everyone. Successful writers understand their weaknesses and erect supports to make themselves stronger. Over the years, I’ve developed a few tactics that have helped me stay on track. Maybe one or two will help you, too.
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Start With a Plan
Before sitting down to write, ask yourself, What do I want to accomplish? Is it right-brain or left-brain work?
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Set a Goal
What is a reasonable target you can set within your time limitations? Will it be a time limit—I will write for 30 minutes? Or, would you rather choose a word count that suits your needs better—I will write one hundred words every day? If time is in ample supply, you might put a hard rule on yourself—I will not get up from this chair or check email or anything else until I’ve written two hundred words.
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Take a Break
Writing is hard work; respect it as such. Choose a system that works for you. I’ve had success with the Pomodoro technique. To practice this, set a timer and work for 25 minutes, pause, walk around for five minutes, and then set the timer and work for another 25 minutes. You can repeat the 25-5 cycle as many times as you want, but I have found three or four sessions are all my brain can handle before I feel mentally fried. Here’s a video by LifeHaker.com if you would like to explore this technique for yourself.
You can also try setting a timer for 45 to 50 minutes followed by a 10- to 15-minute break. You can read about this technique at themuse.com.
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Treat Yourself
I love hot tea as well as chips and dip (not together, though). Sometimes I tell myself, You cannot have a nice hot cup of tea until you get this number of words written in this amount of time. If you’re not a “carrot-chaser” like me, this trick probably won’t help, but maybe you can use the concept and create something that will work for you.
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Give Yourself Grace
For writers, our work will always be a mixture of blueberries and apples. Keeping ourselves on one side of the bridge or the other is the hard part, but it’s not impossible. Tips for managing distractions are as varied as there are writers. Wrangling your distractions is part of your job.
But never, ever let yourself believe that your distractibility is an indicator that you just aren’t cut out to be a writer.
You are not alone as a distracted writer!
