Tag: Real Life

Music, Distractions and Avoiding the Internet

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?

Writing Spaces

Every writer has a workspace. For some, it’s a glamorous library with reference books and a massive desk. For some, it’s a busy coffee shop or a study carrel at the local library. But I don’t quite have the budget for the glamorous library office or the focus to work in a coffee shop on a regular basis. For me, my workspace is a kitchen table.

I have dreams of having an office or some other workspace. But for now, when I sit down to write, I have my kitchen table. Hardly glamorous, but it keeps me focused. I’ll come home after a full day, drop my work stuff on the couch and settle in for some writing. I have a nice view of the tree behind my building, a nice comfortable chair (which I got for free) and space to spread out with any references I need.

Plus, I have a foolproof way to keep my table from getting cluttered in the day to day mail.

Yeah, it’s a folding table (for those wondering, the other side can also unfold). I tend to get distracted easily while editing, so I’ve started editing the PDFs on a really simple iPad app. It acts like printed paper and makes me look at each page carefully instead of scrolling too quickly and missing something (it’s also great for bringing to the breakroom at work). I’ll fold the table up for this process and basically use the remaining table real estate to hold my tea/phone while I work. It keeps my computer out of reach and internet distractions aren’t as easy to give in to.

I keep lots of random things in the drawers: pens, stress balls, my dice for D&D. Generally, the drawers are too small for anything especially useful. There are a couple of books there on craft and style, one or two notebooks of ideas for when things feel a little stale and I need to shake off the dust. I also have a couple of fantasy specific books. The contents of this will change as needed, depending on what I’m working on.

Most importantly, like any ace stereotype, it gives a good space for my plants.

The little one in the coffee cup is a ponytail plant named Millie. The big snake plant next in the squared pot is Merlin. The bamboo plant goes by Sully and the little succulent I call Brioche (like the bread). They’re good support and attentive listeners when I’m talking out the dialogue.

Seattle Kitchen-Part 2

So, I had mentioned in an earlier post that I had taken part in an episode of the podcast Seattle Kitchen (my friend, Sarah, assistant produces the show). As promised, here is a link where you can stream the podcast. We try to cook a Dutch Baby with…results. I recommend listening to the whole thing if you’re interested in cooking at all, but if you’re only interested in hearing me speak, the segment I’m in is at around the 17-minute mark (It says 14 minutes, but it loops back to zero after the hour).

(For those who haven’t guessed, I’m the very deep, male voice)

Seattle Kitchen (Special thanks to Kiro Radio)