One of the modern writer’s greatest challenges is avoiding the myriad of distractions available online. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Wikipedia, various writer blogs…it’s a long, dangerous black hole when you go searching for one fact or a name. Even just finding a good soundtrack to write to is a hazard on the edge of a productivity collapse.
So, how do I stay focused? Honestly, it’s tricky. I do have an active brain, so it’s important for me to focus on my project, whether that’s editing a current story or working on some new writing.
The first thing I do? I shut off the wifi on my computer. Unless I absolutely need to check a fact, my computer doesn’t even get wifi. My phone gives me important notifications, but I know if I open the internet on my computer, I’m just going to spiral into the deep, dark corners of the internet.
After the internet distractions are appropriately removed, I find a good piece of music to work to. I like movie soundtracks a lot because I get distracted from my work if it’s a song with too many lyrics. I also find that movie soundtracks are a really easy way to get into the mood that I’m looking for. One of the ways I plot out stories is by listening to various movie scores until I find something that gives me the right mood.
Recently, I’ve gotten into Spotify and Pandora for moods. When working on Moon of the Huntress, I like writing to Celtic fiddle music because it reflects really strongly on the elf culture I’ve built. As far as composers, I love John Williams, Harry Gregson-Williams and Hans Zimmer for the epic, sweeping scores they provide (as well as a variety of moods, from peppy and happy to dark and brooding).
Editing, I like to limit as much as possible. It’s usually just me and some music. Using the tablet gives me the same limitations as page-by-page editing, by giving me one thing to focus on. For music, I try to keep it simple with Pandora or Spotify. Occasionally, I’ll listen to Podcasts while I’m working, but that depends on how well my brain is cooperating.
What do you like to listen to when you feel the need to focus? Do you listen to music? Put on some movie you’ve seen a million times? Do you only work in absolute silence? What is your preference?
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