November 3, 2010

twitter: the distracter

Courtesy of the enchanting Mason Bundschuh, I now have a sign under my computer screen that says:

Stop Twittering and Write.

You'd be surprised how much this actually helps me. Since I put the sign under my computer, my writing productivity has increased by 100%.

If you're like me and get distracted by the shiny internet shortcut on your desktop, then having things that distract you away from Twitter, Blogger, and Facebook are actually rather successful.

I recommend printing out quotes about writing, quotes from books you love, motivational one-liners, or anything that makes you want to write. For my current work-in-progress (a.k.a. NaNoWriMo), I have the thing that inspired my story in the first place sitting next to my keyboard: a metal candy tin. When I see it, it reminds me of my story and gets me excited about writing again.

Whatever makes you want to write, surround yourself with it. Tape it to your desk, to your wall, to your keyboard... put it somewhere you can't help but see it. Now, stop reading my blog and write :P

6 comments:

  1. Sadly, I have to get back to grading other people's writing at the moment, but I find your words worth sharing.

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  2. Also, a suggestion that Mrs. Johnson fails to share is the ever valuable Temptation Blocker. You can find it for free, and it is extremely useful. You program in the things you want blocked, and as long as it is active, you cannot access those things for the amount of time you have selected without manually entering in a 32 digit code. It works really well when the shiny internet browser button/twitter button keeps calling your name. I love it and use it to keep me on task not only when I'm writing for NaNo, but for my reports and projects as well.

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  3. So. Very. True.

    And I'm not blogging, of course not... *polishes halo*

    (Btw, love the new look :D)

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  4. Thanks for the tips. I think I just might employ them tonight after work...or now? Hehe

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  5. Awesome!

    It's ironic that the internet, which makes information gathering and communication nearly instantaneous, thereby theoretically ennabling us to waste less time... is the very thing that steals all of our time!

    arrrgggg!!!!!

    Great post Brooke!

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  6. Excellent post! Reminds me of how I sure do waste my time on the Internet when I should be writing (errr...like right now!) and gets my focus back. So I guess this wasn't a waste of time after all!
    Thanks!!!

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