The case for working alone in self-publishing

All week I've been writing about how to use a variety of social media networks to succeed in getting the word out about your books as a self-publisher. Twitter, Facebook and everything else are all important outlets to know and utilize.

Then there is the actual writing. Writing, I have found, doesn't go very well in a hyper-connected environment. Seeing friends, having meetings and staying in touch all are important, both for a balanced life and for material to write about, don't get me wrong. I'm a social person.

But no matter how hard I try, writing while my e-mail and social media tabs are open on my browser doesn't result in a whole lot of books or articles being written. And that's a universal experience for writers, one that has held true since before the printing press. The writing itself, which is the basis for all of the social media activity in the first place and the very thing you are promoting, requires (or at least benefits from) alone-time.

To cap off a week full of social media, I wanted to take Saturday to share five tips for getting more writing done based on the idea that you need to be alone to make it happen.

1. Maker time vs. manager time: Paul Graham wrote a phenomenal post that is so good you read it and think, of course, I knew that already. Whenever I think that I know the person has written some true insight! Graham's post digs into the differences between how creative people and managers deal with time. The core idea is that creative people, like writers, need broad swaths of time. Creative people need half-days or full days of time set aside to get work done, allowing for all of the pre- and post- "writing zone" activities and frustrations and rewriting, etc. Managers, however, schedule things one hour at a time. If a manager schedules a meeting with a writer or a creative, it could blow a half a day or even the whole day for the creative.

The tip? Recognize this and when you are writing, schedule half or full days for yourself when no one is allowed to intrude with a meeting.

2. Identify with the greats: It always helps me to know that famous writers like Ernest Hemingway and Stephen King advise writers to work alone. Hemingway said in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech: "Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer’s loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day."

Stephen King says simply, yet profoundly, to “write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”

Those are the kind of folks I'm into listening to, and it helps to hear them endorse working alone.

3. Make lists: It's simple and everyone says it, but it's true. All of my successful writing days involve lists of tasks that I check off as I get them done. My unsuccessful ones are nebulous where I'm just trying to "get some writing done," but I won't even admit to myself what that is.

I use Text Edit, a very basic text program on my Mac, to keep a list and simply put an X next to each item when I finish it. It's amazing how motivating something that simple is when I have to be my own task-master.

4. Remove on-screen distractions: A tool I've started using is iA Writer, a Mac desktop app that is set up to remove distractions while you type. It's a simple text program, and when you are typing, there is nothing else in the window. Stats and buttons only show up after not typing at all for around 10 seconds. You can also set up the app to grey out everything but the paragraph you are working on. They're serious. Here is the slogan, "Keep your hands on the keyboard and your mind in the text."

5. Understand why?: One of the biggest motivators when I am my own task-master is to have a very clear, deep understanding of why I am writing something. When I know that, every time my eyes or brain wanders, I can pull myself back. Spend the time figuring out that answer to help you stay focused.

Anyone else have a good tip for how to get work done when working alone?

Images courtesy of erink_photography and AndyRobertsPhotos, both via flickr