Eliminate distractions so you can write

Distraction is the bane of any writer's existence, perhaps even more than procrastination. At least with procrastination you are choosing, however foolishly, to put off the writing you need to do.

With distraciton, you are actually trying to do the writing and something, with or without your consent, is pulling you away.

[Note: I just spent six minutes watching Arrested Development on Hulu because I've got two windows open and couldn't resist.]

With blogging, it's almost impossible to avoid distraction. A big part of the process is doing research, checking facts, finding images and linking to other things. That means you have to be on the computer, and certainly on the Internet, while you do it.

[Just watched four more minutes of Arrested Development...]

Writing without distraction

I work hard to avoid the distractions when I'm writing for the web [Don't watch more Arrested Development... Don't watch more Arrested Development...], and I do a pretty good job with it.

But when I sit down to work on a novel or other writing where I need to create complex characters for an extended narrative, I need large swaths of time. Usually 1.5 hours or more dedicated to just writing. And sometimes I need help to make that happen.

Here are four tools I've been trying:

1. iAwriter: This is a very simple text program for Apple products. Here's their pitch:

Keep your hands on the keyboard and your mind in the text.

As soon as you type the title bar disappears and all you see is the clean typing sheet, distraction-free, ready for your ideas to take shape. With over 600,000 copies sold, Writer has helped students, journalists, and bestselling authors to find more pleasure in working with text.

I like this app a lot. You can expand it into full screen and everything but this disappears. It makes it much easier to just stare at the words you're writing and keep your head focused.

2. 750Words: This is a web app that takes the same kind of "simple screen" approach, but keeps track of your writing with an internal calendar. Every day you hit 750 words, it makes a big, satisfying X on your personal calendar. It goes a long way toward motivating you to keep that string of X's going (this works pretty well on a calendar on the wall, too!) Also, the focus is on getting the 750 words, not necessarily on getting 750 great words. The approach is about flushing your brain to cleanse it and leave you clearer for other projects.

3. Write or Die: This one is based on behaviorism. Here's what they have to say: 

The idea is to instill in the would-be writer with a fear of not writing. We do this by employing principles taught in Introduction to Psychology. Anyone remember Operant Conditioning and Negative Reinforcement?

Negative Reinforcement “strengthens a behavior because a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior.”

It's and intriguing concept. The negative reinforcement that the app uses comes in three flavors:

Gentle Mode: A certain amount of time after you stop writing, a box will pop up, gently reminding you to continue writing.
Normal Mode: If you persistently avoid writing, you will be played a most unpleasant sound. The sound will stop if and only if you continue to write.
Kamikaze Mode: Keep Writing or Your Work Will Unwrite Itself

Kamikaze mode!!! If you don't keep writing it will UNWRITE WHAT YOU'VE WRITTEN. Now, I'll admit, I haven't tried that with any serious writing, so if you do, I want to hear about it.

The interesting thing about this for me is that rather than trying to positively reinforce or help you set the mood for writing, this app throws away all of the kindness in favor of some old-school negative reinforcement. If you need to shake up your motivation, this is the kind of app that might have unexpected positive results.

4. Substance.io: This app takes the good things about iAwriter and adds a component where you can collaborate. If you are co-authoring something, it is a much less distracting tool than trying to use Google docs because there is nothing else going on except the words. On Google there is literally EVERYTHING ELSE GOING ON just calling to you like a wicked siren song from the shore...

What about you? Do you have any attention-focusing apps or online tools that help you stay on task and get more writing done?

OK Time to go watch the rest of that Arrested Development show now. Whew!

Images courtesy of kchinchester via flickr and a screenshot from 750words.com