The ability to focus is one of the key writer skills that really determines whether the writer will actually get the work done. It is also not a magical or inherited trait either, nor is it a talent. Focus is a skill that can be learned, practiced and mastered.
“I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately I am inspired at 9 o’clock every morning.” ~William Faulkner
I love that mindset. So many of the classic writers have said this very sentiment so very often that you might think it as natural to us as swimming is to a duck…So why do we struggle to get there and how do you get to that point in your own process? Well then I guess it is time to talk …
Let’s talk focus
Writers need the ability to focus on many different areas from the business of writing itself to the actual work. In the end the real goal is not the process of focusing that we really want but to get the work finished. That is what we want, but if we are not careful we can miss the target because of a lack of focus. So how do we get those words done?
We need a plan, a process and a frame of mind. Most importantly we need a method to reach that frame of mind long enough to effectively get the work done.
Setup your ability to focus
How you go about your focus setup will change depending on who you talk to. These are a few ideas I have run across and tried to get you going. Each is a learning opportunity about you and the process you can and will create. Treat them like an experiment over a few days. Give yourself time to adjust and learn so you can see what works for you.
Start with your time and your head space
Time
Listen to the deep thought of Cal Newport (Deep Work). Use time to help give you better focus. Cal recommends setting aside longer morning long streatches of your work day for deep thought. Even two to three hours is a great way to get deep into the project. We need time without distraction when we work deep. Cal talks about time use in avoiding shallow work in Deep Habits: The Danger of Pseudo-Depth.
Reserve some time for focused work
We work best when we have longer stretches of undistracted time, such as an entire morning or afternoon that allows us to dive deep into the other world of our thoughts. This allows us to get a better grip of the subject when we take it up again as well as allows us to better know where we are going when we finish for the day.
While focusing for an entire morning sounds great, most of us do not have that kind of flexibility in our schedules. So with you on that, so I reserve time to write on my books and blog separately. With a little experimentation out of my comfort zone, I have found that I am far more agile when I am on my book time, which I do in the morning, than when I do my blog which is done later in the day. For a long time I thought that my night owl tendencies would made the evening work easier, but that has not proved the case. I guess the experts are right, working when you are fresh awake does make a difference. The earlier you can get to your work the more focus you will have.
Next step is to write your time block down. Even if you start with just 15 or 30 minutes, put it down on your calendar and treat it like a job. Show up every day on time. Nothing gets in the way of your job. Your writing is also you work. Treat it like it is.
Divide time and conquer
Often slogging through our work becomes a drudgery unto itself. Breaking down your work into targeted sessions allows our minds to create a rhythm of work and respite for the mind to figure out where it wants the climb to go next.
One of the best aids to improve our ability to focus I have ever come across is the Pomodoro technique. The concept is simple. The mind can only maintain focus for just so long before it starts to wander. So you divide your hours into smaller chunks of work and give your brain a break between work periods. Originally the technique broke tasks down to 25 minute segments with a 3-5 minute period. A full set was four segment and breaks with an extra ten minutes break at the end. Then it was up to the person if they wanted to run another set or not.
Head space and your ability to focus are like time can be control by your process.
Write before you net
It should go without saying to not get distracted before you do your writing session. The most offensive distraction these days is the internet. It is literally everywhere just robbing your ability to focus by the hour. The golden rule for the net is “Thou shalt not go on line before thy pages are done.” That means till you finish your day’s writing work, you will not check the news or social media first thing in the morning. You will also not check out some blogs or Insta-chat a friend. Nor will you, by all that is holy, check your email. Not even a quick glance to see what might be there.
The reason this is simply because it is so easy to get lost into the net so deep that a morning glance will leave you coming up for air sometime around dinner time when you finally realized you have not eaten all day. The net is not something to play with when your pages are on the line. Fight the resistance. Any emergency, if there really is one, will likely wait till you are done writing. Don’t stress. Don’t succumb to the resistance in your head. WRITE FIRST.
I give one exception here. If you are an expectant father or someone else involved in the birthing process, then you get a pass to both look and to respond to the woman on the other end of the conversation. For you on this day the writing can take a back seat. This is why we have fall back habits.
Clear out destructive distractions or better don’t start them
If you are scheduling your writing session some time later in your day than first thing, it’s likely you will have turned on a few things in the course of your morning. The path to success it to activate as Chris Fox put it in 5000 Words per Hour, your turtle box. For our purposes that means first we must disconnect with everything to the outside world. Turn off the internet. Use an internet block like Freedom. If you that does not work, you can unplug the router and give it to someone with instructions not to return it for your work session. You will also need to close any other program other than you writing program be it Word or Scribner or some other, and maybe a distraction free writing app. Lots of them out there. WriteRoom, OmmWriter, and Byword are good options.
Distraction in this Age
Jonathan Franzen framed the difficulty of writing today in an article for The Guardian’s ‘Book Club’ page:
“Rendering a world is a matter of permitting oneself to feel small things intensely, not of knowing lots of information. And so, when I’m working, I need to isolate myself at the office, because I’m easily distracted and modern life has become extremely distracting. Distraction pours through every portal, especially through the internet. And most of what pours through is meaningless noise. To be able to hear what’s really happening in the world, you have to block out 99% of the noise.” —Modern life has become extremely distracting, October 2015
In my own experience, whatever you do keep that phone away from your space is a valid here. My preference is just turn it off or put it face down, out of arm’s reach and out of line of sight in silent mode and vibration off. Putting it in another room might be need for the more determined phone addicts. Writing becomes hard if easy distractions are near by preying on your ability to focus. Extra obstacles really help lock in the box.
Be Aware
Keep an eye on your behavior as you move to write. Take notice if you are starting to resist starting. This is simple. When you see that you are avoiding sitting down to write, let it go and turn your focus to getting started. All you need to start is just a few words written down. That’s why you need fall back minimums for those days when everything goes wrong. The best I have found is to write just five words. You are free if you get that.
It may not seem like much, but because of that habit I have not missed a single day of writing for over three years now and counting. The part to remember is that this technique is so effective because is it so simple there is no reason not to do it. You cannot give me a reason not to write five words. It’s too easy not to. Which is the point. It is also a great starter. Four words can make a full sentence but there are few times you will be able to use just one word. You will have to write two more to hit five, likely far more. Once you are past five words, it is likely you will have several sentences before you stop, if not more. I have rarely written just five words. Often it’s a page or more before I quit.
Now we have the time set, so what’s next? Time to get physical in Part 2
Photo by Fineas Anton on Unsplash